“We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital. If”

—  John McCain

As quoted in "McCain says suppressing free press is 'how dictators get started'" http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-mccain-idUSKBN15Y07R?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social (19 February 2017), Reuters
2010s, 2017
Context: I hate the press; I hate you especially. But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital. If you want to preserve - I'm very serious now - if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started. They get started by suppressing free press. In other words, a consolidation of power. When you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press... [W]e need to learn the lessons of history.

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John McCain photo
John McCain 169
politician from the United States 1936–2018

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