Media Quotes of the Week: Are political pundits part of an elite? to NUJ impressed by Impress

Lynton Crosby in the Telegraph: “The problem with political commentary and punditry in this country is that it’s conducted by a bunch of people most of whom live inside the M25 who could never live on the £26,000 that is the average annual earnings of people in this country. Most went to Oxbridge, talk only to themselves and last time they met a punter was when they picked up their dry cleaning.”

Steve Hilton in the Sunday Times [£]: "When the corporate bosses, the MPs, the journalists — and the authors of books such as mine — all go to the same dinner parties and social events, all live near one another, all send their children to the same schools (from which they themselves mainly came), an insular ruling class develops. They flit and float between Westminster, Whitehall and the City; regardless of who’s in office, the same people are in power. It is a democracy in name only, operating on behalf of a tiny elite no matter the electoral outcome. I know because I was part of it."

Peter Preston in the Observer: "Leveson is over: let it go. Or rather, press regulation, save for some further egregious error of a phone-hacking variety sometime during the next five years, is not on this government’s agenda. The Independent Press Standards Organisation, chaired by Sir Alan Moses, is, more than ever, the only show in town...If those outside current regulation – the Guardian, Indy, FT and Standard – wish to enter the tent rather than risk five more years of independence and possible vulnerability, then their moment of choice (and influence) draws near. And for those who genuinely wish for a cleaner, more transparent regime, then, like Moses and his board, it’s time for men and women of goodwill to get stuck in."

Mark Lobel on BBC News: "We were invited to Qatar by the prime minister's office to see new flagship accommodation for low-paid migrant workers - but while gathering additional material for our report, we ended up being thrown into prison for doing our jobs."

Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Luz on why he is leaving the magazine, as quoted in the Guardian: “Each issue is torture because the others are gone. Spending sleepless nights summoning the dead, wondering what Charb, Cabu, Honoré, Tignous would have done is exhausting.”

Raymond Snoddy @RaymondSnoddy on Twitter: "More billions in fines for banks - for fixing foreign exchange. How many arrests? Cops clearly too busy launching dawn raids on journalists."

Mark Sweney in the Guardian: "Impress, set up as an alternative press regulator to the industry-backed Independent Press Standards Organisation, is to seek recognition under the controversial royal charter."

David Banks ‏@DBanksy on Twitter: "If Impress gets Charter recognition it triggers costs protection for those in it (no-one) and punitive damages for those not (most of press)."

Chris Frost, chair of the NUJ ethics council, in a statement:"The NUJ welcomes the recognition application submitted by Impress and we will take an interest in the way it develops. Impress offers an independent framework that can enable our profession to drive up standards, public trust and ethical journalism in the UK. Crucially, Impress supports the introduction of safeguards for all journalists who object to being made to act unethically in the pursuit of a story."

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