Media Quotes of the Week: From Trump and the press at war to Sun sticks up for BBC journalist

President Trump speaking at CIA headquarters, as reported by Politico: "As you know I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth. Right? And they sort of made it sound like I have this feud with the intelligence community.”

White House press secretary Sean Spicer, as reported by BBC News: "There's been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold Donald Trump accountable, and I'm here to tell you it goes two ways. We're going to hold the press accountable as well."

Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian: "The larger point is that Spicer wanted to issue a declaration of war against the press, because that is what Trump intends to pursue. The media has become his defining enemy, taking the place of Hillary Clinton as the glue that might bind his supporters. Whatever his own failings to come, he can always get the base riled up in their hatred of the mainstream media."

Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail: "Though I’ve been in journalism all my life, I thoroughly approve of Trump’s undisguised contempt for the White House Press Corps, an even more pompous gang of preening stenographers than our own Boys In The Bubble at Westminster. The mainstream media in America set out to destroy Trump. Yet under Obama they have been pliant cheerleaders, content to take dictation. Why should Trump put up with it? His retaliation has been called ‘un-Presidential’. But there’s a reason The Donald keeps one of boxer Mike Tyson’s belts in his office."

American Civil Liberties Union director Anthony D. Romero in a response to Sean Spicer: "It is shameful that on the first full day of this Administration, we have ominous suggestions of possible government censorship. Our nation was quite literally founded on the principles of a free press and any effort by the Trump Administration to curtail them will be met with vigorous defence of the First Amendment by the ACLU and others. This is a fight the Trump administration will most certainly lose. If Trump wants to take on the First Amendment, we will see him in court."

Matthew Parris in The Times on President Trump[£]: "You might expect the Conservative Party and Tory newspapers to be horrified by this foul-mouthed slob with his crude opinions. We used to expel such types from our national membership. So why the dalliance? The outstanding and obvious reason is Brexit. Its sponsors are anxious about their project and looking for allies. This has led them into idolising a protectionist US president as part of their quest to turn Britain into a global free trade nation."

International Federation of Journalists president Philippe Leruth in a statement: “The journalists’ community holds Donald Trump accountable for his actions as President of the USA and we call on him to abide by core freedom of expression standards that are fundamental to his country’s democracy and its First Amendment rights. We ask President Trump to respect the basic right for US citizens and the rest of the world to be properly and independently informed. The new president not only has a responsibility towards his own national press but also towards the foreign media and citizens across the world.”

Jon Snow ‏@jonsnowC4  on Twitter: "The challenge in reporting Trump is that at times telling the truth sounds so far-fetched that it looks like editorial bias."

Mikc Gilson, quoted by Press Gazette: “How many chief exec’s, chief constables, trust chairman, communication managers, union bosses, council leaders, politicians of all sorts factor this sublimely into their decision making: ‘what if this gets into the press?’. My real fear now is those bosses and decision makers are beginning to rest a little easier, often surrounded as they are by a phalanx of communication officers (often fleeing journalists) who taken together now outnumber journalists working in the patch."

Media Lawyer, on the Society of Editors website, on section 40: "The Government's decision on whether to bring into force provisions which could mean newspapers which have failed to sign up with a "recognised" regulator being forced to pay all the costs in defamation and privacy actions, even if they win, is likely to be delayed for months by legal actions.Government lawyers yesterday filed papers at the High Court defending its decision to launched a consultation on whether to bring the costs provisions - in section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 - into force as well as whether to go ahead with Part Two of the Leveson Inquiry. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Home Office are contesting the application for judicial review of the consultation decision brought by two individuals and a website."

Johnston Press shareholders quoted by the Sunday Times [£] on the company's boss Ashley Highfield: “Highfield got a huge bonus following the restructure of the business two years ago. But since that restructure shareholders have lost 90% of their money.”... “A better word for Highfield’s restructure would be destruction.”

Paul Sandle for Reuters: "Britain's Guardian newspaper is considering becoming a tabloid and outsourcing printing to a rival such as Rupert Murdoch's News UK as one of a series of options to cut costs, sources told Reuters."

Jim Waterson on BuzzFeedNews UK: "Fake news sites have struggled to take hold in the UK political sphere, seemingly because traditional British news outlets are already incredibly adept at filling the market with highly partisan news stories which stretch the truth to its limits."

The Sun in a leader:  "WE often highlight BBC bias. We wouldn’t include political editor Laura Kuenssberg. It was utterly wrong of the BBC Trust to rule she misreported Jeremy Corbyn's views on taking out terrorists. She asked Labour’s pacifist leader if as PM he would order a shoot-to-kill policy if a massacre was under way here. He could just have said Yes, like a sane politician. Instead he waffled and ­ultimately seemed to decide against. Kuenssberg rightly took that as a No. So did we. But a viewer complained she was wrong and the Trust buckled. Kuenssberg’s context, a hypothetical Paris-style attack, was crystal clear. It is not her fault Corbyn cannot coherently answer simple questions."

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