Quotes of the Week: From fresh air to X Factor

Julian Assange freed by the High Court: "It's great to smell the fresh air of London again. Thanks to all the people around the world who've had faith in me."

Henry Porter in the Observer: "Never mind the self-serving politicians who waffle on about the need for diplomatic confidentiality when they themselves order the bugging of diplomats and hacking of diplomatic communications. What is astonishing is the number of journalists out there who argue that it is better not to know these things, that the world is safer if the public is kept in ignorance. In their swooning infatuation with practically any power elite that comes to hand, some writers for the Murdoch press and Telegraph titles argue in essence for the Chinese or Russian models of deceit and obscurantism."

Stephen Glover in the Independent on Labour leader Ed Miliband: "Mr Miliband's adenoidal voice, combined with the impression he gives of having just arrived from another galaxy, may render him unacceptable to right-wing editors and voters alike. Yet for all his undoubted disadvantages, his master Gordon Brown established reasonable relations with the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph. Surely it is worth Mr Miliband giving it a try."

Former Northern Echo editor Peter Sands in Press Gazette: "It is 21 years since I took my first editor's chair. It had its moments - a press that let the paper down, a sabre-rattling union, a round of redundancies - but it was a walk in the park when compared to editing today."

Guardian readers' editor Chris Elliott on the need to add a footnote to any story where a journalist's trip has been paid for by a third party: "Journalists worry that appending a footnote undermines the journalism in the eyes of the readers. But editors should enforce this rule without exception, because what really undermines the journalism is when it isn't enforced."

Iain Dale on his decision to quit blogging: "The truth is, I no longer enjoy blogging and I think that this has been evident for a few months now to my readers. I hate the backbiting that goes along with it. I hate the character assassination that is permanently present. I no longer enjoy the pressure of feeling I have to churn out four or five pieces every day."

MyFootballWriter and Addiply founder Rick Waghorn at news:rewired: "We have to teach them [journalists] that it is partly about selling as well as story getting."

Alex Wood, founder of notonthewires, at news:rewired: "Entrepreneurial journalism is another buzzword and a distraction. We just have to go back to being good journalists."

Luke Lewis at NME online dumps on X Factor: "This is a show that represents all that's dismal, low-rent and predictable about British life. It's tinsel draped round a turd - a cavalcade of gaudiness, manipulation and fake emotion. It recycles a pathetically narrow version of pop history, and creates almost nothing new."