Friday, 27 January 2012

Media Quotes of the Week: From the Sun to rise on Sunday to should Leveson ban page 3 girls?


Tom Watson MP in a tweet: "A News Corp source tells me Rupert Murdoch has seen the draft designs of the Sunday Sun with a launch in April at a discounted price."

Guardian readers' editor Chris Elliott on reader reaction to the new slimmed down paper: "Among those who feel the changes most keenly are the readers who have taken the paper for 40, 50 or even 60 years, who are more likely to be subscribers; they feel they are either being pushed towards reading online or subsidising the digital Guardian."

Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger on the changes to the newspaper: "We are not disguising the fact that we have brought the paper down in size. But in fact the total universe of what we are doing is expanding, not shrinking. We publish much more but decisions about limited resources are difficult; there is a fine balance between the production and expense of print versus digital."

Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield interviewed in InPublishing: “The fundamental aspect of the business is that every newspaper in the group has a healthy margin over 20 per cent and all up the business is very profitable. The challenge is, can you migrate that business into the digital realm quickly enough before profits decline.”

Johann Hari on his decision not to return to the Independent: "I’d like to thank the Independent for the privilege of working for them over the past nine years, and for offering me my job back, starting in a few weeks. But after nearly six months living in New York City, and plenty of time to reflect, I’ve decided to not take them up on their kind offer."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, on the BBC cuts: “Local radio is for some sections of the population, particularly the elderly, a lifeline. I am pleased that the BBC Trust has made this small concession, but it has obviously not listened to the concerns of the many others who took part in the consultation. These cuts, which will result in the loss of 2,000 jobs, on top of the 7,000 jobs lost since 2004, will severely damage the quality of the service provided by the BBC. It will damage its ability to produce quality creative programming and investigative journalism. It will damage its function as a public service broadcaster."

Reporters Without Borders press freedom index: "Despite universal condemnation, the UK clings to a surreal law that allows the entire world to come and sue news media before its courts."

Jon Snow in his Hugh Cudlipp lecture at the London College of Communication: "We journalists are not a breed apart – we must be of the world we report. The hacking scandal reveals an echelon of hacks who removed themselves from the world in which the rest of us live – they took some weird pleasure in urinating on our world."

Clare Short in the Independent: "Tabloid vilification helped kill off a debate that would have forced Page 3 images out of British newspapers and perhaps obliged the media to behave and report in a less sexist way. Twenty-six years on, Lord Leveson should seriously consider the case that has been made."

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