Benjamin Franklin Quotes

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

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

Media creates awareness [and] ensures transparency and accountability.

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.

The public interest is not defined as what is interesting to the public.

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

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

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

This role is designed to question the behavior of government officials on behalf of the public. I think people who have done this and all jobs in journalism have believed that.

The best definition of journalism I have heard; to challenge authority - all authority - especially so when governments and politicians take us to war, when they have decided that they will kill and others will die.

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..

There is no weapon stronger than the press.

There is a terrific disadvantage in not having the abrasive quality of the press applied to you daily. Even though we never like it, and even though we wish they didn't write it, and even though we disapprove, there isn't any doubt that we could not do the job at all in a free society without a very, very active press.

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

We in the press have a special role since there is no other institution in our society that can hold the President accountable. I do believe that our democracy can endure and prevail only if the American people are informed.

A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the dark, and informing the public about those acts.

Having been given that public trust, we have a responsibility to share with the public.

Democracies succeed or fail based on their journalism.

Except for politics, no business is scrutinized more exhaustively than journalism.

All Americans value the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press, and I believe this is essential for our continued way of life. But with this freedom comes responsibility.

What would this country be like without the press prying to find out what the government is doing?

Every organization has men and women who will be sure that the news gets out when it is good news. The problem is with the bad news. That is the challenge of democracy

Thank God we have a press that tells us what you guys are doing.