Quotes of the Week

Sir Michael Parkinson, opening Nottingham Trent University's new Centre for Broadcasting and Journalism:“We should be worried about a state of affairs where local papers in particular are under threat and are closing. Local papers are a vital part of a community, most importantly as a means of ensuring local authorities serve the public in a right and proper manner as well as being a sounding board for opinion, and a guide to what’s going on."

Henry Porter in The Observer: "All news starts off local. Without reporters dropping into a court case, pestering the manager of an NHS trust, sitting through an inquest or badgering the local bobbies, democracy and accountability in Britain would not be possible."

Rupert Murdoch writing in the new Innovations in Newspapers 2009 World Report: "I believe newspapers have a wonderful future. As printed products and as newly empowered news brands that deliver great journalism across many platforms customized to the interests of readers."

Peter Preston in The Observer: "Newsquest's titles - inherited from Reed and the Westminster Press - are almost randomly spread: from Brighton to Glasgow, from Essex to Darlington. Bundle many of them for regional sell-offs and Trinity Mirror and the rest see deals that make sense if the price is right."

Channel 4's Jon Snow in Guardian interview: "The whole beauty, the democratising aspect of the web, is that it's free. I'll go every which way not to pay for content. This idea of citizen journalists taking over the world, that's crap. But what they are doing is democratising what we do, and deepening it. Look at the pictures from the G20 protests: we've collected material from 20-30 individuals, and used it and our equipment to vastly deepen it. We've been able to track an individual police officer over five hours. That's a crystal example of what can be done now. It's a delirious moment, a really exciting time."

Ben Goldacre of Bad Science blog on Swine Flu: "I have been genuinely weirded out by the number of people inviting me to be a naysayer on the aporkalypse. I’m not, it’s a genuine risk."

Kelvin MacKenzie in the Sun on Swine Flu: "A couple get a cold in Scotland and you would have thought that an earthquake had wiped out Stoke. Abroad is a dangerous place for health. I picked up a verruca in Majorca but it didn't make the Ten O'Clock News."