Value of free press

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