journalists
charter
"One
night, probably in 1880, John Swinton, then the pre-eminent 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
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.)