E.B. White on the free press:
Last edited Tue Mar 20, 2012, 09:54 PM - Edit history (1)
Late-1975, Esquire magazine announced that a forthcoming 23-page article by Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Harrison Salisbury, to be published in their February 1976 issue, had been sponsored by Xerox.
After hearing of the arrangement, E. B. White — author of Charlotte's Web and long-serving contributor to The New Yorker — wrote a letter to his local newspaper and voiced his disapproval. In the coming weeks, Xerox responded with a letter to White; White then replied to Xerox.
All three letters can be found below. White's eloquent letter to Xerox, in which he passionately explains the beauty of a free press and the potential dangers of such a sponsorship, is particularly brilliant.
E. B. White's argument was so strong that Xerox subsequently pulled the plug on their plans.
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/03/e-b-white-on-free-press.html
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"Whenever money changes hands, something goes along with it—an intangible something that varies with the circumstances."
