Press Quotes

“When a figure in power calls our press the enemy of the people, it is an assault on democracy.”

“The buck stops here with me, as it does with any press secretary.”

“I recognize that the press and the public have a right to know.”

“You don't tell us how to stage the news, and we don't tell you how to cover it.”

“You cannot have a functioning democracy without a functioning media.”

“In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy.”

“I wish the reporters would tell the truth, just the truth.”

“As an organ of enlightened opinion, the press, when duly restrained, must be cherished as the guardian of civil and religious liberty.”

“It is a tribute to the First Amendment that we do not have an Official Secrets Act in this country.”

“The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm.”

“I get a little nauseated, perhaps, when I hear the phrase 'freedom of the press' used as freely as it is, knowing that a large part of our proprietorial press is not free at all.”

“You cannot have a free country without a free press.”

“The press is not a monolith.”

“Paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people.”

“The assumption that respect for the judiciary can be won by shielding judges from published criticism wrongly appraises the character of American public opinion.”

“The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state.”

“To have a free press is to have the revolution in a permanent state.”

“Freedom of the press is the foundation of all other freedoms.”

“A man must be a born fool who voluntarily engages in controversy with the press.”

“The duty of the press is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”