Barack Obama Quotes

Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of achieving a free society.

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

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

Freedom of the press and a free society either prosper together or perish together.

In order to enjoy the inestimable benefits that the liberty of the press ensures, it is necessary to submit to the inevitable evils it creates

We must have a free press. If we are to maintain democracxy as we know it, we must have a free and adversarial press.... That's how dictoators get power [by intimidating, restriciting and censoring the press.]

A free press is the cornerstone of democracy; there is no question about that.

The Liberty of the press consists in the right to publish with impunity truth with good motives for justifiable ends, though reflecting on government, magistracy, or individuals.

We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country, or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia.

The freedom of speech and the freedom of press, it's just precious man, it really is.

No matter how imperfect things are, if you've got a free press everything is correctable, and without it everything is concealable.

Without freedom of the press, there can be no representative government.

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

When freedom of the press is threatened, the United States should be leading efforts to protect it.

Journalism is irrepressible. It can't be taken away.

Vigorous independent and critical media are indispensable in a democracy.

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

The right to discuss freely and openly, by speech, by the press, by the pen, all political questions, and to examine and animadvert upon all political institutions ... [is] a right as clear and certain, so interwoven with our other liberties, so necessary, in fact to their existence, that without is we must fall at once into despotism and anarchy.

A free press can of course be good or bad, but most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad.

The political misrepresentation of facts is one of the incidents of a free press in every free country.

While they shriek for "freedom of the press" when there is no slightest threat to that freedom, they deny to citizens that freedom from the press to which the decencies of life entitle them. They misrepresent, they distort, they color, they blackguard, they lie.

Free and open communications is the best guarantee of democracy.

Democracy without a free press is inconceivable.

A people without reliable news is, sooner or later, a people without the basis of freedom.

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