The job of the newsman is not to make government easier, but at times to make it more difficult. He must begin with the premise that the more the people know, the wiser they will be. He must end with the conclusion that the role of the press is not to be popular with either the politician or the public, but rather to be honest with both.

If newsmen were determined not to print anything until they were sure it would not offend anyone, there would be very little printed.

– from a speech given by the late Montgomery Advertiser editor and publisher Harold Martin to the Montgomery Baptist Minister’s Conference. The “Complete Text of Speech” was reprinted in the Advertiser on March 8, 1977.