Media Quotes of the Week: From Jeremy Corbyn plays the NUJ card to stop booing to Evening Standard editor George Osborne before and after

Jeremy Corbyn after Labour supporters booed reporters asking questions at the party's manifesto launch, as reported by Press Gazette: “No, please. Let’s have respect for everyone who wants to ask a question including members of the media. By the way, I’m a member of the NUJ."

Len McCluskey in an interview with Politico claimed working class voters who say they are going to vote Tory for the first time are doing so: “Because their mind is being turned by the constant attack of the media on Jeremy Corbyn and the image that they’ve pinned on Jeremy.”

Tory manifesto media pledges, as reported by Press Gazette: “Given the comprehensive nature of the first stage of the Leveson Inquiry and given the lengthy investigations by the police and Crown Prosecution Service into alleged wrongdoing, we will not proceed with the second stage of the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press. We will repeal Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2014, which, if enacted, would force media organisations to become members of a flawed regulatory system or risk having to pay the legal costs of both sides in libel and privacy cases, even if they win.”

Donald J. Trump‏@realDonaldTrump on Twitter: "As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!.......Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future "press briefings" and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???"

Trump, reported by the Washington Post: “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly.”

Donald J. Trump‏@realDonaldTrump on Twitter: "This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!"

David Brooks on Trump in the New York Times: "He is thus the all-time record-holder of the Dunning-Kruger effect, the phenomenon in which the incompetent person is too incompetent to understand his own incompetence. Trump thought he’d be celebrated for firing James Comey. He thought his press coverage would grow wildly positive once he won the nomination. He is perpetually surprised because reality does not comport with his fantasies."

Tim Adams in the Observer on Paul Dacre: "Observation suggests that as people age, they tend to become more like themselves. Dacre is 68. If the past year is anything to go by, he and his paper seem to be becoming more Dacre-like with each passing month. He first took the helm of the Mail during the ERM crisis in 1992. At the time, Vere Harmsworth, then proprietor of the paper, told the Financial Times: 'I am quite clearly in favour of a common market but I am not in favour of a federal Europe. Nor is the Daily Mail.' He added that perhaps his new editor did not share that distinction and occasionally went too far. 'Sometimes I think Paul would like to tow England out into the middle of the Atlantic,' he observed. Twenty-five years on, the moorings are being released, and Dacre appears ready to set sail."

Daily Mail in a leader:  "Not a moment too soon, the Tories are to pledge a crackdown on social media giants, with stiff fines to protect minors from pornography and ensure offensive material and bullying tweets are taken down...These tax-dodging, filth-peddling, terror-abetting purveyors of fake news have been a law unto themselves for far too long."

Gareth Davies‏ @Gareth_Davies09 On Twitter: "So publishers, show your commitment to #trustednewsday by investing in your papers & staff. Give them the time to their jobs properly...As noble as this campaign is, the mantra at many local papers is publish first. Checking is very much a secondary concern in race for hits."

Martin Bell, speaking at a Yorkshire Post literary lunch: "I believe that our newspapers are worth fighting for against the trend of the times. They are the mainstream Press. Their reports are fact-based. They provide real news, not fake news. They offer shared experiences. And at the regional and local level they bind our communities together. My own belief is that the present storm will pass. This newspaper is not only a business but a public service. It has a proud tradition. It has a loyal readership. It belongs to its readers in a way that no fly-by-night website can hope to achieve. The relationship is a special one. We must not only read our newspapers but support them. Nor should we take them for granted: for if we take them for granted we can easily lose them."

Sun spokesman in a statement: “Further to our statement on 15 April that Kelvin MacKenzie’s services as a columnist for The Sun were suspended, we can confirm that Mr MacKenzie’s column will not return to The Sun and his contract with News Group Newspapers has been terminated by mutual consent.”

The Mirror on George Osborne before and after becoming a newspaper editor: "Former Chancellor George Osborne looks like he’s had a rough first week in his new job if his dishevelled appearance is anything to go by. The Evening Standard editor, 45, looked as though he had forgotten to brush his hair as he went tieless on the way to work after grabbing breakfast and a coffee to go. Snapped at 7.05am today, the scruffy look was a far cry from his first morning in the job just eight days earlier."

