Jon Meacham Quotes

I think there's a difference between calling people out and understanding the role that the press plays in a free society.

I don't think anyone in the media thinks strategically about society.

A functional media is as important to democratic freedom as voting.

The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.

Widespread public access to knowledge, like public education, is one of the pillars of our democracy, a guarantee that we can maintain a well-informed citizenry.

Reading and writing, like everything else, improve with practice. And, of course, if there are no young readers and writers, there will shortly be no older ones. Literacy will be dead, and democracy - which many believe goes hand in hand with it - will be dead as well.

I think it's important in a democracy such as ours that we have multiple sources to get news and information and utilize the media only if we want to get a different opinion.

Quite frankly, having an uninformed populace works extremely well, particularly when you have a media that doesn't understand its responsibility and feels more like it's an arm of a political party. They can really take advantage of an uninformed populace.

The great threat to the young and pure in heart is not what they read but what they don't read.

The media does play a vital role in our democracy, and if we cannot depend on journalistic ethics, the nation's in trouble.

The most important service rendered by the press and the magazines is that of educating people to approach printed matter with distrust.

I think people should be consumers of journalism.

The media is absolutely essential to the functioning of a democracy. It's not our job to cozy up to power. We're supposed to be the check and balance on government.

Vigorous independent and critical media are indispensable in a democracy.

The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press.

The journalistic traits that are valued on TV and radio talk shows are destructive to democracy.

Let us by all wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our liberties.

Media creates awareness [and] ensures transparency and accountability.

I do believe with all my soul In the gret Press's freedom, To pint the people to the goal And in the traces lead ‘em.

American democracy depends on the public's ability to remain accurately informed on our state of affairs.

There is nothing more important to a democracy than an active and engaged press.

That's really what's kept me at 'TYT' even though I've gotten offers where I'd make a lot more money working at other media outlets: There's a value in making sure we inform our audience so they're responsible members of the democratic process. To me, that's more valuable than ratings or money or anything else you can get at these other networks.

If you go and talk to most people, they mean well but they don't have much of a breadth on education, of knowledge of understanding what the real issues are and therefore they listen to pundits on television who tell them what they are supposed to think and they keep repeating that until pretty soon they say, 'Oh, well that must be true.'

If we don't have a vigorous questioning, aggressive journalistic community and mythology, democracy itself is in great jeopardy.

There is so much we can learn from TV. It's a window on the world.