Most of the press is in league with government, or with the status quo.

Pinter’s remark expresses a deep skepticism about the independence of mainstream journalism. By saying the press is “in league” with government or “the status quo,” he suggests that news institutions often function less as adversarial watchdogs than as partners—whether through shared interests, access-dependence, ideological alignment, or structural pressures (ownership, advertising, professional norms). The phrase “status quo” broadens the charge beyond any single administration to the wider system of power and consensus. In Pinter’s wider political stance, such complicity helps normalize official narratives, marginalize dissent, and make state violence or deception easier to sustain in public life.