William H. McRaven Quotes

Democracies succeed or fail based on their journalism.

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.

Vigorous independent and critical media are indispensable in a democracy.

You can't have a free democracy if you don't have a free media that can provide vital and independent information to the people.

We need a free media, not just freedom of speech.

If we don't have a vigorous questioning, aggressive journalistic community and mythology, democracy itself is in great jeopardy.

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

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

Well, thank God for a media that will ask questions.

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.

A free and truly independent press - fiercely independent when necessary - is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.

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

The job of media is the accountability of government.

Democratic societies need a strong media, and WikiLeaks is part of that media.

No one needs to tell me about the importance of the free press in a democratic society or about the essential role a newspaper can play in its community.

The most important newspapers in this country need to exist. Our democracy needs them. Life as we know it would be unthinkable without them.

I have never quite grasped the worry about the power of the press. After all, it speaks with a thousand voices, in constant dissonance.

The media has become more forceful, has begun to recognize its traditional historic role and act on it, and truth is infectious.

As Americans, we rightfully place tremendous value on having a free and independent press. Our role as journalists is to give voice to the voiceless, and hold our leaders and institutions accountable. But the circle is only completed when that information is consumed by a free-thinking and engaged audience.

Journalism is what maintains democracy. It's the force for progressive social change.

I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that.

I take a grave view of the press. It is the weak slat under the bed of democracy.

I don't believe that there's such a thing as objectivity in much of journalism, but I think there is a serious effort to and a regard for facts and into taking that stuff seriously is very important to the public discourse and it's very important to democracy.

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

The chief danger which threatens the influence and honor of the press is the tendency of its liberty to degenerate into license.