---
title: Liberty and the News
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920/
description: Liberty and the News by Walter Lippmann (1920), full text with provenance and rights.
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg)

[Library](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/) · Book

# Liberty and the News

At a glance

Lippmann's 1920 essays on press freedom and the quality of the news, written before Public Opinion.

- **Author:** Walter Lippmann
- **Published:** 1920
- **Origin:** United States
- **Length:** 14,339 words, 4 chapters

Full details

- **Edition:** Liberty and the News. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920 (two of the three essays first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, 1919; Project Gutenberg's proofread transcription)
- **Language:** English
- **Text source:** [Project Gutenberg, ebook #77035](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77035)
- **Text basis:** Proofread transcription by Project Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders.
- **Rights:** Published in the United States in 1920 (the Atlantic Monthly essays in 1919), so in the public domain in the United States (published before 1931); Project Gutenberg marks the ebook public domain in the USA. Lippmann died in 1974, so a life-plus-70 term still runs in some other countries.
- **Rights checked:** October 2, 2026

On this page

- [Read the text](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920/#read)
- [Provenance and rights](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920/#provenance)
- [Where it appears in the archive](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920/#cited)

Three essays by Walter Lippmann, published in 1920, on what a free press owes to the public and how the news is gathered and selected: "Journalism and the Higher Law", "What Modern Liberty Means" and "Liberty and the News". The archive's page on Lippmann's *Public Opinion* places it between the war and that book, arguing that the press was failing to supply reliable facts, and cites it in its notes. This is the whole book, with the author's preface.

## Read the text

- [Author's Preface](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920/01-author-s-preface/) 119 words
- [Journalism and the Higher Law](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920/02-journalism-and-the-higher-law/) 2,081 words
- [What Modern Liberty Means](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920/03-what-modern-liberty-means/) 7,058 words
- [Liberty and the News](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920/04-liberty-and-the-news/) 5,081 words

[Download as plain text](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920/lippmann-liberty-and-the-news-1920.txt) 14,339 words, with the provenance header above the text

## Provenance and rights

- **Edition:** Liberty and the News. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920 (two of the three essays first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, 1919; Project Gutenberg's proofread transcription)
- **Text source:** [Project Gutenberg, ebook #77035](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77035)
- **Text basis:** Proofread transcription by Project Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders.
- **Rights:** Published in the United States in 1920 (the Atlantic Monthly essays in 1919), so in the public domain in the United States (published before 1931); Project Gutenberg marks the ebook public domain in the USA. Lippmann died in 1974, so a life-plus-70 term still runs in some other countries. Checked October 2, 2026.
- **Changes made:** Line wraps rejoined and headings set in title case; the Project Gutenberg licence header and footer removed. Wording, spelling and punctuation are the source's own. The book's contents list is left out.
- **Source file checksum:** `d227b37911837484…` (SHA-256 of the download this text was made from)

## Where it appears in the archive

- [Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (1922)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/lippmann-public-opinion/)