Value of free press

In your Jan. 7 editorial Press freedom or fiefdom, the apt quotation from Thomas Erskine on the value of a free press reminds me of these lines from Thomas Jefferson (in a letter of January 1787): "... were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

MICHAEL S. DOUGHERTY

Jakarta