The rest of the "information wants to be free" quote

Information wants more then to be free. But too many people forget that.

Adam Tinworth
Adam Tinworth

Too many lazy journalists use the phrase "information wants to be free" without knowing the whole of the quote it comes from:

On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.

Ironically, knowing the whole of the quote might make it much easier to understand the challenges journalism is going through…

Steven Levy told the story of how it came to be said a few years back.

digital culture

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Adam is a lecturer, trainer and writer. He's been a blogger for over 20 years, and a journalist for more than 30. He lectures on audience strategy and engagement at City, University of London.

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