Provocative thoughts

[Vexari]

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..


~ 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" 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