Media Quotes of the Week: From Clive James to Johnston Press jobs go on a Passage to India

Clive James (top) in the Telegraph: "The journalists for the cheap press are uneasily aware that nobody cares much about what they say. Hence their sad conviction that they can say things any way they like, even if it means staging a man’s funeral for him just because he makes a few down-in-the-mouth remarks. Talk about getting the hearse before the horse."

Charlie Brooker in the Guardian on Clive James: "He has a way of gliding through sentences, effortlessly ironing a series of complex points into a single easily-navigable line, illuminating here and cogitating there, before leading you face-first into an unexpected punchline that makes your brain yelp with delight. He can swallow images whole and regurgitate them later as hallucinogenic caricatures that somehow make more sense than the real thing. He famously described Arnold Schwarzenegger as looking like 'a brown condom full of walnuts'. That's just brilliant. Every TV column I ever wrote consists of me trying and failing to write anything as explosively funny as that, for 650 words." 

Damian Thompson in the Telegraph: "The Labour Party is a bit short of top-rank performers to wheel on to the Today programme, so it must be relieved to have found someone expert at skewering Coalition policies. Last week, in a three-way conversation with Tory housing minister Grant Shapps and John Humphrys, the new star poured scorn on government plans to build affordable housing. He was also withering about the Conservatives’ failure to implement the Dilnot proposals for adult social care. Plus, his blog highlights European criticism of British cuts. I’d suggest that Ed Miliband gives him a job, but I suspect Mark Easton is perfectly happy in his post as home affairs editor of the BBC."

Lord Justice Leveson on press coverage of his Inquiry and his alleged 'anger' at comments by Michael Gove that it could have a 'chilling' impact on press freedom: "It is absolutely correct that the press should be able to hold this Inquiry, in general, and me, in particular, to account; the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Mail and those other newspapers that published the story are and were entitled to do so with whatever comment they considered appropriate. Having said that, however, it is at least arguable that what has happened is an example of an approach which seeks to convert any attempt to question the conduct of the press as an attack on free speech. For my part, I will not be deterred from seeking to fulfil the Terms of Reference that have been set for me."

Jon Snow at Leveson on Associated Newspapers: "If it was found that the Bishop of Canterbury was frequenting Soho that would be of public interest. It goes beyond that – people who have quite modest, perhaps, roles in public life are undermined. It is as I say pernicious and I think at times mendacious."

Alan Rusbridger in the Guardian: "Anything that concentrates power in the hands of fewer and fewer multibillionaire proprietors – whether corporations or individuals – will impoverish our society. That much has always been understood by anyone who has ever looked at the behaviour, standards, control and ethics of the press and it's why Leveson must say something strong on the issue, even if he cannot get into the detail."

Ex-Telegraph sketch writer Andrew Gimson at an employment tribunal as reported by the Camden New Journal: “My dismissal without reason from the sketch has been a distressing experience, as has the editor’s determination to force me into an unwelcome and inferior role, in which my task would have been to make his opinions seem more civilised than they really are. Like many Telegraph readers, I feel the paper has become more brutish in its treatment of news, and also of its own staff.”

HoldtheFrontPage story on Johnston Press outsourcing ad creation work to India: "According to one of the affected staff members, people affected by the announcement have been told by the company they can choose to move to work in India – but have just a week to decide if they wish to do so."