Media Quotes of the Week: Sold the Front Page! Backlash hits local press over political party ads to Mail bashes Financial Times over Brexit sums

Fraser Nelson on Spectator blogs: "It is tragic that local newspapers have been reduced to selling front pages to politicians, but it’s a grim reflection of the murderous market conditions. This also underlines the risk posed to press freedom. Now and again, politicians pretend take a great interest in the standards of the press (Leveson, etc) and propose a system (like Max Mosley’s ‘Impress’) that creates a regulatory hierarchy, with politicians at the top. They sense, rightly, that the press has never been weaker. Ministers also profess to be very worried about fake news. But this election shows show how their main interest is, and always will be, the manipulation of the news to their own ends. It is the job of a free press to counteract this, but a free press needs money. When the money comes from politicians, the results are hideous."

Roy Greenslade in the Guardian: "The front pages of scores of titles carried large pictures of the prime minister under the headline 'Theresa May for Britain' plus her familiar slogan about the need to strengthen her hand in the Brexit negotiations. Sure, it carried the line about it being an “advertiser’s announcement” and the Electoral Commission argued that did not break electoral law. If so, the law needs amending because it allows money to play a disproportionate role in election campaigning."

Dominic Ponsford in Press Gazette: "Editors are responsible for the advertising which appears in their newspapers and have to ensure that it is not misleading or in breach of the law. They aren’t making a political statement by accepting advertising and it won’t influence the admirably even-handed political coverage most local newspapers provide. While editors would undoubtedly prefer to have news, rather than ads, on the front page. In the current climate they cannot afford to turn down the business."

Readers' petition:"As regular readers of the Westmorland Gazette we are dismayed to see OUR community paper being misused for party political purposes. Whilst we would welcome balanced representation of all LOCAL candidates within the paper, we feel strongly that a front page advert for a single national party is not acceptable (especially when published on a polling day (4/5/17)!). We request that you publish a full front page apology in your next issue. Please note that many of us will be boycotting the paper until this occurs."

Séamus Dooley, acting NUJ general secretary, in a statement: “Journalists on local newspapers are gravely concerned at the blurring of lines between editorial content and advertising. There has been a strong backlash from readers as a result of wraparound advertising purchased by political parties and presented in a news format. The advertising is clearly designed to convey the impression of a news story and incorporates the paper masthead. There is a long, proud tradition of clearly differentiating between news and adverting, even in newspapers which adopt a partisan editorial line, and that principle should not be abandoned."

BuzzFeed reports: "Jeremy Corbyn's team told BuzzFeed News it was 'not invited' to campaign events on Tuesday and that access to the Labour leader would be limited for the rest of the campaign, following the publication of an interview on Monday night in which Corbyn said he intended to remain in the job even if he lost the general election....Political editor Jim Waterson, who carried out the interview, then contacted Corbyn's spokesperson to find out why we had not been invited to the campaign stops. A senior Corbyn aide told him that BuzzFeed News would now find its access limited because the interview had disrupted media coverage of Labour's launch event, that we had not informed Corbyn's team in advance of the headline we intended to run, and that we had press-released the interview to other media organisations who then chose to pick it up."

Michael Crick‏@MichaelLCrick on Twitter: "I was told by May aide I wasn't on list to ask May a question, & there was no point in putting my hand up to ask one....What shocks me is reporters collaborate with May press team by agreeing to reveal their questions to them in advance."

Jodie Ginsberg, CEO at Index on Censorship, which has published a review of press freedom in the US: “Animosity toward the press comes in many forms. Journalists are targeted in several ways: from social media trolling to harassment by law enforcement to over-the-top public criticism by those in the highest office. The negative atmosphere for journalists is damaging for the public and their right to information.”

The Times [£] in a leader: "Rumours are an occupational hazard of the news business, but in the digital age, rumours based on fantasy and fabrication spread without limit. Regardless of the merits of the candidates in western elections, it is a threat to democracy when Mr Putin’s online fabulists run campaigns of defamation. The response of western governments should be uncompromising. In Britain, Russia Today has been found in breach of the regulator’s broadcasting code on multiple occasions. France is experiencing similar shameless subversion. It’s past time to crack down on the propaganda of a hostile foreign power."

