Thursday 16 June 2016

Media Quotes of the Week: From Fleet Street's EU bias is part of a great British tradition to it's such a lovely job hunting Russian football hooligans



Charlie Beckett on the Polis blog: "To people not used to British newspapers they can sometimes feel a bit like that drunken, loud-mouthed guy in the bar who is anxious to tell you what he thinks and what you should think, too. But readers seem to like it. Whether they do what they are told is another matter...Press bias in the U.K. goes much further than in most other countries, it’s a great British tradition."


Robert Peston‏ @Peston on Twitter: "What will worry @David_Cameron & Remain is @rupertmurdoch does not typically back the loser - & this is his call."

Former Sun editor David Yelland‏ @davidyelland on Twitter: "Not one I could have written. The anti-German sentiment is beneath us as a country."

The Guardian in an editorial: "Questions also need to be asked about what lies behind the flag-waving certainties that are currently being served up by so much of Fleet Street. Imperfect as it may be, Europe-wide cooperation is the best hope we have on tax avoidance. And the typical tax-paying patriot may wonder whether they are on the same side on that question as the non-domiciled Lord Rothermere, who owns the Mail, or the Barclay Brothers, who own the Telegraph and have major interests in the Channel Islands and a Monaco address. Then there is the Australian-born American national whose biggest-selling newspaper on Tuesday told its readers to “BeLEAVE in Britain”


Boris Johnson asked by Tim Shipman in the Sunday Times Magazine [£] what was the most important thing he learnt from his own father?: “The most important thing I learnt from him was not answering tricky questions about one’s family. It was a brilliant lesson.”


Vanessa Redgrave after Simon Hattenestone of the Guardian told her she was very difficult to interview: “I don’t think so. I think I’m illuminating. Hahahaha!” 


Washington Post's executive editor Marty Baron in a statement: "Donald Trump's decision to revoke The Washington Post's press credentials is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press. When coverage doesn't correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organization is banished. The Post will continue to cover Donald Trump as it has all along -- honorably, honestly, accurately, energetically, and unflinchingly."
Roy Greenslade on Media Guardian:"The UK’s PR industry is worth £12.9bn, a 34% rise over the £9.62bn in 2013, according to the PR Census 2016.* And it now employs 83,000 people. This employment finding confirms claims that there are now far more PRs than journalists working in Britain. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) figures for the year up to June 2015 revealed that 64,000 people in the UK described themselves as 'journalists, newspaper and periodical editors'."

Charlotte Urwin, Independent Press Standards Organisation’s head of standards, on a new whistleblowing service for journalists who are being told to work unethically: “Journalists should never feel under pressure to act in a way that is contrary to the Editors’ Code. The provision of a whistleblowers’ hotline, so that they can raise concerns, is a crucial part of the work of an independent and effective press regulator. By contracting with an experienced external provider who has considerable knowledge of providing similar services to a number of private and public sector institutions, IPSO is confident that the hotline meets the very highest standards available.”

Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, on the Investigatory Powers Bill: "While the Government has moved slightly in the right diection in terms of protection for journalists and their sources, the biggest issue that remains is that media organisations must be given the opportunity to challenge applications before authorisations are given. There seems to be an idea that journalists are fair game. The fact is that they are not criminals (except in rare cases) and with their special role in any democratic society their records and sources must be properly protected. We can only hope that the Lords come to the rescue of this legislation which still offers inadequate safeguards for the media."

Nicholson: From Sky documentary
Legendary crime reporter James Nicolson, known as the Prince of Darkness,  who died this week: "I’ve been at every siege since Troy."

John Rentoul in the Independent: "George Orwell said: 'Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech that you are used to seeing in print.' That is quite a stiff test for a writer, and probably too time-consuming in practice for a lot of journalism, but it is something to which we can all aspire."


Mirror chief reporter Andy Lines Andy Lines ‏@andylines on Twitter: "I love my job! I spend the whole weekend desperately trying to avoid Russian ultras - now I'm in Lille trying to bloody find them!"

[£]=paywall

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