“In modern democracies, press freedom was being used as a cloak to shield media conglomerates’ domination of public discussion ‘in which misinformation may be peddled uncorrected and in which reputations may be selectively shredded or magnified. A free press is not an unconditional good.’ When the media mislead, she added, ‘the wells of public discourse and public life are poisoned’. Dr Onora O’Neill”

“In 1828 the British historian Macaulay dubbed the press gallery in Parliament a ‘fourth estate’ of the realm. Today the news media appear to have become the first estate able to topple monarchs and turn Parliament into a talking shop which ceases to exist if journalists turn their backs.”

“The press has the power to stimulate people to clean up the environment prevent nuclear proliferation force crooked politicians out of office reduce poverty provide quality health care for all people and even to save the lives of millions of people as it did in Ethiopia in 1984. But instead we are using it to promote sex violence and sensationalism and to line the pockets of already wealthy media moguls.’ Dr Carl Jensen founder of Project Censored”

“If the journalist is secretly the tool of some invisible public relations machine or vested commercial interest it is the public whose interest is betrayed”

“It is easy for journalism to be morally casual, even as it makes large moral claims for itself. So when journalism is accused by those it serves of privileging sensation before significance, celebrity before achievement, intrusion before purposeful investigation and entertainment before reliability, the charge demands a response. Journalism stands accused of being not so much a public service as a public health hazard.”

“In politics democracy itself is at stake in this world of high-speed always-on news. Political reporters pronounce sudden verdicts upon the politicians they often outshine in fame and as a result parliaments everywhere feel themselves reduced to side-attractions in the great non-stop media show.”

“News which was once difficult and expensive to obtain today surrounds us like the air we breathe.”