“A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a public as base as itself”

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
Wikipedia: Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer (Listeni/ˈpʊlɨtsər/ puul-it-sər;[2] April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911), born Pulitzer József, was a Hungarian-American Jewish newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World. Pulitzer introduced the techniques of “new journalism” to the newspapers he acquired in the 1880s. He became a leading national figure in the Democratic Party and was elected Congressman from New York. He crusaded against big business and corruption.
 
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May 1904, North American Review, “The College of Journalism” by Joseph Pulitzer, pg. 680:
An able disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public’ virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a public as base as itself.