“In the very first month of Indian Opinion, I realized that the sole aim of journalism should be service. The newspaper press is a great power, but just as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole countrysides and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If the control is from without, it proves more poisonous than want of control. It can be profitable only when exercised from within. If this line of reasoning is correct, how many of the journals in the world would stand the test? But who would stop those that are useless? And who should be the judge? The useful and the useless must, like good and evil generally, go on together, and man must make his choice.”
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Source: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (Autobiography), on founding The Indian Opinion (Part IV).
About this quote
Real influence is dangerous precisely because it's powerful; the same reach that informs can also wreck. Rules imposed from outside breed worse distortions than they fix, so the only trustworthy check is the writer's own restraint, aimed at service rather than effect.
When to use it
- A journalist kills a sensational scoop because the sourcing isn't solid enough to be fair.
- A popular blogger fact-checks a rumor before posting rather than chasing the clicks.
- A group admin sets their own standard for what to share, refusing to amplify posts that inflame.

