David Carr Quotes

The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.

The press is not only free, it is powerful. That power is ours. It is the proudest that man can enjoy. It was not granted by monarchs, it was not gained for us by aristocracies; but it sprang from the people, and, with an immortal instinct, it has always worked for the people.

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

We have come from the divine right of kings to the divine right of the governed.

The basis of our government's being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter.

Only in democratic countries is there the beginning of a suspicion that the old axioms about the press being the bulwark of liberty is something that affects the daily life of the people--that it is a living warning rather than an ancient wisecrack. A people that wants to be free must arm itself with a free press..

In no form of government is there an absolute identity of interest between the people and their rulers

The Republic established by the founders was a fragile experiment in a world bestrode by kings, queens, emperors, czars, dictators, and theories of aristocracy.

The throne we honour is the people's choice.

Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.

Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together.

Democracies succeed or fail based on their journalism.

Government, in the last analysis, is organized opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government.

The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm.

I respect the press. The press and the media are a very useful watchdog to check the power of the government.

The newspapers, magazines and other journals of the country, it is safe to say, have shed and continue to shed, more light on the public and business affairs of, the nation than any other instrumentality of public; and since informed public opinion is the most potent of all restraints upon misgovernment, the suppression or abridgment of the publicity afforded by a free press cannot be regarded otherwise than with grave concern.

Rulers come and go; governments end and forms of government change; but sovereignty survives.

A political society cannot endure without a supreme will somewhere.

In America the president reigns for four years, and journalism governs for ever and ever.

The fourth estate which if not well looked to, will turn us all out of doors.

No government ought to be without censors: & where the press is free, no one ever will.

In a democracy you [politicians] have to let the press and the people give you crap.

To say that the newspaper press represents public opinion is to administer insult to intelligent men. It is the property of speculators, political leaders, large contractors and railway directors.

Without criticism and reliable and intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern.

The function of a newspaper in a democracy is to stand as a sort of chronic opposition to the reigning quacks.