- There is no such thing, at this stage 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 dare 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 opinions 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 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 papers, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist 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 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.
- There is no such thing, at this stage of the world’s history in the United States, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dare 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 opinions 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 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 papers, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist 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 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.
- There is no such thing, at this stage of the world’s history in The United States of America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dare 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 opinions 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 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 papers, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist 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 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.
في هذه المرحلة من تاريخ أمريكا، لا وجود لما يدعى بالصحافة المستقلة. أنت تدري وأنا أدري. لا يجرؤ أي منكم على كتابة آرائه الصادقة، ولو فعل، فإنكم تعلمون مسبقًا أن رأيه الصادق لن ينشر البتة. يدفع لي أسبوعيًّا لأبقي آرائي الصادقة خارج الصحيفة التي أتصل بها. أنتم كذلك يدفع لكم رواتب مشابهةٌ لتفعلوا أمرًا مشابهًا، ومن بلغت به الحماقة أن يكتب آراء صادقةً فسيجد نفسه في الشارع باحثًا عن عمل آخر. لو سمحتُ لآرائي الحقيقية أن تظهر في عدد من أعداد صحيفتي، فستولي وظيفتي قبل مضي أربع وعشرين ساعة. شغل الصحفي الشاغل هو أن يدمر الحقيقة، ويكذب بلا خجل، ويحرف، ويذم، ويطلب الزلفى عند قدمي قارون، وأن يبيع بلده وعِرقه لينال خبز يومه. أنت تدري وأنا أدري، وكم في شرب نخب الصحافة المستقلة من غباوة؟ نحن الدمى التي تُسحب خيوطها فتتراقص. مواهبنا، وإمكانياتنا، ومَعَايِشُنَا كلها ملك رجال آخرين. نحن نمارس العهر العقلي.