Isabel Barrows Quotes

The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.

The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm.

I respect very much the role of the media in our society; I think they can be very, very helpful. They serve as a very useful check, sort of a watchdog over the actions of the government, and I respect that.

The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.

Being a reporter is at the very core of a democracy, being a free person in a free society.

The newspapers, magazines and other journals of the country, it is safe to say, have shed and continue to shed, more light on the public and business affairs of, the nation than any other instrumentality of public; and since informed public opinion is the most potent of all restraints upon misgovernment, the suppression or abridgment of the publicity afforded by a free press cannot be regarded otherwise than with grave concern.

The job of a political correspondent is the challenge the people in power. If you are in power, I will challenge you.

The newspaper is in all its literalness the bible of democracy, the book out of which a people determines its conduct

The newspaper is a moral force second only to the church. It is a political power superior to parties. It is an instrument of justice coequal with the court.

Only in democratic countries is there the beginning of a suspicion that the old axioms about the press being the bulwark of liberty is something that affects the daily life of the people--that it is a living warning rather than an ancient wisecrack. A people that wants to be free must arm itself with a free press..

Whatever may be said about the power of the press, it is undeniable that it can set the entire public thinking and talking about any topic ...

Public men are all amenable to the tribunal of the press in a free state. The greater, indeed, their trust, the more respectable are they.

The press is supposed to serve as a check on government.

I think there's a difference between calling people out and understanding the role that the press plays in a free society.

The press is not only free, it is powerful. That power is ours. It is the proudest that man can enjoy.

A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the dark, and informing the public about those acts.

The press is our chief ideological weapon.

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

The Washington Times wrote a story questioning the authenticity of some of the suggestions made about me in Silent Coup. But as a believer in the First Amendment, I believe they have more than a right to air their views.

I respect the press. The press and the media are a very useful watchdog to check the power of the government.

There is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.

How united would the United States be without its newspapers?

Injecting new ideas into public debate is the supreme function of the newspaper columnist. Politicians and civil servants absolutely will not take the risk.

We do not need a censorship of the press. We have a censorship by the press.

The fourth estate which if not well looked to, will turn us all out of doors.