Geoffrey R. Stone Quotes

I think it's wrong for the government to subpoena records from journalists involved in national-security reporting (particularly since I do it myself). I do believe it has a chilling effect on the ability to gather news about potential abuses masked by inappropriate classification.

There isn't much question that the person who obtained the WikiLeaks cables from a classified U.S. government network broke U.S. law and should expect to face the consequences. The legal rights of a website that publishes material acquired from that person, however, are much more controversial.

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

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

Discerning the legal difference between what WikiLeaks did and what news organizations do is difficult and would set a terrible precedent.

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

It is crazy to have Judith Miller in jail.

Wikileaks in its essence is a publisher, pure and simple. They were very much in the same position as 'The New York Times' and 'The Guardian.'

We are all Julian Assange. Serious reporters discuss classified information every day - go to any Washington or New York dinner party where real journalists are present, and you will hear discussion of leaked or classified information. That is journalists' job in a free society.

The press should form a fortress of steel round the republic. The republic has a right to demand this from journalists. The struggle is not over; the press has a duty to convey this truth to the nation and safeguard its unity.

The journalist observes the laws of his country, but when the fulfillment of his professional duty is concerned he recognizes the jurisdiction of his colleagues only, and rejects any attempts of pressure and interference from the side of the government or whoever else.

It’s hard to sometimes get information out of the government. It’s really hard. You can’t do it without asking tough questions.

As long as I am Attorney General, no reporter who is doing his job is going to go to jail.

Leaking classified information is a crime. And if we have evidence that somebody in the executive branch is committing a crime, we should prosecute that person.

To newspapers and publishing houses I urge the use of fact over fiction, freedom of the press, and responsibility at all times.

There is no higher claim to journalistic integrity than going to jail to protect a source.

In hindsight, Watergate was a curse as well as a blessing for American journalism. The courageous reporting of the 'Post' and the 'New York Times' - coupled with the favourable Supreme Court rulings on publication of the Pentagon Papers - were landmarks for the interpretation of First Amendment rights and the freedom of the press.

Democracies succeed or fail based on their journalism.

Whistle-blowing and publishing should not be seen as a crime, and certainly not as terrorism.

We believe that the remedy to any harm resulting from press freedom lies in press freedom itself.

The U. S. press has become a major source of unauthorized intelligence information. Classified information disclosed in the press is the equivalent of information obtained by enemy espionage.

Journalist, in my opinion, are mediators between the Information Age and our democracy.

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.

Of all times in time of war the press should be free.

You really can’t have a democracy if the government knows the content of every conversation between journalists and their sources. You can’t have a democracy with that kind of surveillance going on.