Daily Mail in a leader:"As for how much more he [the European Commission’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier] hopes to extort, a few weeks ago he suggested we ‘owe’ some £50 billion. But yesterday, the EU’s slavish devotees at the Japanese-owned Financial Times — whose editor has been nominated for France’s Legion d’Honneur in recognition of his services to the European project — went further still. Plucking figures from the air, its Brussels correspondent opined that ‘new demands driven by France and Germany’ would increase our ‘upfront’ Brexit bill to some £85 billion. As any child should be able to see, such figures carry no authority whatever."

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Media Quotes of the Week: From Kelvin MacKenzie's reverse ferret on Corbyn headline to editor Osborne must not lobby Government

Kelvin MacKenzie, asked by Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times what headline he would like to see in the Sun were he still in charge: “ 'I think the fake news headline that would give this country the most joy,' he replied cheerfully, would be ‘Jeremy Corbyn Knifed to Death by an Asylum Seeker'.”

Bennhold adds: (The next morning, I got a text message from Mr. MacKenzie: “Hi Katrin, Can you change that perfect headline from ‘Jeremy Corbyn knifed to death by asylum seeker’ to ‘Jeremy Corbyn Defrauded by Asylum Seeker.’ In the light of Jo Cox murder mine is in tol poor taste.”)

Kelvin MacKenzie in the Spectator: "During the height of the Rossgate furore I texted Tony Gallagher, the bloody good editor of the Sun. He replied: ‘In church. Will be free in a few minutes.’ How times have changed. In my more louche period as editor of that fine organ, I would reply: ‘In brothel. Will be free in a few seconds'."

The Times [£] in a leader on MPs condemning social media giants for publishing terrorist propaganda and racist content: "Social media companies have indicted themselves at every stage of this scandal. It is indecent that they should have published any of this content in the first place. That they have profited by hosting it is all the more obscene. It is worse still that they have failed to take down material that is not only immoral but illegal, too. Their consistent refusal to devote more resources to moderating the content they publish betrays a reckless and cynical mindset in which any considerations of social or moral responsibility are subjugated by the profit motive."

Michael Heseltine in The Observer: "I am appalled by people who pretend to regret the decline in standards of public life and only exacerbate them. The bigotry of the editor of the Daily Mail, coupled with that of Nigel Farage, have been among the most potent driving forces of this tragedy."

News Media Association chairman Ashley Highfield announcing the Fight Fake News campaign: “The critical role of local newspapers in providing local communities with highly trusted news and advertising platforms is even more important than ever in the run up to the general election. Through their reporting, local newspapers uphold, promote and support democracy, fighting against the fake news which undermines and subverts it. We must champion the vital democratic function of local newspapers now, more than ever."

Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, after being named Print Journalist of the Year by the London Press Club: "Print journalism is not dead. Print journalism is alive and kicking. Journalism is worth doing and it's worth paying for."

Film director Ken Loach claiming BBC's Nick Robinson is biased towards the Tories after he tweeted that about Jeremy Corbyn being “long on passion and short on details”, as reported by The Times [£]: “That’s the partiality of the BBC. That’s the bias we have to complain about. That’s what we have to fight....The important point is that Nick isn’t fit to interview Jeremy.”

Nick Robinson responds to Ken Loach in The Times [£]: “I judge Ken Loach by the quality of the work he produces. He is a great filmmaker. He should judge me in the same way — by the interviews I do, which I endeavour to make both rigorous and impartial.”

From the Financial Times: "The Guardian newspaper is considering a move from London to the historic Granada TV studios in Manchester and has made inquiries about temporary city centre apartments to tempt its staff to move north."

George Osborne‏@George_Osborne on Twitter: "Excited about first day in new job @EveningStandard. Without fear or favour we'll provide the facts & analysis - and entertain along the way."

Peter Barron‏ @PeteBarronMedia on Twitter: "George Osborne's 1st day at the Standard. On my 1st day on a paper they had me checking sales of dehydrated water. Go on - do it to George!"

