Telegraphik

July of 1947 from the daily column of Miss Eleanor Roosevelt
“In reading quotations from Russian papers in our papers, I find that, in the way they express their attitude against the United States, they strangely resemble some of our papers in their attitude against Russia. The difference, of course, is that the Russian papers are government-controlled and therefore supposedly represent the government point of view, whereas our papers, thank goodness, represent only the point of view of their owners and editors. Undoubtedly they also represent the thinking of a considerable group of people, since they have large circulations, but it is not the official point of view.

The readers of our newspapers sometimes do not read the news at all, and when they do, they sometimes do not believe what they read. I once asked a man why he read a certain New York City paper, when he was expressing to me such completely different political views from those held by the paper. He looked at me and said: “The sports sheet is good and that is the only page I really read, except perhaps some of the comic strips. They have some of the best in this paper.” That remark was illuminating.

The Russian people are at a great disadvantage, of course, because they have only the government-controlled papers to read. They have only government-controlled radio. And so, if they want to be independent-thinking citizens, there is really very little hope of getting any point of view except the one the Government wishes them to have.” ~ E.R.

Eleanor Roosevelt was ahead of her time when analyzing the importance of media, and expression. Truly we can find inspiration in truly enabling independent thinking citizens here, and abroad. Over time we have seen Government and Big Corporations influence our media more and more primarily TV and Newspapers but also our mainstream online publications. Today just as in the Post World War 2 era we have a pressing need for independent thought and an attention to how and why Governments and Corporations hold influence over our Press and our Media.