Ani DiFranco Quotes

The press ... is but the servant of human intellect and its ministry is for good or evil, according to the character of those who direct it. The press is a mill that grinds all that is put into its hopper. Fill the hopper with poisoned grain and it will grind it to meal, but there is death in the bread.

The greatest power of the mass media is the power to ignore. The worst thing about this power is that you may not even know you're using it.

The press is like a big bass, you just stick a hook in their mouth and they'll take it.

Power in America today is control of the means of communication.

In order to govern you have to feed the news cycle

The primary purpose of the media is to mobilize support for the controlling interests.

The Freedom of Information Act isn’t used, for the most part, by the people. It’s used by Journalists … The information is not sought to bestow knowledge upon the people. It is used as a weapon.

Owning media is power. That’s the way it is.

If those in charge of our society – politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television – can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.

The power of the press in America is a primordial one. It sets the agenda of public discussion; and this sweeping political power is unrestrained by any law. It deter- mines what people will talk and think about-an authority that in other nations is reserved for tyrants, priests, parties and mandarins.

Tell the people what they want and decide what they need.

Keep in mind, the news media are not independent; they are a sort of bulletin board and public relations firm for the ruling class-the people who run things. Those who decide what news you will or will not hear are paid by, and tolerated purely at the whim of, those who hold economic power. If the parent corporation doesn't want you to know something, it won't be on the news. Period. Or, at the very least, it will be slanted to suit them, and then rarely followed up.

Today, the media dictatorship is becoming a substitute to military dictatorship. The big economic groups are using the media and decide who can speak, who the good guy is and who the bad guy is.

The media—stenographers to power.

The media is the message and the messenger, and increasingly a powerful one.

If deliberate distortion of reality by corporate media could be effectively prosecuted in the United States, the entire industry would be behind bars.

If we understand the revolutionary transformations caused by new media, we can anticipate and control them; but if we continue in our self-induced subliminal trance, we will be their slaves.

I think the media is dangerously close to creating their own product. They used to cover the product, which was whatever's happening.

The media are very dishonest. In fact, in covering my comments, the dishonest media did not explain that I called the fake news the enemy of the people - the fake news. They dropped off the word "fake." And all of the sudden, the story became, the media is the enemy. They take the word "fake" out, and now I'm saying, oh, no, this is no good. But that's the way they are. So I'm not against the media. I'm not against the press. I don't mind bad stories if I deserve them. And I tell you, I love good stories, but we won't - I don't get too many of them.

The media network has its idols, but its principal idol is its own style which generates an aura of winning and leaves the rest in darkness. It recognizes neither pity nor pitilessness.

Donald Trump has the media wrapped around his little finger. And this is a contributing factor to why so many people are bothered and upset, because even in the Republican establishment, the media is looked at as a legitimate player in the power arrangement of politics.

The [CIA] Agency has owned outright more than 240 Media operations around the world, including newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, radio and television stations, and wire services, and has partially controlled many more.

Big business, elite media and major donors are throwing money at Hillary Clinton because they have total control over every single thing she does. She is their puppet and they pull the strings.

The MacGuffin in that [Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky story] was [Bill] Clinton staying in office. That's what he wanted, and the media was hell-bent that he was gonna get what he wanted.

Power will be maintained by the groovy guy or gal who gets the most media coverage for his sleaze. Naturally, his friends in various businesses will do okay, too.