Media Quotes of the Week: Dawn for New Day, digital is dead and can the Indy survive online?

Mark Kleinman, City Editor of Sky News: "The publisher of The Daily Mirror will this month unveil a weekday newspaper called New Day even as the looming closure of The Independent sparks fresh pessimism about the industry's prospects. Sky News has obtained key details of the new tabloid being prepared for launch by Trinity Mirror, the listed company which is also Britain's biggest regional newspaper group. New Day is expected to launch on 29 February, according to people close to the plans, and will initially be priced at 25p - compared to the 40p cover price of the", with which it is expected to compete."

Michael Wolff on USA Today: "While neither consumers nor advertisers will pay enough for news to cover its costs in print form, they won’t cover the costs in digital either...In a way, it might be good news to have at least clarified the point that digital is not the future of the news business. And to acknowledge that, in some farsighted new thinking, print might have some striking advantages — such that ads can’t be blocked. Of course, the bad news is to have realized this well after the digital promise has all but destroyed the business. But better late than never."

From the Guardian:"Thirty years after his move to Wapping killed off Fleet Street’s connection with the newspaper business, Rupert Murdoch is to marry Jerry Hall at St Bride’s church on his old stamping ground."

MichaelWhite‏@MichaelWhite on Twitter: "Rupe marrying in Fleet St which he helped destroy (& feed loyal staff to the cops) shows rare bad taste even for RM."

Les Hinton ‏@leshinton on Twitter: "Err - would that be the same man who changed the economics of Fleet St to make the Indy’s launch possible?"

The Times  [£] in a leader on the demise of the Independent print titles: "Long before the digital revolution, newspapers confronted the migration of news to broadcasters. Newspapers will continue to innovate in the face of the internet revolution and it is our belief that print will co-exist with digital for a long time to come. A loss of diversity in media voices is to be regretted but there is no reason for gloom about the future of newsprint."

Steven Barnett ‏@stevenjbarnett on Twitter: "#independent won't survive as serious journalistic force online. A terrible blow to media plurality, as well as journalists' jobs."

Andrew Marr in the Guardian: "People who say 'there are enough newspapers', are like people who say there are enough public parks or libraries, or piano concertos: always and forever wrong."

Beverley Charles Rowe in a letter to the Guardian: "Fourteen pages on David Bowie, a single page on one of the momentous scientific discoveries ever (So it turns out Einstein was right all along, 12 February). And now we cannot even switch to the Independent."

Fraser Nelson on The Spectator: "Under the Independent’s current editor, the brilliant Amol Rajan, I’d say that the newspaper was going through a revival – as we saw with its magnificent redesign. But it had a potent rival. Not the Times (contrary to what the Guardian says, its price war was with the Daily Telegraph) but the i."

Archie Bland in the Guardian: "When I think of the impertinent faith that such an enterprise required, and the many hundreds of journalists who took up its mantle, and of the vital liberal voice that has been diminished, I feel terribly sad. That’s not to say that the decline of print isn’t inevitable, or that an era of online journalism isn’t thrilling in its own way. But you can love something that you know is bound to expire; maybe it makes you love it more. And as other papers go the way of the Independent in the years ahead, I will miss the conceit of a newspaper as an account of the day, its artful balance of heft and humour, its precarious attempt at authority."

Rupert Murdoch ‏@rupertmurdoch on Twitter: "Sadly UK's Independent print paper closes after about 30 years. Any loss of diversity bad."

The Independent NUJ chapel in a motion: "This chapel is deeply sceptical about the company’s ability to generate confidence in the new Independent website while downgrading existing terms and conditions for new roles. The chapel has consistently argued for digital colleagues to receive full recognition from the company, and for low pay and poor treatment of staff to be addressed."

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