IFJ says governments and UN are failing to protect journalists and media staff after 121 killed in 2012

The International Federation of Journalists has accused governments and the UN of failing to protect journalists - after 2012 proved one of the bloodiest years for journalists and media staff with the IFJ recording 121 killings in targeted attacks and cross fire incidents.

The IFJ claims the killings are the result of systematic failure by governments and the United Nations to fulfil their international obligations to protect and enforce journalists' basic right to life.

IFJ president Jim Boumelha said: "The death toll for 2012 is another indictment of governments which pay lip service to the protection of journalists but have consistently failed to stop their slaughter.

"It is no wonder that these sky-high numbers of killed journalists have become a constant feature in the last decade during which the usual reaction from governments and the United Nations has been a few words of condemnation, a cursory inquiry and a shrug of indifference."

According to figures released  by the Federation, 121 journalists and media staff lost their lives in targeted attacks, bomb attacks and other cross-fire incidents this year, up from 107 recorded in 2011. Thirty more died in accidents or of illness while they were at work in 2012, against 20 last year.

Syria tops the IFJ's list of the most dangerous countries for media in 2012. More violence and lawlessness in Somalia turned the country into a media killing field while organised crime in Mexico and insurgents in Pakistan account for the high numbers of fatalities in these countries.

The Federation said  journalists were deliberately targeted because of their work and with the clear intention to silence them.

Last month, the IFJ urged accountability for violence targeting media at the UN Inter-Agency's conference in Vienna, Austria which officially launched the UN Action Plan on the safety of journalists and the issue of Impunity, noting that ‘ the new UN plan is akin to drinking in the last chance saloon."

Beth Costa, IFJ general secretary said: "We now look to the UN Plan on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity to deliver on its mandate. "The situation is so desperate that inaction no longer represents an option."

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet added: “Journalists from Britain and Ireland have been among the victims of the failure of governments and the United Nations to protect and enforce the basic right to life of our colleagues while going about their work.

“For journalists across the world, the deaths of 121 media workers last year is a deeply felt loss. But it is important that the public – and the governments which are meant to serve the public will – recognise that the killing of journalists is an attack on decisive role of the work they do and on the free flow of vital information which can help shape a better world.”

As of 31 December, the IFJ recorded the following information on killings of journalists and media staff in 2012:

• Targeted killings, bomb attacks and cross-fire incidents : 121

• Accidental and illness related deaths : 30

• Total Deaths : 151

The deadliest region in 2012 was the Middle East and Arab World with 47 journalists and media personnel killed. Syria had the region's highest death toll with 36 dead.

Among countries with the highest numbers of media fatalities are:

• Syria : 35

• Somalia : 18

• Pakistan : 10

• Mexico : 10

• Philippines : 5

• Iraq : 5

Reporters Without Borders has desribed 2012 as the deadliest on record for journalists.

RWB: '2012 was the deadliest year for journalists'

Press freedom campaign group Reporters Without Borders reports the number of journalists killed in 2012 was 88, a figure the group describe as "unprecedented" and makes 2012 the deadliest year for journalists since RWB began producing its annual roundup in 1995.

RWB said: "With a one-third rise in the number of journalists killed in connection with their work over 2011, and a record number of journalists in prison, persecution of media personnel has rarely posed such a major threat to freedom of expression."

2012 in numbers

• 88 journalists killed (+33%)

• 879 journalists arrested 1993 journalists threatened or physically attacked

• 38 journalists kidnapped

• 73 journalists fled their country

• 6 media assistants killed

• 47 netizens and citizen-journalists killed

• 144 bloggers and netizens arrested

The worst-hit regions were the Middle East and Northern Africa (with 26 killed), Asia (24 killed) and sub-Saharan Africa (21 killed). Only the western hemisphere registered a fall in the number of journalists killed.

London Olympics is news gold - top story of 2012: Plus most used phrase and most prolific journalist

The Olympics, the Diamond Jubilee, and the Leveson inquiry were the biggest stories of 2012 in the UK, according to journalisted.

Most covered in 2012 were:

• The London  Olympic Games (38,674 articles) and Paralympic Games (4,743 articles) took place in summer after a 70-day torch relay (760 articles).

• The country celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (7,694 articles). The royal family were the subject of much media attention after photos of Prince Harry naked were published on the internet (471 articles) and pictures of Kate Middleton topless were published in European magazines (433 articles). In December St. James's Palace announced the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy (759 articles).

• The Leveson inquiry (5,452 articles) heard evidence about the culture and ethics of the press, publishing its recommendations in November.

• An independent Scotland (3,869 articles) became a possibility after an in/out referendum (2,868 articles) was announced.

• The Libor scandal (3,782 articles) put Barclays' Bob Diamond (1,357 articles) in the public spotlight. Fred Goodwin's knighthood was shredded at the beginning of the year (458 articles) and Bankers' bonuses featured heavily with 1,840 articles.

• Obama won the American presidential election (3344 articles), with much focus on the candidates' reaction to hurricane Sandy in the final days of the campaign (2,069 articles)

Covered little in 2012, according to journalisted, were:

• Changes were made to the Legal Aid (LASPO) bill , 152 articles.

