Gość: Jacek
IP: 193.0.116.*
30.03.05, 10:47
Oto list, ktory dostalem z za Oceanu. Mysle ze pasuje do TOKFM jak ulal (i
nie tylko). Mysle, ze nie musze tlumaczyc i przytocze w calosci:
Intellectual prostitutes
John Swinton on the American press
One night, probably in 1880, John Swinton, then the preeminent New York
journalist, was the guest of honour at a banquet given him by the leaders of
his craft. Someone who knew neither the press nor Swinton offered a toast to
the independent press. Swinton outraged his colleagues by replying:
"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."
(Source: Labor's Untold Story, by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais,
published by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, NY,
1955/1979.)
"... the freedom of the press belongs to those who own the presses. And it's
true."
(Jonathan Tobin, Editor of the weekly The Jewish Ledger (West Hartford, USA)
Jewish Chronicle, London, AUGUST 25, 1995, p. 19
