Jean Chretien Quotes

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

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

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

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

I respect very much the role of the media in our society; I think they can be very, very helpful. They serve as a very useful check, sort of a watchdog over the actions of the government, and I respect that.

Media creates awareness [and] ensures transparency and accountability.

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.

I think the media's responsibility is to get to the bottom of things - to get to the truth.

In the old days, the media is who held people accountable when they lied in politics. That isn't happening anymore.

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

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.

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

We in the media should be breaking the news and not making the news.

The first duty of the Press is to obtain the earliest and most correct intelligence of the time, and instantly, by disclosing them to make them the common property of the nation.

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

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.

We are a better country because the press gets 1000 facts right every day.

Democracies die in darkness.... I don't realluy think that President Trump really believes that the press is the "enemy of the people"

I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. That we need an independent media to hold people like me to account. […] power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power, whether it be here or elsewhere.

One of the roles of the press is to make sure that the president, in the voice of the people, is telling the truth.

The media helps keep government honest.

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 media's job is to question a premise.

The press is a watchdog. Not an attack dog. Not a lapdog. A watchdog. Now, a watchdog can't be right all the time. He doesn't bark only when he sees or smells something that's dangerous. A good watchdog barks at things that are suspicious.

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.