• Concerns over the backlog at the UK Border Agency reaching 276,000 backlog and 150,000 illegal migrants, 88 articles.

• Universities see a sharp drop in number of UCAS applications, 113 articles.

• In science news, NASA's rover 'Curiosity' lands on Mars, 191 articles.

• Gary Dobson and David Norris are sentenced for murdering Stephen Lawrence, 18 years after the event, 139 articles.  

The most mentioned phrases were:

•  Austerity, 14,453 articles.
• Double dip, 2,732 articles. 
• Fiscal cliff, 1,579 articles.
• Mansion tax, 915 articles.
• Granny tax, 634 articles.
• Pasty tax, 571 articles.
• Squeezed middle, 563 articles.
• Scroungers, 410 articles.
• Strivers, 268 articles.
• Grexit, 252 articles.

Most prolific journalists (number of articles published online):

• Roy Greenslade (The Guardian), 1,100 articles.
• Damien Gayle (MailOnline), 923 articles.
• Nick Fletcher (The Guardian), 871 articles.
• Mark Sweney (The Guardian), 871 articles.
• Jill Reilly (MailOnline), 806 articles.
• Rachael Wheeler (The Mirror), 794 articles.
• Rowena Mason (The Daily Telegraph), 771 articles.
• Charles Arthur (The Guardian), 733 articles.
• Christopher Hope (The Daily Telegraph), 703 articles.

• See also: Best Media Quotes of 2012: An arresting year for British journalists and journalism.

The Best Media Quotes of 2012: An arresting year for British journalists and journalism. . . .

Arrest of Journalists

Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford on his blog, commenting on the arrest of more than 20 journalists in the UK: "For eight of the nine years I've worked for Press Gazette the arrest of a journalist in the course of their work has been an extraordinarily rare occurrence in the UK. Today it is commonplace. In previous years, editors and publishers would have protested from the rooftops at the sight of police bids to disclose sources and close down unofficial leaks of information by use of draconian powers. Today, at News International anyway, editors and publishers are not just mute - but complicit in the arrest of journalists and disclosure of sources."

 Mail's Lawrence campaign leads to convictions

Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian: "He made an unlikely anti-racist campaigner, but there were few voices more critical in the demand for justice for Stephen Lawrence than Paul Dacre and the Daily Mail. It was the Mail's 1997 front page headline, branding Lawrence's alleged killers "Murderers", that helped make the case impossible to ignore. It was, without question, the Mail's finest hour."

Tony Parsons on Twitter: "Congratulations to Hugh Grant and Steve Coogan for bringing Stephen Lawrence's killers to justice - oh, sorry, I mean the British press."

Marie Colvin killed in Syria

Peter Oborne in the Daily Telegraph: "Some will observe that many other people died in the Syrian fighting yesterday, and may very reasonably ask what is so special about one Western journalist. There is great insight in this question because it points to the solipsism of a world in which it seems sometimes that terrible events only really register when an affluent white person gets killed. But remember this: without the staggering fortitude and self-sacrifice of Marie Colvin, and her journalist colleagues still reporting from the carnage in Syria, we simply would not have a sense of the nature or the scale of the killing."

Channel 4 News' Jon Snow on Twitter: "Assad's assassination of Marie Colvin:Utterly devastating: the most couragious journalist I ever knew and a wonderful reporter and writer."

Marie Colvin in an email to Jeremy Bowen, the BBC's Middle East editor, about her final Sunday Times article on Homs: "I thought yesterday's piece was one of those we got in to journalism for. They are killing with impunity here, it is sickening and anger-making."

Leveson gives his verdict

Lord Justice Leveson in his Report: "There have been too many times when, chasing the story, parts of the press have acted as if its own code, which it wrote, simply did not exist. This has caused real hardship and, on occasion, wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people whose rights and liberties have been disdained. This is not just the famous but ordinary members of the public, caught up in events (many of them, truly tragic) far larger than they could cope with but made much, much worse by press behaviour that, at times, can only be described as outrageous."

David Cameron in the House of Commons, as reported by BBC News, after saying he had "serious misgivings" about independent self regulation of the press being underpinned by law because: "We would have crossed the Rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land, we should be wary of legislation that has potential to infringe free speech and a free press."

The Daily Mail in a leader: "To his enormous credit, however, David Cameron sees this report for what it is — a mortal threat to the British people’s historic right to know. If he prevails in protecting that right, with the help of like-minded freedom lovers in the Commons and Lords, he will earn a place of honour in our history."

Chris Horrie, quoted in the Independent, on Leveson: "Kelvin MacKenzie is a national treasure and he's very funny, but asking him for advice on the ethics of journalism is like asking Harold Shipman for advice on medical ethics. This thing is just a circus."

Baroness Buscombe, ex chair of the Press Complaints Commission, at Leveson: "I remember towards the end of my time there, one of the editors asked me 'Peta, don't you trust us?'. And I said with an incredibly heavy heart 'How can I?'. We felt we hadn't been told the truth."

Sir Harold Evans at Leveson: "We have a situation where newspapers employ private detectives. We used to employ reporters".