Letter to George Osborne from chair of the Advisory Business Appointments  Committee: "You should have no contact with Government on matters relating to press regulation; and for two years from your last day in ministerial office you should not become personally involved in lobbying the Government on behalf of the Evening Standard or its parent company ESI Media."

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Media Quotes of the Week: From TV debate dodging party leaders to why Julian Assange should not be locked up for leaking secrets

Paul Waugh on the HuffPost: "Jeremy Corbyn will not take part in TV debates that do not include Theresa May, Labour sources have revealed. The Labour leader believes that the general election is a choice between two alternative Prime Ministers and won’t contribute to an event which featured only fellow opposition leaders."

Nick Cohen in the Observer: "The notion that democratic politicians must submit themselves to questioning from press and public is dying in Britain. We have a generation of paranoid leaders, delivered to the electorate in packages stuffed with cotton wool."

Jeremy Corbyn, reported by BBC News: "Much of the media and Establishment are saying this election is a foregone conclusion. They think there are rules in politics, which if you don't follow by doffing your cap to powerful people, accepting that things can't really change, then you can't win. But of course those people don't want us to win. Because when we win, it's the people, not the powerful, who win...And in a sense, the establishment and their followers in the media are quite right. I don’t play by their rules. And if a Labour Government is elected on 8 June, then we won’t play by their rules either."

Matt Zarb-Cousin in the Guardian: "Jeremy Corbyn will pitch himself as an insurgent candidate, giving him the space to frame a hostile media as being a part of the establishment, desperate to maintain the status quo."

The Times [£] in a leader: "Mr Corbyn’s message in the first week of the general election campaign has compounded his unsuitability for public office. His opening speech was self-pitying and embittered rather than generous and outward-looking. Denouncing the media and what he vaguely termed the establishment, he protested: 'They think there are rules in politics, which if you don’t follow by doffing your cap to powerful people, accepting that things can’t really change, then you can’t win.' Such are the evasions of a man who will blame emerging electoral catastrophe on anyone and anything but himself. Mr Corbyn has dragged his party down not because he refuses to play by the rules but because he is uninterested in what the voters think."

Reporters Without Borders reports UK dropping down to 40th in the World Press Freedom Index for 2017: "A heavy-handed approach towards the press - often in the name of national security - has resulted in the UK slipping down the World Press Freedom Index. Parliament adopted the most extreme surveillance legislation in UK history, the Investigatory Powers Act, with insufficient protection mechanisms for whistleblowers, journalists, and their sources, posing a serious threat to investigative journalism...Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 remains cause for concern - in particular, the law's punitive cost-shifting measure that could hold publishers liable for the costs of all claims made against them, regardless of merit."

Art Cullen joint-owner of the Storm Lake Times, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing after taking on powerful agricultural interests over pollution, as reported by MailOnline: "We're here to challenge people's assumptions and I think that's what every good newspaper should do."

Sun apology for Kelvin MacKenzie column: "On April 14 we published a piece in the Kelvin MacKenzie column about footballer Ross Barkley which made unfavourable comparisons between Mr Barkley and a gorilla. At the time of publication, the newspaper was unaware of Mr Barkley's heritage and there was never any slur intended. As soon as his background was drawn to our attention, the article was removed from online.We have been contacted by lawyers on behalf of Ross Barkley, who has made a formal complaint about the piece. The Sun has apologised for the offence caused by the piece. We would like to take this opportunity to apologise personally to Ross Barkley."

Trevor Timm in the Guardian on moves to arrest Julian Assange: "In an unprecedented and dangerous move that threatens the press freedom rights of all journalists, the US Justice Department has indicated it is preparing to charge WikiLeaks with a crime and may attempt to arrest its founder Julian Assange...Whether you like or dislike WikiLeaks – especially if you dislike them – it’s important to understand just how dangerous this potential prosecution is to the future of journalism in the United States. Newspapers publish classified information all the time, and any prosecution of WikiLeaks puts journalists of all stripes at risk of a similar fate. Even WikiLeaks’ harshest critics need to denounce this potential move as a grave threat to the first amendment."

