Some things never change

John Swinton, a prominent New York journalist (former head of the New York Times editorial staff and later of the New York Sun), is widely believed to have delivered a scathing critique of press integrity at a banquet honoring him sometime around the later 19th century. Although no verbatim transcript exists, the following version of his remarks has been preserved through contemporaneous biographies and later publications:

“There is no such thing in America as an independent press, unless it is out in country towns. You know it and I know it. …

I am paid $150 a week for keeping honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with—others of you are paid similar salaries… The business of the New York journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify… We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes… We are intellectual prostitutes.”