Rupert Murdoch at Leveson: "I love newspapers... my shareholders would like me to get rid of them all."

Gordon Brown at the Leveson Inquiry: “Would any mother or father presented with a choice as to whether the medical condition of their four-month-old son should be broadcast on the front page of a tabloid newspaper, and who had a choice in this matter, allow it?”

Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher ‏@gallaghereditor on Twitter on the post-Leveson meeting of national newspaper editors in Downing Street: "It felt like the summoning of the Five Families in The Godfather "

Dan Sabbagh in the Guardian: "There is, behind the scenes, an almost comic attempt to get all the newspaper groups to sign up to some sort of statement on regulatory reform. But it would be easier to get 10 cats to sashay down Oxford Street in a straight line."

Emily Bell on the Guardian's Comment is Free: "Leveson deals with the nefarious ways of publishing personal information; it deals with the fallout of incestuous relationships run from the heart of government; and it deals with the personal cost of people crushed by journalism-as-showbusiness. What it cannot deal with is the regulation of the press in the 21st century." 

Harry Evans vindicated on Times

Sir Harold Evans on the Today programme about the revelation Margaret Thatcher and Rupert Murdoch met shortly before he was allowed to buy The Times and Sunday Times: "It's highly improper. Here's a prime minister meeting one of a number of bidders for Times Newspapers in secret. There's no mention of the law on monopolies. The whole thing is so squalid, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at being vindicated after all this time."

Good press, bad press

Ben Fenton, of the Financial Times, speaking in a discussion on the Leveson Inquiry at the Frontline Club: "The difference between a good newspaper and a bad newspaper is that on a good newspaper the reporter tells the newsdesk what the story is and on a bad newspaper it is the other way around."  

Regional press under pressure

Chris Oakley on the regional press in the book What Do We Mean By Local?, edited by John Mair, Neil Fowler and Ian Reeves: "The real losers from the financial folly of the past decade are communities up and down the country which are now worse informed than a century ago."

Chris Oakley at the Society of Editors' regional conference in Manchester: "Time has run out for big city dailies, the internet has hit regional daily newspapers particularly hard, I wouldn't buy a big city daily even for a pound."

The Leicester Mercury NUJ chapel in an open letter to their boss - publisher David Simms - protesting at more job cuts: "We are being run by a man - you, Mr Simms - who recently told journalists here that you did not read a daily newspaper. You also said that you did not like sport - one of the main drivers of the Mercury’s sales. Neither statement inspired confidence, and now our fears have been abundantly justified."

Ex-Western Daily Press editor Terry Manners in Press Gazette: "I will never forget the words of the time-and-motion man who was assigned with a team to cut operational costs in the building. They hurt us all greatly. 'The trouble with you and your team, Terry, is that you are trying to be too professional,' he said. 'You don't need to be. Leave it to the nationals.' Sadly he won."

Gordon Brown at Leveson: "My own local newspaper has just had its editorial staff merged with the next door newspaper. They’re running down the numbers of staff that are providing this local service and I think you would find this in every part of the country that you go into, and more than that, you’re finding it all across the world now, because an internet journalist, who is someone who’s sort of doing their own, if you like, self-journalism, can put their views up on a screen and put their views across the world, but if they’re not resourced and they’re not doing proper research and there’s no investigative journalism, then we’re diminishing the quality of the output that is available to us.”

Peter Oborne at Leveson: "For all its blissful parish magazine quality the regional press does not play a serious role in addressing Poulson-style scandals which go on to this day."

 Local World chairman David Montgomery, as quoted by Press Gazette: “This is an entirely new type of media business. The value of Local World will lie in its people, its franchises and its IP. It will be unencumbered by the infrastructure of the industrial past such as property, printing presses and large scale distribution or any legacy issues such as high levels of debt. Local World signals the fightback in Britain’s regional media industry.”

Brooks to Cameron

 Rebekah Brooks in email to David Cameron, leaked to the Mail on Sunday: "Brilliant speech. I cried twice. Will love working together."

Clarkson on Watson

Jeremy Clarkson on Tom Watson MP on Have I Got News For You: "A neckless, adenoidal Brummie who is a pitiful waste of blood and organs."

Fired up tweet

Lambeth Council PR Sam Masters sets fire to his job and resigns after tweeting: “Having spent a considerable amount of time in Streatham, my solutions for supporting the High Road mostly involve napalm.” 

Joyful text

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt in a text message to James Murdoch re-BSkyB: “Great and congrats on Brussels, just Ofcom to go!”.

The Last Word

David Hepworth on the closure of his magazine The Word : "We regret to announce that the August issue of The Word, which will be published in the second week of July, will be the last. In the nine years since the magazine launched there have been dramatic changes in the media and the music business. These changes have made it more difficult for a small independent magazine to survive and provide its staff with a living. This hasn't been made any easier by the economic climate of the wider world."

Golden Oldie

 
Richard Ingrams in the Telegraph celebrating 20 years of his magazine, The Oldie: "Soon after issue one went on sale, Julie Burchill sent me a fax saying: 'Congratulations on producing the most pathetic magazine ever published.' I felt more confident. It was exactly the kind of attack from exactly the kind of person to suggest that we must be doing something right."  

