We have our own system, ... and journalists in our system are not put in prison for embarrassing the government by revealing things the government might not wish to have revealed. The important thing is that our system, under which journalists can write without fear or favor, should continue.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of a free press in a democratic society.
Chris Patten’s quote highlights the critical role that a free and independent press plays in holding government accountable and ensuring transparency. It underscores the idea that journalists must be able to operate without fear of reprisal, as their ability to reveal uncomfortable truths is essential for a healthy democracy. The preservation of such a system is portrayed as vital for the public’s right to know and the overall function of society.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of democracy, a politician might quote this to emphasize the role of the media.
Nothing is harder, yet nothing is more necessary, than to speak of certain things whose existence is neither demonstrable nor probable. The very fact that serious and conscientious men treat them as existing things brings them a step closer to existence and to the possibility of being born.
My internal and external life depend so much on the work of others that I must make an extreme effort to give as much as I receive.
I think that it's hard enough being an adolescent and wanting so much to fit in with your peers, your schoolmates, and to erase any sign of difference, to be part of the group. And being biracial but also being black in a predominately white school marked me as different.
The main purpose of engaging in conversation can no longer be personal advancement or respectability. Instead, I'd like for us to use conversations to create equality, to open ourselves to strangers, and, most practically, to remake our working world.
One open way of speaking introduces another open way of speaking, and draws out discoveries, like wine and love.
There has been an outpouring of anger and concern because of the actions of George Zimmerman, a private citizen who profiled a young boy and pursued him and tried to confront him, perhaps. But what George Zimmerman did is no different than what police officers do every day as a matter of standard operating procedure.
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