Hugo Rifkind in The Times [£]: "Assange is both a brilliant journalist and a terrible one; brilliant for what he reveals, and terrible in his utter lack of ownership of the consequences of his revelations. He should be reviled for this, and increasingly he is, but he cannot be locked up for it. If he is, that would have grave implications for any media outlet, this one included, and I could stand to hear a little more alarm about the prospect. Even a free society has secrets, and even a free society is entitled to protect them. Once they are out, though, you don’t shoot the messenger. Even if he’s horrible."

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Media Quotes of the Week: From Mac the knifed to no newsprint today, we're journalism students!

The Sun in a statement, reported by the Liverpool Echo : “The views expressed by Kelvin MacKenzie about the people of Liverpool were wrong, unfunny and are not the view of the paper. The Sun apologises for the offence caused. The paper was unaware of Ross Barkley’s heritage and there was never any slur intended. Mr MacKenzie is currently on holiday and the matter will be fully investigated on his return.”

Everton Football Club in a statement: "Yesterday Everton Football Club informed The Sun newspaper it was banned from Goodison Park, the USM Finch Farm training ground and all areas of the Club's operation. Whilst we will not dignify any journalist with a response to appalling and indefensible allegations, the newspaper has to know that any attack on this City, either against a much respected community or individual, is not acceptable."

Stephen Daisley on the Spectator's Coffee House blog: "If MacKenzie can get nicked for being a loudmouth, we will soon be treated to comical scenes of the nation’s polemicists lifted for excessive bile. Dawn raids on Melanie Phillips. A historic allegations inquiry into Julie Burchill. Simon Heffer barricading himself inside Buckingham Palace Road, firing off memos to the subbing desk to remind them it’s Telegraph style to refer to the female officers as ‘woman police constables’. First they came for Rod Liddle…"

Peter Preston in The Observer: "MacKenzie doesn’t have unlimited licence to write or say what he likes. He doesn’t rent a white sheet of blank paper from Rupert every columnar morning. On the contrary, he’s contracted to write his piece, turn it in on time, and watch it go through the editing process before appearing in print. MacKenzie was a long-term editor. He knows what editing means. He knows there’s an executive hierarchy – from subs to night lawyers to supreme authorities – there to watch his back. But did they? They commissioned a grisly cartoon to sit with the piece. But the racism and gorilla references that incensed the mayor of Liverpool don’t seem to have rung any alarms. MacKenzie is left to take this rap alone."

David Banks on Voice of the North: "At least THREE senior Sun executive journalists (the paper’s editor, features editor and chief subeditor) should have read and approved his comments before publication, will have created and approved the headline and inserted the ‘gorilla’ eyes illustration that accompanied the article as well as possibly hearing the misgivings of the subeditor who handled the inflammatory copy. Rupert Murdoch is a hard master. Newspapers may now be but a minor part of the multi-billionaire’s global portfolio but he has a sense of pride and demands professionalism of his lieutenants. Expect more than MacKenzie’s head to fall. . ."

Evening Standard editor George Osborne announcing he is standing down as an MP, Order Order: “I will go on fighting for that Britain I love from the editor’s chair of a great newspaper. It’s still too early to be writing my memoirs...I’m very excited about the opportunity to edit the Evening Standard. I’ve met the team there, and their energy and commitment to this great newspaper are positively infectious. [My editorship will offer] straight facts and informed opinion to help them to make the big decisions Britain now faces about the kind of country we want to be. That starts with the coverage of this general election.”

jane martinson‏@janemartinson on Twitter: "Good to see that new editor understands print deadlines. @George_Osborne delivered scoop too late for anything but slip edition."

Peter Houston on TheMediaBriefing: "There seems to be a sense that somehow Facebook and Google have seized their position in the market through some nefarious scheme to subvert the public good. The reality is, audiences and advertisers have migrated to their platforms because they work.
Whether that’s mashing up photos from a pal’s Portugal holiday with breaking news, or intricate audience profiling and ad targeting, Google and Facebook deliver in ways that most publishers can only dream of."

The Times [£] in a leader on its investigation into Aspen Pharmacare:"This is the latest in a series of scandalous abuses of a drug pricing loophole brought to the attention of the public not by regulators, the health service, police or civil servants, but by The Times. As a direct result of this newspaper’s public interest reporting, which is under sustained threat from both the government and the courts, a bill is now before parliament that will close the loophole in question and save the NHS and taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds a year."