Tory MPs clash over Prince Harry pics

Louise Mensch quoted in the Sun supporting the paper's publication of naked Prince Harry pics: “We cannot have our press scared to publish things that are in the public interest. Someone, a total stranger, took those photos — and honeytraps have happened.” 

MP Nadine Dorries on ConservativeHome on Louise Mensch:  "I would ask the former MP, next time she wants to open her mouth about a boy who lost his mother at the hands of the media in a way which shocked the world, she might want to look to her own heart and wonder how she would feel? After all, it’s not as though Prince Harry has admitted to taking illegal drugs, abandoned his post, or failed to turn up to work every Thursday in the style of Louise Mensch, now is it?"

Simply Outrageous 

Jonathan Chait in New York magazine: "The British press is an outrage-generating machine the likes of which we American reporters can only gaze upon with awe."

Saving the Guardian

David Leigh in the Guardian: "A small levy on UK broadband providers – no more than £2 a month on each subscriber's bill – could be distributed to news providers in proportion to their UK online readership. This would solve the financial problems of quality newspapers, whose readers are not disappearing, but simply migrating online."

The Sun in a leader: "THOSE deluded and arrogant hand-wringers at The Guardian have come up with a bonkers scheme to impose a tax on broadband users to fund money- haemorrhaging publications like their own. We have a more sensible proposal. Why not simply put together a product that excites and engages the British public."

Sun's Shame  over Hillsborough

Dominic Mohan, editor of the Sun, apologises for its infamous 'The Truth' Hillsborough front page: ''Twenty-three years ago The Sun newspaper made a terrible mistake. We published an inaccurate and offensive story about the events at Hillsborough. We said it was the truth - it wasn't. The Hillsborough Independent Panel has now established what really happened that day. It's an appalling story and at the heart of it are the police's attempts to smear Liverpool fans. It's a version of events that 23 years ago The Sun went along with and for that we're deeply ashamed and profoundly sorry."

Deadly Ed

Charles Moore interviewing Labour leader Ed Miliband in the Daily Telegraph: "At this point, a mosquito settles on my shoulder. With a commanding show of decision, Mr Miliband squashes it, spattering its remarkably copious blood over my light grey suit. So that’s how he deals with capitalist parasites."

Careful what you tweet

Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger on Twitter, in the Guardian's Open door column: "People have to understand that when they use Twitter they have the same ethical and legal responsibilities as with any other medium." 

Trashing Trolls

Ex-Loaded editor Martin Daubney in Press Gazette: "We live in the age of the trolls. You get a shit storm of Tweets, in real time, for saying anything opinionated. My advice? Don’t take online feedback to heart, be dignified and never engage in a Tweet-off with the haters. Remember: you’re getting paid to write, they’re not. Tall poppies will always attract scythes."

Newsnight and Jimmy Savile 

 

Liz MacKean, one of the Newsnight journalists who investigated sex abuse claims against Jimmy Savile, in an email to BBC director general George Entwistle, as reported by the Independent: "To see what began as a BBC story running large on ITV is a hard thing. For it not to be mentioned in any way on Newsnight is another, quite absurd, thing. But worst of all has been what seems like a concerted effort to make it appear that our story was about something else, something that could be dropped and forgotten ahead of fulsome tribute programmes. It is this which seems to be fuelling the damaging claims of a cover-up."

Nick Pollard in his review of how the BBC handled the Savile story: "The efforts to get to the truth behind the Savile story proved beyond the combined efforts of the senior management, legal department, corporate communications team and anyone else for well over a month."

Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail: "If Jimmy Savile was alive today, he’d have been a star witness at Leveson, given the full ‘Sir James’ treatment by his lordship and allowed to trash the Press without fear of contradiction or cross-examination."

Do I go or do I stay now?

Lord Patten on what the BBC Trust conveyed to George Entwistle, as reported by the BBC:  "We are not urging you to go. But we are not urging you to stay."  

Tucked Up

Malcolm Tucker in The Thick Of It: "The Guardian...a newspaper that hates newspapers."  

Is it a bird? is it a plane?..no, it's a blogger

 

Clark Kent (aka Superman) on quitting the Daily Planet to become a blogger, as reported by the Telegraph: "Why am I the one sounding like a grizzled ink-stained wretch who believes news should be about – I don't know – news?"

 Subtracting Subs

Iliffe News and Media staff memo on plans to scrap subs, as reported by HoldtheFrontPage: “Although there could be some reduction in head count if our proposal to eliminate the sub editing role is confirmed, it is important to recognise that the overall aim of our strategy is to increase our audience through the delivery of high quality content.”

Bashing Boris

Max Hastings in the Daily Mail: "If the day ever comes that Boris Johnson becomes tenant of Downing Street, I shall be among those packing my bags for a new life in Buenos Aires or suchlike, because it means that Britain has abandoned its last pretensions to be a serious country."

