Quotes of the Week

Media editor Dan Sabbagh reports in The Times: "Ministers are quietly drawing up legislation that would tear up merger regimes for television, regional newspapers and local radio as part of the biggest shake-up in media regulation since the beginning of the decade."

Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary: “The big media companies are lobbying for mergers so they can swap titles and create regional monopolies with radio stations as well. This is not about improving the service to readers and advertisers or saving jobs. It is about a green light for more cuts to please shareholders. It would be government approval for soulless news factories producing allegedly local papers for huge areas with no real contact with the communities they serve."

Steve Brill of new company Journalism Online which aims to show newspapers how they can charge for content online: “We have formed Journalism Online because we think this is a special moment in time when there is an urgent need for a business model that allows quality journalism to be the beneficiary of the Internet’s efficient delivery mechanism rather than its victim.”

Howard Owens, former director of digital publishing at GateHouse Media, on newspapers charging for online content: "At this point, I would totally oppose it. I think it's going to open you up to failure and greatly expose your newspaper to competition. It's easy for one laid-off reporter — and there are many of them out there — to go and start his own Web site and be totally disruptive."

Guido Fawkes blows up the Lobby on his blog: "Cowardice and cronyism runs right through the Lobby. Fear of being taken off the teat of pre-packaged stories served to them. That is not journalism, that is copy-taking. The many stories filed this week which reveal just how horrible Brown’s cabal have been are of mere historical interest. They would have been brave if they had been written before McPoison was toppled."