George Seldes Quotes

Being a reporter is at the very core of a democracy, being a free person in a free society.

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.

A free press stands as one of the great interpreters between the government and the people. To allow it to be fettered is to fetter ourselves.

To-day a democrat of the old school would demand, not freedom for the press, but freedom from the press

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.

… the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of 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 and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.

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

If we shake the pillar of a free and objective press, we're harming our American national interests.

The job of a political correspondent is the challenge the people in power. If you are in power, I will challenge you.

The newspaper is in all its literalness the bible of democracy, the book out of which a people determines its conduct

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.

We must have a free press. If we are to maintain democracxy as we know it, we must have a free and adversarial press.... That's how dictoators get power [by intimidating, restriciting and censoring the press.]

The basis of our governments 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 a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.

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

Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together.

Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of achieving a free society.

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

The Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to bare the secrets of government and inform the people.

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost

The notion that the church, the press, and the universities should serve the state is essentially a Communist notion. In a free society these institutions must be wholly free—which is to say that their function is to serve as checks upon the state.

The freedom to persuade and suggest is the essence of the democratic process.

A free press can of course be good or bad, but most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad.

Freedom of the press and a free society either prosper together or perish together.

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.

Free and open communications is the best guarantee of democracy.