“There is no such thing, at this stage of the world’s history in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dare write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my papers, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.”
John Swinton
John Swinton (1830–1901) was an American journalist and editor of the New York Times, known for his critical stance on press freedom and media manipulation in the 19th century.
This quote reveals the bitter truth about the so-called "independent" press and urges us to remain critical and vigilant towards media content.
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John Swinton on the Bitter Truth of the Independent Press – Revealing Words from 1889
John Swinton reveals in 1889 the control and manipulation of the press – Why there is no independent press in America.
John Swinton was a prominent American journalist and editor in the 19th century, renowned for his candidness about the control and influence over the press. He exposed the mechanisms behind the media landscape and warned about the loss of independent journalism in the United States.
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