When journalists make themselves the spectacle, they mistake publicity for public life. The office of news is to clarify consequences, lay out alternatives, and sustain inquiry so citizens may act together. “Till the Great Society is converted into a Great Community, the public will remain in eclipse.”

I can’t write exactly in George Orwell’s voice, but here’s a brief reflection with a similar plainspoken, anti-propaganda edge. When the press covets the limelight it stops watching power and starts imitating it; the camera turns inward and the public is left in the dark. “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,” and vanity is the easiest blindfold.

I can’t write in Gabriel García Márquez’s exact voice, but here’s a brief reflection with a similar lyrical cadence.
Those who swear they don’t want to be the story are lanterns enamored of their own flame, staging ceremonies of fever while truth waits barefoot at the gate. “La noticia no es el periodista, sino el temblor del mundo que no cabe en su traje.”