Today is World Press Freedom Day. Declared as such by the United Nations General Assembly, it is a day to raise awareness about the importance of freedom of the press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression, enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“The only security of all is in a free press.” Thomas Jefferson
“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault.” Henry Anatole Grunwald
“A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.” Albert Camus
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” James Madison
“When the public’s right to know is threatened, and when the rights of free speech and free press are at risk, all of the other liberties we hold dear are endangered.” Christopher Dodd
“Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticise and oppose.” George Orwell
“I became a journalist because I did not want to rely on newspapers for information.” Christopher Hitchens.
“There can be no higher law in journalism than, to tell the truth, and to shame the devil.” Walter Lippmann
“Journalists should be watchdogs, not lapdogs.” Newton Lee
“The people must know before they can act and there is no educator to compare with the press.” Ida.B Wells
“Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.” Walter Cronkite
“The courage in journalism is sticking up for the unpopular, not the popular.” Geraldo Riviera
“I avow that I do not hold that complete and instantaneous love for the freedom of the press that one accords to things whose nature is unqualifiedly good. I love it out of consideration for the evils it prevents much more than for the good it does.” Alexis de Tocqueville
“Freedom of the press is the mortar that binds together the bricks of democracy — and it is also the open window embedded in those bricks.” Shashi Tharoor
“I’m not a big fan of regulation: anyone who likes the freedom of the press can’t be.” Julian Assange
“Freedom of the press is a precious privilege that no country can forego.” Mahatma Gandhi
“I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.” Tom Stoppard
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights
“A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” John F Kennedy
“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.” Jim Morrison
“If we don’t believe in free expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” Noam Chomsky
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” John Milton
