quoting presidents about freedom of the press

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Hi,

I just collected some quotes about freedom of the press to address an
unfinished task from an article I wrote a year ago
    <http://www.draketo.de/english/freenet/answer-to-cannot-use>
and I want to pass them on to you for times when you need them at hand:


=C2=BBThe liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a
state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this commonwealth.=C2=AB
=E2=80=94 John Adams, 1780, second president of the USA.

=C2=BBWhen people talk of the Freedom of Writing, Speaking, or thinking, I
cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now
exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after
you and I shall write and speak no more.=C2=AB =E2=80=94 John Adams Letter =
to Thomas
Jefferson (15 July 1817)

=C2=BBNo experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and
which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be
governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to
leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto
found, is the freedom of the press.=C2=AB =E2=80=94 Thomas Jefferson, Lette=
r to Judge
John Tyler (June 28, 1804)

=C2=BBOur liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be
limited without being lost.=C2=AB =E2=80=94 Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr.=
 James
Currie (28 January 1786) Lipscomb & Bergh 18:ii.

=C2=BBWhat makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to
rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you
are not informed?=C2=AB =E2=80=94 Hannah Arendt, 1974

=C2=BBAnd that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment =E2=80=
=94 the
only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution =E2=80=
=94 =E2=80=A6
to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our
opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold,
educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.=C2=AB =E2=80=94 John F. Ke=
nnedy's
Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association (27 April
1961)

=C2=BBWithout general elections, without freedom of the press, freedom of
speech, freedom of assembly, without the free battle of opinions, life
in every public institution withers away, becomes a caricature of
itself, and bureaucracy rises as the only deciding factor.=C2=AB =E2=80=94 =
Rosa
Luxemburg, Reported in Paul Froelich, Die Russische Revolution (1940).

=C2=BBA popular Government without popular information, or the means of
acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps
both.=C2=AB =E2=80=94 James Madison, Letter to W.T. Barry (1822-08-04).

=C2=BBA critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of a=
ny
democracy.=C2=AB =E2=80=94 Nelson Mandela on freedom of expression, At the
international press institute congress (14 February 1994).

=C2=BBwe believe that when governments censor or control information, that
ultimately that undermines not only the society, but it leads to
eventual encroachments on individual rights as well.=C2=AB =E2=80=94 Barack=
 Obama,
Rangoon, Burma on November 14, 2014

=C2=BBIf in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are
censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free.=C2=AB =E2=80=
=94
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Address to the National Education Association (30
June 1938).

=C2=BBThe liberty of the press is no greater and no less than the liberty of
every subject of the Queen.=C2=AB =E2=80=94 Lord Russell of Killowen, Reg. =
v. Gray
(1900), L. R. 2 Q. B. D. 40.


Happy Hacking!
=2D Arne

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