John Boyle O'Reilly Quotes

To newspapers and publishing houses I urge the use of fact over fiction, freedom of the press, and responsibility at all times.

We don't go into journalism to be popular. It is our job to seek the truth and put constant pressure on our leaders until we get answers.

The most effective check and balance on government has been an independent press which maintains its credibility by ensuring that its criticism is balanced and based on fact - based indeed on solid journalistic work.

In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam War, the newspapers nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do.

Family ownership provides the independence that is sometimes required to withstand governmental pressure and preserve freedom of the press.

Journalism is irrepressible. It can't be taken away.

A free and truly independent press - fiercely independent when necessary - is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.

The truth is, I don't have any problem with journalists - I count some of them as friends - also some of my heroes are journalists, I'm a big fan of Robert Fisk - great people or crazy people who are prepared to stand up for what's right.

Vigorous independent and critical media are indispensable in a democracy.

When a reporter sits down at the typewriter, he's nobody's friend.

We believe that the remedy to any harm resulting from press freedom lies in press freedom itself.

The first responsibility of the press is to use its freedom to protect the rights and liberties of all individuals …. If the occasion arises, raise bloody hell.

The press must be free; it has always been so and much evil has been corrected by it. If Government finds itself annoyed by it, let it examine its own conduct and it will find the cause.

The 1st Amendment does not mandate that the press be accurate.

It is a free press...There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press.

The job of media is the accountability of government.

The press is supposed to watch the powerful. And not throw in with them.

We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital.

The role of the press and the protections which we afford it are today more important than ever before, because we dwell in a society where belief in our governments and in the strength of our institutions is declining.

I cannot overemphasise the value we place on a free, independent and outspoken press

Newspapers, television networks, and magazines have sometimes been outrageously abusive, untruthful, arrogant, and hypocritical. But it hardly follows that elimination of a strong and independent press is the way to eliminate abusiveness . . .

The one thing that is absolutely essential is that there shouldn't be any governmental control [of the media] directly or indirectly.

The U.S. corporate media, otherwise known as the "free press," is that hollow pillar on which contemporary American democracy rests.

The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people.

Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault.