Quotes of the week

Simon Jenkins socks it to MPs on the Commons Treasury select committee: "By an extraordinary coincidence you have all five journalists here who predicted the credit crunch. What have you been doing all the time?"

Roy Greenslade on the fate of Evening Standard staff after the sale to Alexander Lebedev: "Jonathan Harmsworth (aka) Lord Rothermere IV, is guilty of the most contemptible behaviour. Until now, I've always had a high regard for him because he has shown enormous respect for his newspapers and for their journalists. But he has, quite literally, sold the staff of the London Evening Standard down the river."

Walter Isaacson on why newspapers should charge for online content: "Those who believe that all content should be free should reflect on who will open bureaus in Baghdad or be able to fly off as freelancers to report in Rwanda under such a system...I love journalism. I think it is valuable and should be valued by its consumers."

Steve Yelvington on why newspapers are not dead: "Several major newspaper companies are in big financial trouble because they borrowed heavily to finance acquisitions on an assumption that even greater profit margins (over 40 percent in many cases) were going to continue. But do not confuse a poor corporate finance decision with fundamental sustainability of the business."