Johnston on journalists

Boris Johnson in the Telegraph: "You can’t 'strike journalists off”, as if they were accountants or lawyers or gynaecologists. They aren’t a profession: they are a great pulsating rabble of people who are distinguished only by our desire – I will not say our ability – to write any old thing for any kind of ephemeral publication. Anyone can be a journalist. You just have to start a blog, break a few stories, and bingo, you are a household name." 

Print takes gold at the Olympics

Grey Cardigan in Press Gazette's Journalism Weekly on the Olympics:  "Those Geeks might sneer at what they call the Dead Tree Industry, but London 2012 provided a superb example of how grubby old newsprint can still work its magic. The Times deserves a special mention for that excellent series of wraps, but the 28-page supplements in the Sunday Times were an absolute joy. Superb job, chaps."

The demise of The Dandy

Simon Heffer on MailOnline on the demise of The Dandy, Britain's oldest comic which went online only in December: "Children from eight to 80 felt a kick from the hob-nailed boot of harsh reality yesterday. The Dandy, a staple of so many British childhoods, and the nation’s oldest surviving comic, is on the brink of closure...After all these years, so much of the D.C. Thomson world has passed into our culture: a world in which children waged a constant battle of spiteless amusement against their elders, and got nothing worse than a clip round the ear for it, seemed to sum up not just a more black-and-white approach to life, but came close to representing that most elusive of qualities, the true nature of Britishness." 

Simon O'Neill ‏ on Twitter: "Working at Derby Telegraph in 90s was like being in a real life edition of The Dandy. Both now things of the past."

Don't do what I did

Joshua Rozenberg, writing on the Legal Cheek blog: "As a job it is very easy, which is why so many people go into journalism when they have nothing better to do. What’s difficult now, though, is getting a job in journalism. With newspapers in rapid decline and the electronic media paying little or nothing to contributors, the chances of making a living out of it – unless you started when I did – are vanishingly small. So my advice for anyone seeking to follow in my footsteps is: don’t."

Flying the flag

Joanna Hindley, special advisor to Culture Secretary Maria Miller, to a Telegraph journalist investigating the expenses of her boss: “Maria has obviously been having quite a lot of editors’ meetings around Leveson at the moment. So I am just going to kind of flag up that connection for you to think about.”

Pincered by the police and press

Andrew Mitchell in the Sunday Times:  "The dangerous and corrupt relationship between the police and certain newspapers has been exposed again and again during the Leveson inquiry. Now I have had a taste of how extraordinarily powerless an individual is when trapped between the pincers of the police on one side and the press on the other. If this can happen to a senior government minister, then what chance does a youth in Brixton or Handsworth have?"

On Yer Marx

Karl Marx on press freedom, as quoted by Mick Hume at the Free Speech Network launch event: "You cannot enjoy the advantages of a free press without putting up with its inconveniences. You cannot pluck the rose without its thorns!"

Media Quotes of the Week: From 'Orwellian' Labour press bill to the joke's on Piers Morgan

Orwell coined 'doublethink' and was NUJ member

Harriet Harman on Labour's proposed Press Freedom and Trust Bill in the Guardian: "This gives clarity and certainty. Lord Justice Leveson said in his report that a legal guarantee to underpin self-regulation was essential and this draft bill provides it."

Les Hinton ‏@les_hinton on Twitter: "Orwellian satire, surely. With or without statute, #Leveson fallout will wreak damage for years."

Kevin O'Sullivan ‏@TVKev on Twitter: "Ed Miliband's "Freedom" Of The Press Bill is a con. Shameless Orwellian double speak. It's the Less Freedom For The Press Bill."

Kevin Maguire ‏@Kevin_Maguire on Twitter: "More Orwellian Doublespeak when Labour calls regulation a Press Freedom Bill. I chain you to set you free!"

Joanna Hindley, special advisor to Culture Secretary Maria Miller, to a Telegraph journalist investigating the expenses of her boss:“Maria has obviously been having quite a lot of editors’ meetings around Leveson at the moment. So I am just going to kind of flag up that connection for you to think about.”

Telegraph in a leader: "We are not unfamiliar with attempts being made by governments of various stripes to influence publication decisions or even to shut down perfectly legitimate journalistic endeavour. But it is especially troubling when they are linked, however casually, to the threat of legislation to underpin a new independent regulatory body for newspapers. It would be hard to find a clearer illustration of why the state must be kept well away from these decisions."

Joe Murphy quizzes Maria Miller in the London Evening Standard: "So why, then, did she suddenly stop claiming on the Wimbledon home in 2009 — just as the expenses scandal erupted. 'Because I think there was a lot of concern about the rules and, er, a lot of concern about, you know, the whole issue, and it’s something I felt that I didn’t want to be, sort of, mixed up in, the fact that I ...'  Mrs Miller finally stopped trying to explain herself, and simply said:  'I just made that decision'.”

James Harding in his resignation speech to Times staff:  "It has been made clear to me that News Corporation would like to appoint a new editor of the Times. I have, therefore, agreed to stand down. I called Rupert [Murdoch] this morning to offer my resignation and he accepted it."

Home editor of The Times Jeremy Griffin ‏@boygriffin on Twitter: "James Harding is a brilliant, fearless Editor who brought the best out of The Times at the worst of times. I'll miss everything about him."