Donald J. Trump‏@realDonaldTrump on Twitter: "The Fake Media (not Real Media) has gotten even worse since the election. Every story is badly slanted. We have to hold them to the truth!"

Football chairman Peter Masters, who has saved the Plymouth-based Sunday Independent from closure, as quoted by HoldTheFrontPage: “I’ve read the Indy every Sunday all my life. There was no way I could stand aside and let such a loved and respected part of the West Country sporting scene pass into history."

Roy Greenslade, who teaches journalism at City University,  tells X-City magazine he was:  "Extremely down hearted to discover that not one of my undergraduate students reads a newsprint newspaper."

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Media Quotes of the Week: Police protect pig's privacy to is it time to end post-match interviews?

PA reporter Catherine Wylie‏@wyliecatherine on Twitter: "@WestYorksPolice said they couldn't give out further info about an incident involving an escaped pig on the M62 citing 'data protection'."

Nick Cohen in City University's XCity magazine: "There is massive over supply. There are 74 schools offering graduate journalism degrees in the UK. They're taking the money of thousands of students each year when there aren't the jobs to go to.If bankers were doing the same thing they'd be arrested for mis-selling."

News Corp ceo Robert Thomson in The Times [£]: "Google’s commodification of content knowingly, wilfully undermined provenance for profit. That was followed by the Facebook stream, with its journalistic jetsam and fake flotsam. Together, the two most powerful news publishers in human history have created an ecosystem that is dysfunctional and socially destructive. Both companies could have done far more to highlight that there is a hierarchy of content, but instead they have prospered mightily by peddling a flat-earth philosophy that doesn’t distinguish between the fake and the real because they make copious amounts of money from both."

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tal Smoller: "Worries about the spread of fake news on Facebook, and the backlash against YouTube's inappropriate advertising placements, may inadvertently boost publishers' near-term monetization of online content. The proliferation of news from unverified publishers could spur readers to subscribe to publishers' established paid-for publications. Moreover, the arguably more controlled, predictable content on publishers websites and apps may prove a safe haven for brands reevaluating their digital ad spending on social media."

(((Dan Hodges)))@DPJHodges on Twitter: "Trump's spokesman said Hitler never used chemical weapons. And they accuse us of peddling fake news."

Those were the days: New York Times newsroom 1942 [Wikipedia]

From Yahoo Tech: "More than half of the jobs at US newspapers have disappeared since 2001, with a large portion of the losses offset by employment gains at internet firms, government figures showed Monday. The data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed US newspaper employment fell from 412,000 in January 2001 to 174,000 in September 2016. In the internet publishing and portal segment the number of jobs grew from 67,000 in 2007 -- the earliest for which data was available -- to 206,000 last year."

Peter Wilby in the New Statesman on the Mail's Legs-it front page: "You can call all this shameful, demeaning and sexist, and you would be right. But it is also brilliant: an example of political comment (or propaganda, if you prefer) wrapped in a package that many people will enjoy, laugh at and talk about. It is what tabloid newspapers do. They humanise news that most people might otherwise find dull and abstract. If you don’t like it, don’t read them."

Tom Utley in the Daily Mail on the possible return to Manchester by the Guardian: "Chins up, Polly, Zoe & Co. If you are sent back to Manchester, it’s too much to hope your paper will re-connect with reality. But at least you’ll be reunited with your old friends at the BBC, the prodigals exiled to Salford before you. As the great echo chamber of the subsidised Left moves north, you can be sure that they, at least, will welcome you with that proverbial fatted calf."

Steve Busfield on the International Business Times calls for the end of the post-match interview: "Back in the dark ages the only football manager you would regularly hear of having spoken to the media was Brian Clough – and that was because he was tremendously entertaining. Of course there was also an awful lot less football on television back then. Nowadays the pre and post-match interview is a staple of sport on the box, a function of the need to fill endless hours around every game...Fans watch football for the sport not for the eloquence of the players and managers. Sportsmen and women are admired for their physical skills rather than their loquaciousness. Let's end the inanity of the post-game interview and accept that the reason Clough was so famous was because he was the exception and not the rule."

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