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The Free Press

hilaire belloc

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Hilaire Belloc, a great English essayist of the 20th century, takes an uncompromising look at the forces working against the freedom of the press. Targeting financial and political influences, along with the influence of advertising, Belloc exposes the powers and motives responsible for the suppression of news and the manufacturing of opinion. Neither pie-in-the-sky idealism nor an irrational conspiracy theory, The Free Press is a rationally argued essay explaining the origins of those influences and factors that make the press less than what it should be honest: fair, and independent. This is a topical work written almost a century ago. Times have changed, but the situation has gone from bad to worse, and thus this work is even more relevant today. This book will be of interest to anyone, particularly the student of journalism and its history, who is curious about the rise of the major papers and media networks, and about the forces both overt and semi-covert working to shape what is reported and which opinions are sanctioned.

null pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2002

This edition

Format
null pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 2002 by IndyPublish
ISBN
9781428021433
ASIN
1428021434
Language
English

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About the author

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hilaire belloc

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Hilaire Belloc was a French-British writer, historian, poet, and orator, known for his sharp wit, extensive literary output, and strong political and religious convictions. Born in France to a French father and an English mother, he was educated at Oxford, where he distinguished himself as a debater and scholar. Throughout his career, he wrote prolifically across a wide range of genres, producing histories, essays, travelogues, poetry, and satirical works.
Among his best-known writings are Cautionary Tales for Children, a collection of humorous yet dark moral verses, and his historical works, which often reflected his staunch Catholicism and critique of Protestant interpretations of history. He was a leading advocate of distributism, an economic theory promoting small-scale property ownership as a middle ground between capitalism and socialism, which he championed alongside his close friend G.K. Chesterton.
In politics, Belloc served as a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party but grew disillusioned with the political establishment. His polemical style and strong opinions made him a controversial figure, particularly in his critiques of modernism, secularism, and financial capitalism, which he viewed as threats to traditional Christian society.
Belloc's literary legacy is vast, and his influence extends into both historical and literary circles. His writing, characterized by erudition, humor, and a forceful rhetorical style, continues to be studied and appreciated for its intellectual vigor and unique perspective on history, society, and human nature.

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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 17 votes)
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17 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
yourMindIsFucked
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Though it has much to say about the inherent corruption of for-profit media, the predominance of this short book is emotional, ideological drivel. I am impressed that Belloc points out the short-comings of the free press, as well, but it's not enough. I would have liked to have seen less screed and more analysis.
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TheJrdzone
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Very good book regarding the media, and those who ultimately control it.
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Nightcreed101
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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ENGLISH: Excellent article about the evils of what he calls "the official Press," how it suppresses some news, distorts others, or invents a few, as a part of the political agenda of its owners or advertising sponsors, never in favor of the public.

He also considers how the free Press, however puny and subject to boycott, can try to launch a never-ending fight against the official press.

I found this article, published just over one century ago, startlingly up-to-date. In fact, his description of the tricks and schemes of the lawyer-lobby reminded me of those used today by the gay-lobby.

ESPAÑOL: Un artículo excelente sobre los males de "la prensa oficial", de esta cómo suprime algunas noticias, distorsiona otras o inventa unas pocas, como parte de la agenda política de sus propietarios o patrocinadores publicitarios, nunca a favor del público.

También considera cómo la prensa libre, aunque sea débil y se la someta a un boicot, puede lanzar una lucha permanente contra la prensa oficial.

Este artículo, que se publicó hace poco más de un siglo, es sorprendentemente actual. De hecho, la descripción que da de los trucos y planes del lobby de abogados de su época me recordó el comportamiento actual del lobby gay.
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animEid
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Belloc nails it. As applicable today in the blogger vs Fox/CNN era as it was 100 years ago.
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umutozer323
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A sort of addendum to "The Servile State", Belloc describes the problem with a press that obtains the majority of its revenue from advertising, viz. that the publisher will always find it in his best interest to omit (or distort) portions of the truth. Inasmuch as large business concerns are tied up with politics, for-profit newspapers can quickly turn into the "official press" of the government. In order to get a full picture of what is actually going on, one must read many small papers published by groups championing their various causes, but balance out the extremism or eccentricities of their various accounts by focusing on facts about which they all agree. Easily read in one sitting, this thought-provoking 1918 essay will bring to mind many examples from the present day.
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Rock_and_Revy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Assuming you have patience with the language (it is written in that very formal WW2 era British style, which gets a bit droll) The Free Press is well worth a read. Still relevant today, it highlights many of the problems that our not-so-free press (the Lame Stream media, in Sarah Palin's immortal words) suffers from. It also offers plentiful solutions for spreading a truly free press.
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berschierke
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This is not a querulous complaint against evils that are human and necessary, and therefore always present. I detest such waste of energy, and I agree with all my heart in the statement recently made by the Editor of "The New Age" that in moments such as these, when any waste is inexcusable, sterile complaint is the worst of waste. But my complaint here is not sterile. It is fruitful. This Capitalist Press has come at last to warp all judgment. The tiny oligarchy which controls it is irresponsible and feels itself immune. It has come to believe that it can suppress any truth and suggest any falsehood. It governs, and governs abominably: and it is governing thus in the midst of a war for life.

From the time I picked this up (2012), for fickle reasons ("Hey, it's free!"), to the time I started reading it (2020), for fickle reasons ("Hey, it's short!"), I did not realize I had picked up one of the most timely hundred-year-old books I had in my (virtual) library.

All the vices, all the unreality, and all the peril that goes with the existence of an official Press is stamped upon the great dailies of our time. They are not independent where Power is concerned. They do not really criticize. They serve a clique whom they should expose, and denounce and betray the generality—that is the State—for whose sake the salaried public servants should be perpetually watched with suspicion and sharply kept in control. The result is that the mass of Englishmen have ceased to obtain, or even to expect, information upon the way they are governed.

There are examples here which are quite obscure, and can only be guessed at, in a sense of mutatis mutandis. On the other hand, what about this part needs altering?

Next consider this powerful factor in the business. The truth confirms itself. Half a million people read of a professional politician, for instance, that his oratory has an "electric effect," or that he is "full of personal magnetism," or that he "can sway an audience to tears or laughter at will." A Free Paper telling the truth about him says that he is a dull speaker, full of commonplaces, elderly, smelling strongly of the Chapel, and giving the impression that he is tired out; flogging up sham enthusiasm with stale phrases which the reporters have already learnt to put into shorthand with one conventional outline years ago. Well, the false, the ludicrously false picture designed to put this politician in the limelight (as against favours to be rendered), no doubt remains the general impression with most of those 500,000 people. The simple and rather tawdry truth may be but doubtfully accepted by a few hundreds only. [...] But a man who has even once seen it stated that this politician was exactly what he was will vividly remember that description (which at first hearing he probably thought false); physical experience has confirmed the true statement and made it live. These statements of truth, even when they are quite unimportant, more, of course, when they illuminate matters of great civic moment, have a cumulative effect.



Belloc's conclusion is hopeful, and left me feeling hopeful about the current state of affairs.

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PlasmaBean
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Excellent book. Probably the best media analysis I have ever read, and yet it was written over 100 years ago. As an Australian, it describes perfectly the current situation we find ourselves in. This could easily have been written as a polemic against Rupert Murdoch specifically, but also the packer family and fossil fuel lobbyists.

The only weakness I can think of was a slightly dry writing style, although I did appreciate that he was very concise and didn’t write more words than necessary. His sly comment about feminism being pathetic and an insult to the Christian institutions (
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