Wikipeadia founder Jimmy Wales in The Times [£] on Leveson: “I come at this question from such a thoroughly American mental framework, where the concept of a press regulator backed by statute is just absolutely inconceivable. It wouldn’t pass the briefest First Amendment test, so it would never be considered. It’s just not an option. I can’t be alone among people who scratch their head and wonder what the hell it means to talk about an independent regulator backed by statute but not a government regulator. There’s clearly a fine distinction being drawn here; exactly what does that mean?”

Peter Preston in The Observer: "Here's one truly educational stopover for Lord Justice Leveson when he flies back from the Australian sun. Take a transit break at Ataturk airport, Istanbul, and wander around a little. Talk to reporters, editors, publishers, tycoons and politicians (as I did last week). Then ponder the meaning of two small words that somehow got lost in your famous inquiry: press freedom. It seems so simple to you, I know. You need no lectures from Michael Gove. But prepare to be amazed – and depressed."

Hacked Off website on press reaction to Leveson: "If the inquiry had related to, say, the companies that operate care homes, the headlines would have been thunderous: ‘DAVE LETS ABUSERS OFF’, ‘BACK-DOOR DEAL PUTS VULNERABLE IN PERIL’, ‘PM BINS DAMNING £5M CARE HOME REPORT’. Editorials in the Mail and the Sun would have railed against cosy deals contrary to the public interest, called on MPs to ensure the judge’s report was implemented in full – and probably dropped hints about corruption and party funding."

Francis Beckett in Tribune: "Newspapers and radio stations like to present themselves as outsiders, pricking a pompous establishment.  But Mrs Seldanha, not her tormentors, was the outsider. In her blameless, useful life, she was not used to dealing with royalty-obsessed journalists. If her two Australian tormentors had heard of her distress before they heard of her suicide, they would have laughed and gloated on air, and set up the taunt of the playground bully about to push a weaker child nearer to impotent, hysterical fury: 'Where’s your sense of humour then?'  The only difference is that their greater strength came, not from anything in themselves, but from their possession of the media megaphone."

Arthur MacMillan in the British Journalism Review: "In May this year the final link to the Johnston family, which started the company in 1767, was severed when Michael Johnston, latterly the managing director of Scotsman Publications, resigned. His departure illustrates that the company bears no resemblance to the family enterprise it once was. Despite promises to invest, Johnston Press did the opposite. In the process, they have wrecked The Scotsman and their own reputation."

Jeremy Clarkson ‏@jcrclarksonesq on Twitter: "Piers Morgan says I couldn't go on his CNN show because staff there have never heard of me. Another reason is: I'd rather eat my own head."

Sienna Miller asked by the Guardian to tell a joke: "Piers Morgan got away with it."

[£] = Paywall

Steve Dyson hoovers up new magazine editorship

 Former Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson (left ) is to edit a new business magazine aimed at 10,000 business leaders in the West Midlands.

BQ West Midlands, launching at the beggining of 2013,  will be the fourth regional edition of Business Quarter Magazine as part of expansion in print and online.

Published by Room501 Publishing Ltd, the magazine also has editions covering the North East, Yorkshire and Scotland, together with a  website offering additional news, features and business intelligence.

BQ West Midlands will be distributed directly to 7,500 business leaders, with another 2,500 copies provided for top hotels, business lounges, conference centres and similar venues.

Steve Dyson said: “I’m delighted to be launching and editing BQ West Midlands which will aim to get to the heart and soul of our most successful business people, finding out what drives, inspires and motivates them.

“We will also report on recent developments that will have a significant impact on the West Midlands business landscape, providing in-depth analysis and debates from the experts on big issues.”

Dyson, who edited the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette from 2002 to 2005, was an industrial correspondent for the Birmingham Mail before becoming editor of the paper.

Osborne's austerity statement is story of the week

George Osborne's autumn statement was the most covered story by the UK press for the week ending Sunday, December 9, according to journalisted.

The Chancellor delivers his autumn statement warning of austerity until 2018, generated 745 articles.

Other top stories were:

• Coffee chain Starbucks engages in talks with HMRC over their tax paid, 226 articles.

• St James's Palace announces the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their first child, 138 articles.

Covered little, according to journalisted, were: 

• Nelson Mandela is admitted to hospital for tests, 19 articles.

• New tsunami fear for Japan as 7.3 magnitude earthquake strikes off east coast, 18 articles.

• Exams watchdog Ofqual urges Michael Gove to rethink 'unrealistic' plans for GCSE overhaul, 11 articles.

NUJ: 'Data bill threatens journalists' sources'

Stanistreet: 'Bill undermines ability to protect sources.'

The NUJ has warned the draft communications data bill - otherwise known as the snoopers’ charter - would severely restrict the freedom of the press by revealing journalists' sources.

The union says it supports the call on the government by the pre-legislative parliamentary Joint Committee to significantly amend the bill so that the Home Secretary is not given "carte blanche to order retention of any type of data".

The draft bill would allow the government to order a communications service provider – such as Facebook or BT - to collect and store the communications data relating to all of the traffic they deal with. This would include details of internet usage, including websites visited, internet searches, private social media messages and even the online video games played.

