Media Quotes of the Week: Oborne lashes Telegraph, Grey Cardigan bashes bloggers and the real journalistic fantasy in Fifty Shades of Grey

Peter Oborne on Open Democracy on why he's quit the Telegraph: "The Telegraph’s recent coverage of HSBC amounts to a form of fraud on its readers. It has been placing what it perceives to be the interests of a major international bank above its duty to bring the news to Telegraph readers. There is only one word to describe this situation: terrible."

The Telegraph in an editorial: "This newspaper makes no apology for the way in which it has covered the HSBC group and the allegations of wrongdoing by its Swiss subsidiary, allegations that have been so enthusiastically promoted by the BBC, the Guardian and their ideological soulmates in the Labour Party. We have covered this matter as we do all others, according to our editorial judgment and informed by our values. Foremost among those values is a belief in free enterprise and free markets."

Lionel Barber ‏@lionelbarber  on Twitter: "Peter Oborne's 'j'accuse' against Daily Telegraph - a moment in British journalism."

James Ball ‏@jamesrbuk on Twitter: "HSBC 'paused' Guardian advertising just before #HSBCfiles publication. We published anyway."

Daniel Finkelstein @Dannythefink on Twitter: "The problem with Tele saying that @OborneTweets is full of inaccuracies and innuendo is that he has been their chief commentator for 5 years."

Robert Peston ‏@Peston on Twitter: "All journalists, especially young journalists, should read Oborne's farewell to the Telegraph."

Sam McBride ‏@SJAMcBride on Twitter: "Whoever wrote the Daily Telegraph's response to Peter Oborne demonstrates the decline he alleges by misusing 'refute'."

Nick Davies @Bynickdavies on Twitter: "Telegraph have a formidable opponent in Peter Oborne - dead straight and brave."

Simon Jenkins in the Guardian: "There is no question that the private sector is an insecure way of financing a free press that does not make money. But all other ways are worse. There are still as many daily newspapers published in Britain (nine) as there were 50 years ago, a continuous diversity available to no other western country. Online has not wiped out print. It has enhanced the penetration and prominence of both. In which case, we can only thank goodness for expediency. The only champion of a free press is not some regulator or commission or charter board. It is the free press itself. Plurality, rivalry, disclosure, exposure and sometimes fury are the best guardians. That is what we saw this week. One Oborne is worth 10 Levesons."

The Times [£]: "A coroner has demanded that a Sky News reporter [Martin Brunt] divulge his source for a story about a woman who was found dead after the broadcaster revealed that she had “trolled” the parents of Madeleine McCann.  The demand has raised fresh concerns about the state encroaching on journalists’ rights to keep their sources confidential, in the wake of revelations that police forces looked into their phone records on hundreds of occasions."

Publicity blurb for new book Tabloid Secrets by ex-News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck published by Biteback Publishing: "Thurlbeck’s undercover, investigative work is revealed in great detail, with the methods and subterfuge explained. It also describes how the reporter was recruited to MI5, the characters he met and the type of work he carried out there. Ultimately, Tabloid Secrets is a journey through a world which has vanished for good, by the best-known reporter of recent times. It is a vivid, surprising and wildly entertaining insider account of a Fleet Street which is suddenly no more."

Being a journalist is the sixth most desired job in Britain, according to a YouGov poll published this week.

Getty Images

Ed Amoury on MediaGuardian:"As we enter the general election campaign, the part of the media that political parties fear as opposed to plan how to exploit is the print media. It’s the passion and beliefs and ruthless investigative journalism of papers like the Mail, the Times and the Guardian that will decide on which battlegrounds the campaign is fought, and therefore play a key role in deciding who will win. The same is true in the corporate world. Chief executives care infinitely more about a downpage story in a national print newspaper than 100m impressions on social media. Partly, it’s because many of them are not yet digital natives, but there is also a sense that social media interactions, perhaps because they are so easy, are also cheap and not so very meaningful."

Ex-Sun journalist John Troup interviewed in Press Gazette: "We were made to feel like we were terrorists – for doing nothing more than writing stories that were true and in the public interest. If a story about someone killing themselves in a maximum security prison isn’t in the public interest, what is?"

David carr: New York Times

David Carr, the New York Times media columnist, who died last week: “Right now, being a reporter is a golden age. There may be a lack of business models to back it up, but having AKTOCA on – All Known Thought One Click Away – on my desktop, tablet or phone makes it immensely deeper, richer exercise than it used to be.”

Trinity Mirror, publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, apologises to all its victims of phone hacking: "Some years ago voice-mails left on certain people’s phones were unlawfully accessed. And in many cases the information obtained was used in stories in our national newspapers. Such behaviour represented an unwarranted and unacceptable intrusion into people’s private lives.It was unlawful and should never have happened, and fell far below the standards our readers expect and deserve. We are taking this opportunity to give every victim a sincere and unreserved apology for what happened.We recognise that our actions will have caused them distress for which we are truly sorry.Our newspapers have a long and proud history of holding those in power to account. As such, it is only right we are held to account ourselves.Such behaviour has long since been banished from Trinity Mirror’s business and we are committed to ensuring it will not happen again."

Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail: "Any officer who thinks the public have a right to know is treated like a criminal. Talking to a reporter is a career-ending offence and may result in prosecution.
...If coppers are supposed to be citizens in uniform, then journalists are citizens with notebooks. It’s our job to bring you the news those in power don’t want you to find out. The current assault on our Free Press is an assault on a free society."

Grey Cardigan on TheSpinAlley: "Since the arrival of blogs everyone is a fucking journalist, and the sheer number of knobheads out there who are happy to churn out their boring, bland opinions just for the supposed glory of seeing their name in lights means that the notion of actually paying for well-written, thought-provoking words is now almost redundant. Why does this matter? Well it means that true creativity is stifled as writers and photographers give up the daily battle to put food on the table and the level of national debate continues to be dumbed down. Mark my words, it won’t be long before someone called @billyblogger24 is writing the leader column in The Times."

Periwinkle Jones ‏@peachesanscream on Twitter: "The sexiest fantasy in 50 Shades Of Grey is the bit where she gets a job in journalism without having to do years of unpaid work experience."