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.