Law enforcement agencies would be able to trawl that data and cross reference it with other data sources through a communications data search engine, revealing social connections and confidential communication between journalists and their sources.

The NUJ’s code of conduct says a member must protect the identity of sources who supply information and materials in confidence.

The Parliamentary committee told the Home Office that the draft bill must be significantly amended. It said: “The Joint Committee believes that if Clause 1 of the draft Bill – which, as currently drafted, gives the Home Secretary sweeping powers to order the retention of any kind of communications data by any communications service provider – is narrowed, and safeguards are put in place to ensure that any new powers are not abused, a new Bill could be introduced that would work. It would both allow the security services, law enforcement agencies and a few other public authorities access to the communications data they need to protect and serve UK citizens without trampling on the privacy of those citizens.”

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary,(pictured) said: “This draft bill is a major assault on civil liberties for all citizens and a threat to press freedom. For journalists it would be a direct attack on the way they work and would severely undermine their ability to protect their sources, materials and whistle-blowers.”

The Joint Committee’s other recommendations include:

• Proper consultation should take place before any revised proposals are bought forward;

• Fewer public authorities should be able to access communications data;

• The Bill should include new definitions of communications data, that are narrower in scope, draw a clearer line between data and content and will stand the test of time;

• The current internal authorisation process for accessing communications data should be strengthen and enshrined in primary legislation, a specialist, centralised service should be established;

• The Interception of Communications Commissioner should scrutinise more closely the use of communications data, his annual reports should be more thorough and he should have more resources at his disposal. He should have a special role in supervising the operation of the new Request Filter which is essentially a federated database of all UK citizens’ communications data;

• Wilful or reckless misuse of communications data becomes a specific offence that is punishable, where appropriate, by a prison term; and

• The costs of implementing the draft Bill are likely to be significant, the current estimates are not robust and a new cost benefit analysis must be published at the same time as any redrafted Bill, based on the Committee’s recommendations for wider consultation and narrower powers of the Bill.

The Guardian reports that Nick Clegg has described the draft bill  as "unworkable."

Media quotes of the week: The summoning of the editors to Downing Street - plus more Leveson

Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher ‏@gallaghereditor on Twitter on the post-Leveson meeting of national newspaper editors in Downing Street: "It felt like the summoning of the Five Families in The Godfather "

 Peter Preston in The Observer: "Of course, everyone has been very nice to Lord Justice Leveson   Well, they would be, wouldn't they, as Baroness Rice-Davies might add. But, in truth, this report is a sloppy, elephantine piece of work that relies on nobody having the time to read it before taking sides."

Brian Cathcart of Hacked Off: "When it comes to themselves and their vested interests, the editors and proprietors of most of our national papers know no shame...No heads are rolling after Leveson’s verdict. There are no apologies. There is no soul-searching. Instead they just bitch, bully and complain."

Dan Hodges on his Telegraph blog: "The Guardian leader [on the Leveson Report] is one of the most craven pieces of writing ever to appear on its pages. Undermined by its own self-righteousness and sense of moral superiority, a once-great paper has this morning become everything it once professed to hate. It has ceased to be the Guardian and formally relaunched itself as the Vichy Evening News."

Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail: "Expect a lot of sound and fury over the coming months as the enemies of a free Press, many of them in Parliament, continue their destructive work. What I draw from yesterday’s proceedings, though, is that the Prime Minister, as well as Cabinet colleagues animated by principle, dearly want to protect it."

Matthew Syed in The Times [£]: "Freedom of the press is simply too important to be hijacked like this. Sympathy with victims, however sincere, cannot be the sole basis of policy; neither can the opinions of victims be given a weight they do not merit. We must remember that there are other victims, less tangible but no less important. Namely, citizens whose capacity to resist the power of the State will be weakened by statutory restrictions on the press. In other words, all of us."

Simon Jenkins in the Guardian: "As Leveson said, the press is 'irreverent, unruly and opinionated'. It is also tasteless, infuriating, biased, unfair. Ask many of its victims and the gag and the gallows are too good for it. But the press has not made a hopeless mess of self-policing. If a law passed by parliament had closed the News of the World, there would have been a national outcry. As it was, the task was brought about by the press, initially by the Guardian."

Liberty’s director Shami Chakrabarti, one of  the panel of assessors who advised Lord Justice Leveson, in the Independent: "The majority of Britain’s journalists do a fantastic job in holding the powerful to account and serving the public interest. The unethical and criminal acts of a select few cannot be allowed to erode centuries of press freedom."

Boris Johnson in the Telegraph: "When you read Leveson in full, you are left to ponder the mystery of how people can behave like this. Are these journalists that much nastier and more cynical than the rest of the human race? Why do they seem to have got out of control? The answer is simple. The press are no nastier than anyone else; quite the reverse. On the whole, journalists are highly intelligent, amusing and frequently idealistic."

