Time: Wed Dec 17 08:54:50 1997
To: 
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: John Swinton: the press are intellectual prostitutes
Cc: 
Bcc: pni
References: 

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"There is  no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in
America, as an independent press.  You know it and I know it.

"There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions,
and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in
print.  I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion 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 honest opinions
would be out on the streets looking for another job.

"If I  allowed my  honest opinions  to appear  in one issue of my
paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.

"The business  of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie
outright, to  pervert, to  vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon,
and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread.

"You know  it and  I know  it, and what folly is this 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."


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John Swinton  (considered "The  Dean of  His Profession"  by  his
peers), Chief of Staff, New York Times when asked to give a toast
at the New York Press Club in 1953.

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