Single Idea 22681

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 3. Free speech]

Full Idea

I approve of the liberty of the press from a consideration more of the evils it prevents than of the advantages it ensures.

Gist of Idea

The liberty of the press is more valuable for what it prevents than what it promotes

Source

Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America (abr Renshaw) [1840], 1.10)

Book Reference

Tocqueville,Alexis de: 'Democracy in America (abridged)', ed/tr. Renshaw,Patrick [Wordsworth 1998], p.78


A Reaction

He accepts the freedom of the press as inevitable in a democracy, but he found U.S. newspapers to be nearly as bad then as they are now.