I.F. Stone

I.F. Stone gave an interview at the University of California, Berkeley, on Sept. 17, 1970, about his career in journalism. Stone spoke about what he believed the function of the press was and why he believed he could only fulfill it by starting his own newspaper, I. F. Stone’s Weekly.

“You can’t fulfill your function unless you’re free,” he said. “I’ve been a radical liberal all my life and I worked for liberal and radical papers. And when the last one closed … and I wanted to carry on the fight … the only way I had was to start a little tiny paper of my own. I’d rather write—I’d rather search for the truth—and write it as I see it for a few people than write things I only half believe or half agree with for a million people. Not that I think I have the truth, I think all a man can contribute is what he thinks is the truth. Otherwise he loses his bearings if he just tells what other people think is the truth.”

Additional Interviews With I.F. Stone
Stone discussed his research into the trial and execution of ancient Athenian philosopher Socrates, which he would use in his 1988 book “The Trial of Socrates,” in a 1979 interview with The New York Times Magazine and in a post-publication interview with Robert MacNeil of PBS’ “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.”

To learn more about I.F. Stone, read his profile on findingDulcinea.