John Lewis Quotes

The job of the press is to defend their institution, hold the government accountable and freely report and gather information.

The great thing about Watergate is, is that the system worked. The American system worked. The press did its job. We did what we were supposed to do.

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.

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.

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

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

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 back and forth between the press and government is essential to any good democracy.

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

The most effective check and balance on government has been an independent press which maintains its credibility by ensuring that its criticism is balanced and based on fact - based indeed on solid journalistic work.

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.

In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam War, the newspapers nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do.

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.

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

The concept that the press is an organ of government policy dies hard.

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.

There is no weapon stronger than the press.

The press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. One would then like to ask: by what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible?

The press is supposed to watch the powerful. And not throw in with them.

The press is the only institution that is truly accountable. The founding fathers put the First Amendment first for a reason.

The ability of the press to print their stories without the government trying to get them to betray their sources is as essential to a free press as the ink it is printed with. Otherwise, who will hold accountable those who hold power over us?

Journalism has a check-and-balance effect to those in power, and those in power submitted themselves to it.

The task of the media in a democracy is not to ease the path of those who govern, but to make life difficult for them by constant vigilance as to how they exercise the power they only hold in trust from the people.