Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to John Norvell in 1807 in response to a query from Mr. Norvell regarding the proper manner in which to run a newspaper.
It is readily apparent from Jefferson's statements that a similar type of the corruption rampant in the mass media today had materialized already in Jefferson's time, more than 200 years ago.
To be continued, with lists of names, etc...
John Norvell to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson:
“It would be a great favor,
too, to have your opinion of the manner in which a newspaper, to be most
extensively beneficial, should be conducted, as I expect to become the
publisher of one for a few years.
Accept venerable patriot, my
warmest wishes for your happiness.
John Norvell”
Jefferson's response included a scathing critique of newspapers:
To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be
conducted, so as to be most useful, I should answer, `by restraining it to true
facts & sound principles only.' Yet I fear such a paper would find few
subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could
not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its
abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen
in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted
vehicle. . . . I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is
better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is
nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. He
who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all
false.
