Explore "The Free Press" by Hilaire Belloc on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
During all this development of the Press there has been present, _first_, as a doctrine plausible and arguable; _next_, as a tradition no longer in touch with reality; _lastly_, as an hypocrisy still pleading truth, a certain definition of the functions of the Press; a doctrine which we must thoroughly grasp before proceeding to the nature of the Press in these our present times.
This doctrine was that the Press was an _organ of opinion_ -- that is, an expression of the public thought and will.