Quotes of the Week

US President Barack Obama marks World Press Freedom Day: "Today, I lend my voice of support and admiration to all those brave men and women of the press who labor to expose truth and enhance accountability around the world. In so doing, I recall the words of Thomas Jefferson: "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

Grey Cardigan on being offered the editorship of the Daily Beast: "To be honest, I can’t think of a more insulting offer in all my life. What do these people take me for? So did I take this ludicrous non-job and betray every single one of my dwindling principles along the way? I’m a newspaperman. Of course I did. Oh, and it’s Mr fucking Cardigan in future …"

Tim Luckhurst in The Independent on the BBC's offer to work with local media: "The BBC is masquerading as the saviour of British journalism, but that is not its real objective. (BBC director general Mark) Thompson's apparent generosity to rivals disguises his pursuit of the BBC's most intransigent conviction: that the licence fee must endure and that all of it must go to the BBC."

Indy staffer (Penguinpost) in a post on MediaGuardian story about financial problems faced by The Independent:"I've worked for several national newspapers (including the guardian), and I've never come across a more talented, brilliant group of people than at the indy. The paper we produce is a daily miracle and makes me proud. We don't need £5,000 sofas and "media hubs" to feel superior to others; we've got more journalistic integrity than you lot could ever aspire to."

Yorkshire Post Newspapers' NUJ journalists in leaflet to Leeds public: “Once again, thank-you. We believe the company will be back to make more cuts, and, when it does, we will down tools and strike. It gives us great heart to know that, when we do, you, our readers, will be standing alongside us.”


Wire creator and ex-newspaper journalist David Simon : "You do not - in my city - run into bloggers or so-called citizen journalists at City Hall, or in the courthouse hallways or in the bars and union halls where police officers gather. You do not see them consistently nurturing and then pressing sources. You do not see them holding institutions accountable on a daily basis.
"Why? Because high-end journalism - that which acquires essential information about our government and society in the first place - is a profession; it requires daily, full-time commitment by trained men and women who return to the same beats day in and day out until the best of them know everything with which a given institution is contending."