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Revealing Quotes

For those who have never doubted that the news they receive from the mainstream media is reliable, these quotes may be shocking. For those familiar with the mischaracterizations and outright lies perpetuated on a daily basis by those whom we trust to deliver "fair and balanced" news, the following will simply reinforce your rightfully-placed distrust.

Let's start with an historic quote that is often surrounded by inaccurate information. The truths that it unveils are likely more true today than they were in 1890. John Swinton was the editor of the New York Time's editorial department. When he was asked to toast the independent press, he unleashed this revealing diatribe:

"There is no such thing in America as an independent press, unless it is in the country towns. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to writes (sic) his honest opinions, and if you did you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid one hundred and fifty dollars a week 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 his honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. The business of the New York journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his race and his country for his daily bread. You know this and I know it, and what folly is this to be toasting an “Independent Press.” We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. 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." (Source)

A more recent confession comes from Leslie Janka, a press officer for both the Nixon and Reagan administrations. She describes how journalists are often guided by the government officials when she explains:

"They’ve got to write their story every day. You give them their story, they’ll go away. As long as you come in there every day, hand them a well-packaged, premasticated story in the format they want, they’ll go away. The phrase is ‘manipulation by inundation.’ You give them the line of the day, you give them press briefings, you give them facts, access to people who will speak on the record.... And you do that long enough, they’re going to stop bringing their own stories, and stop investigative reporters of any kind, even modestly so." (Source)

Sam Donaldson from ABC News helps paint a picture of the modern media by describing where their interests lie:

“The press ... traditionally sides with authority and the establishment”

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