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John Swinton (1703-1777) was a British writer, Fellow of the Royal Society, Church of England clergyman and orientalist. In 1731 he was a fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, but migrated to Christ Church in 1745. He contributed to George Sale's Universal History. Swinton also contributed articles on the transcription of the 'Ruins of Palmyra'. Beginning in 1749, Swinton donated a number of Roman coins to the collection at Christ Church. From 1767 until the year of his death he was Keeper of the Archives at Oxford University

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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.

– John Swinton

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  • Maggie Garu
    Maggie Garu
    I believe even the champion of the Anti-Federalist movement that caused the Bill of Rights to be added to the Grand Experiment we like to call the US Constitution, Thomas Jefferson, expressed an intense dislike for the free and independent press shortly after becoming president. To paraphrase perhaps poorly, after seeing a report in a Virginia newspaper written from an interview he'd given, he was enraged at the liberties taken with his words. He said that Prior Restraint on the press was a vile thing for liberty minded people but that the level of vileness did fluctuate/ 
    LikeReply6 years ago

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