“The failure of a free press in most countries is usually blamed on the readers. Every nation gets the government—and the press—it deserves. This is too facile a remark. The people deserve better in most governments and press. Readers, in millions of cases, have no way of finding out whether their newspapers are fair or not, honest or distorted, truthful or colored….”

— George Seldes

Lords of the Press (1938)
Incorporates the famous observation of Joseph de Maistre that "every nation gets the government it deserves."

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 22, 2022. History

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George Seldes 10

American journalist 1890–1995

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“In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.”

Hugo Black (1886–1971) U.S. Supreme Court justice

Concurring in New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971).

“Every word that a president utters projects American values around the world. The values of free expression and a reverence for the free press have been our global hallmark, for it is our ability to freely air the truth that keeps our government honest and keeps a people free. Between the mighty and the modest, truth is the great leveler. And so, respect for freedom of the press has always been one of our most important exports.”

Jeff Flake (1962) American politician

Farewell speech to the U.S. Senate (2018)

“We think we have got freedom of the press. When one millionaire has ten newspapers and ten million people have no newspapers—that is not freedom of the press.”

Anastas Mikoyan (1895–1978) Russian revolutionary and Soviet statesman

Traveling With Mikoyan Quote By Quote (1959)

“Every nation gets the government it deserves.”

Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821) Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat

Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite.
Correspondance diplomatique, tome 2. Paris : Michel Lévy frères libraires éditeurs, 1860, p.196.
Famous Sayings and their Authors, Edward Latham, 1906, Google Books http://books.google.com/books?id=xvkNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA181.
Bartlett's Roget's Thesaurus, 2003, Google Books http://books.google.com/books?id=D8yVAC8CtO4C&printsec=frontcover.
Letter 76, on the topic of Russia's new constitutional laws (27 August 1811); published in Lettres et Opuscules. The English translation has several variations, including "Every country has the government it deserves" and "In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve." The quote is popularly misattributed to better-known commentators such as Alexis de Tocqueville and Abraham Lincoln.

“People get the government their behavior deserves. People deserve better than that.”

Richard Stallman (1953) American software freedom activist, short story writer and computer programmer, founder of the GNU project

"Sayings" at Richard Stallman's personal site (c. 2001) http://www.stallman.org/sayings.html
2000s

“In every instance that I have known of with confrontation with the government and the press, the press was always right. So keep it up.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

“The three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt Administration. Instead of agitating for war, Jews in this country should be opposing it in every way, for they will be the first to feel its consequences. Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government.”

Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist

Speech in Des Moines, Iowa lobbying for American isolationism (11 September 1941)

“A major difference between politicians and the free press is that the press usually corrects itself when it gets something wrong. Politicians don't.”

Jeff Flake (1962) American politician

Farewell speech to the U.S. Senate (2018)

“As a conservative who believes in limited government, I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press. A free press ensures the flow of information to the public, and let me say, during a time when the role of government in our lives and in our enterprises seems to grow every day--both at home and abroad--ensuring the vitality of a free and independent press is more important than ever.”

Mike Pence (1959) 48th Vice President of the United States

World Press Freedom Day (May 4, 2009)
2000s

“The only platform from which public exposures can be made is an all-Russian newspaper. "Without a political organ, a political movement deserving that name is inconceivable in modern Europe."In this connection Russia must undoubtedly by included in modern Europe. The press has long ago become a power in our country, otherwise the government would not spend tens of thousands of rubles to bribe it, and to subsidize the Katkovs and Meshcherskys. And it is no novelty in autocratic Russia for the underground press to break through the wall of sponsorship and compel the legal and conservative press to speak openly of it.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

Source: What is to be Done? (1902), Chapter Three, Section E, Essential Works of Lenin (1966)

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