John McDonnell MP , NUJ Parliamentary Group chair, in Parliament on a 'conscience clause' for journalists: “Leveson has recommended that the editors and proprietors now consider adopting a conscience clause. Bizarrely, when Rupert Murdoch was interrogated, he accepted that proposal and now supports it. There should therefore be no reason for such a clause not to form part of a journalist's contract. The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister also said last week that the matter should be given serious consideration, as did the Leader of the Opposition"

Lord Justice Leveson speaking in Australia, as reported by Guido Fawkes: "Just as it took time for the wilder excesses of the early penny press to be civilised, it will take time to civilise the internet. The internet does not trade in gossip. It simply publishes it online, conveys it on Facebook, uploads it onto Youtube, tweets and re-tweets it . It is likely that new legal norms and new laws will need to be developed.”

NUJ: Ruling that photographers must hand over Belfast riot pictures is a 'blow to media freedom'

The NUJ has expressed "grave disappointment" at the decision of a court in Northern Ireland to compel photographers to hand over unbroadcast pictures of the riots in Belfast on 12 July 2012.

Judge David McFarland ruled that press photographer's unbroadcast material held by the Press Association and two photo agencies, Press Eye and Photopress, must be handed over to the police.

The judge did rule that the BBC, UTV and Sky did not have to hand over footage.

The BBC has reported that Judge David McFarland said he had to balance the public interest of identifying and prosecuting rioters against the potential risk to journalists if seen to be assisting in the police investigation. He stated: "There is no evidence to support the proposition that journalists may become the targets of attack should they be perceived to be evidence gathering for the police."

NUJ Irish Secretary Seamus Dooley said the decision of the Belfast Recorder was "A serious blow to media freedom at a time when photographers were under threat from a number of sources in Northern Ireland."

He added: "It is disappointing that the Recorder refused to accept the principle that media workers should never be put in the position of quasi police officers. He refused to acknowledge the risk which arises when independent journalists are perceived to be potential agents of the State. It is surprising that he found there was no risk in journalists handing over material.

"In a week in which a working photographer was struck by a police baton in a dangerous riot situation in Belfast this ruling is another setback for the freedom of the press in Northern Ireland and we will be considering carefully the implications of the ruling."

Leveson Report on press is top story of the week

Lord Justice Leveson's report on the culture, practices and ethics of the press was the most covered news story in the UK for the week ending Sunday, December 2, according to journalisted.

Lord Justice Leveson publishes his report , recommending tougher self-regulation with statutory underpinning, which is covered in 482 articles.

Other top stories were:

• Mark Carney is announced as new governor of the Bank of England, 169 articles.

• UN gives Palestine new diplomatic powers in 'statehood recognition' vote, 84 articles.

Covered little, according to journalisted were:

• Whooping cough declared worst outbreak in 20 years as illness claims three more babies, 20 articles.

• BP banned from new US contracts due to 'lack of business integrity', 8 articles.

• Louis Walsh recieves £400,000 in damages from The Sun over false 'groping' story, 7 articles.

NUJ puts nationals on spot on conscience clause

McDonnell told Parliament Murdoch backs conscience clause

The NUJ has written to all national newspapers asking if they will be adopting a conscience clause in journalists’ contracts, as recommended by the Leveson report.

A conscience clause would prevent journalists being sacked if they refuse to act unethically if put under pressue by their employers.

The NUJ says the clause has the backing of Rupert Murdoch, the Prime Minister, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband.

Lord Justice Leveson said in his report he was “struck by the evidence of journalists who felt that they might be put under pressure to do things that were unethical or against the code. I therefore suggest that the new independent self-regulatory body should establish a whistle-blowing hotline and encourage its members to ensure that journalists’ contracts include a Conscience Clause protecting them if they refuse”.

The text of the conscience clause, as recommended in the NUJ’s final submission to Leveson, read: “A journalist has the right to refuse assignments or be identified as the creator of editorial which would break the letter or the spirit of the Code. No journalist should be disciplined or suffer detriment to their career for asserting his/her rights to act according to the Code."

During yesterday’s House of Commons debate John McDonnell (pictured) , NUJ Parliamentary Group chair, said: “Leveson has recommended that the editors and proprietors now consider adopting a conscience clause. Bizarrely, when Rupert Murdoch was interrogated, he accepted that proposal and now supports it. There should therefore be no reason for such a clause not to form part of a journalist's contract. The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister also said last week that the matter should be given serious consideration, as did the Leader of the Opposition.

“The NUJ has now written to proprietors proposing the commencement of discussions on the introduction of a conscience clause in the contracts of all journalists. The Secretary of State is meeting the proprietors, and I congratulate her on involving the NUJ in those discussions. She is meeting representatives of the union as well, and they will be part of the overall discussions.

"It would be extremely helpful, now that we have cross-party consensus on the need to consider a conscience clause, if she could seek assurances from the proprietors that they will take the matter seriously and engage in discussions and negotiations on the issue and on the contractual changes that would need to take place for existing and future journalists. This could form another part of the architecture of a cultural change in journalism in this country, as well as protecting those who want to stand up for higher standards.”

• See also,  So, Leveson does believe in a 'conscience clause'
• Tony Harcup: 'How a conscience clause could fill the ethical vacuum in the newsroom'. 

Pic: John McDonnell by Jon Slattery