Quotes of the Week

Reporters Without Borders on the massacre of journalists in the Philippines: "Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day.”

Ian Burrell in the Independent on the great pay wall debate: "The British newspaper industry is on the verge of an historic schism, a fundamental split in beliefs that will set one part of the business on a collision course with the other. Far greater than the ideological differences that have traditionally set apart the great national titles, this divergence in opinion – over whether the written word should be a free commodity or one that is charged for – will set the news industry at each other’s throats."

Andrew Neil, also in the Independent: “As an industry we took a huge wrong turn. It was a new technology and we didn’t quite understand it. We had been told that if we got the eyeballs – in the usual digital dotcom jargon – the money would follow. Well, we got the eyeballs and the money hasn’t followed.”

Jeff Jarvis on his Buzz Machine blog: "News Corp. leaving Google would be a mosquito bite on an elephant’s ass. Unnoticed by Google or by the audience. For there will always be – as Murdoch laments – free competitors: the BBC and Australian Broadcasting Corp, which he and his son complain about, not to mention the Guardian, the Telegraph, NPR, CBC, and any sensible news organization worldwide."

Justice Secretary Jack Straw in the Sunday Times: “The very high levels of remuneration for defamation lawyers in Britain seem to be incentivising libel tourism."

Jo Glanville on the Index on Censorship website on libel law reform: "Cosmetic surgery will not be sufficient. What’s required now is reform that addresses the chilling effect of libel on every level."