"There is no such thing, at this date 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 dares to 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 so 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
paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.
The business of the journalists 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 tools and vassals of rich men behind
the scenes. We are 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." | Quote by: | John Swinton
(1829-1901) Former Head of Editorial Staff for the New York Times
was one of America's best loved newspapermen.
Called by his peers "The Dean of his Profession" |
Date: | 1880, At a banquet in his honor |
Source: | Labor's Untold Story, by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais, published by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, NY, 1955/1979 |
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