George Seldes Quotes
The press deserved the attacks and criticisms of Will Irwin (1910) and Upton Sinclair (1920) and the muckrakers who followed, and it needs today the watchdog and gadfly activities of the new critical weeklies, but all in all it is now a better medium of mass information.... The 1972 Watergate disclosures, it is true, were made by only a score of the members of the mass media, but I remember Teapot Dome when only one of our 1,750 dailies (the Albuquerque Morning Journal) dared to tell the truth about White House corruption. We have come a long way since.
Teapot Dome was one of the biggest scandals in American History where members of the President’s Cabinet and other politicians were stealing massive amounts of public money. Yet only on Newspaper would write about it until the complete story was known.
George Seldes, 1890-1995, Historian and Investigative Journalist, Letter to Time Magazine. 1974
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
He felt this was so important that it was worth being labeled “un-American” at various times.
Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell had written exposes of business misconduct and lax government enforcement of laws. Politicians and business leaders were outraged and wanted something done to prevent this embarrassment and the riling up of the voting public. The President, a reformer himself, and a personal friend of Lincoln Steffens, took what seemed like a middle ground, where the government would not interfere with the 1st Amendment rights of the Journalists provided they did not go too far. But of course everyone had a different idea of “when to stop” so there never was a practical limit.
This statement demonstrates the transformation from the Communist era where the press was considered simply as another organ of the state. Before that, it was an instrument of the Czar. This is one of the world’s most firm statements of journalistic independence although recent Russian regimes have moved to limit journalistic independence.
For a similar sentiment, see Eric Cantona {276121}
Fleischer had asked that the White House be given advance notice of any stories the New York Times might be covering in the future dealing with national security. As outlandish as this request may seem given the first amendment, it is a good illustration of the level of concern and panic of the George W. Bush White House who saw the situation as so fearful that that they initiated many constitutionally questionable practices. See {642527} for Fleischer’s request. New York Times has had a practice over the years of holding stories then they were persuaded that damage to the nation or to individuals would ensue as the result of publication at that time. However, the government has at times abused this policy as in the Pentagon Papers Case.
Henry George Seldes was an American investigative journalist, foreign correspondent, editor, author, and media critic best known for the publication of the newsletter In Fact from 1940 to 1950. He was an investigative reporter of the kind known in early 20th century as a muckraker, using his journalism to fight injustice and justify reform. But by his time the public mood had changed, and reader demand for muckraking was much weaker.
