Media Quotes of the Week: Murder in Malta puts spotlight on attacks on the media worldwide as President Trump twitter rages at US journalists

The Malta Independent in a leader on the murder by a car bomb of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia:  "All over the social media people have been crying this was a black day for Malta. And that democracy is under threat. It was indeed a black day. But as regards the survival of democracy, that depends on each and every one of us.  As we said after the Charlie Hebdo terror attack, JesuisCharlie, so too we say today IamDaphne. Her spirit must come to inhabit each and every one of us."

Matthew Caruana Galizia on Facebook: "My mother was assassinated because she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it, like many strong journalists. But she was also targeted because she was the only person doing so. This is what happens when the institutions of the state are incapacitated: the last person left standing is often a journalist."

The New York Times in a leader on the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia: "For journalists around the world, this is the new normal. They are rounded up en masse and imprisoned in Turkey and murdered in Russia and the Philippines. In India, they have been slapped with spurious defamation suitswhen they report on suspicious doings of the powerful, and beaten by mobs and killed for their reporting — Gauri Lankesh was gunned down last month in front of her home. Even the president of the United States questions the patriotism of journalists for doing their job and taunts them in front of angry crowds."

The Guardian in a leader: "It is not special pleading to point out that journalists and journalism are facing extraordinary challenges: Mrs Caruana Galizia is the 10th journalist worldwide to die this year – and the second in Europe – in pursuit of finding the truth. The assassination of an investigative journalist, one who had unearthed serious allegations of money laundering and corruption in Malta, a European Union state, speaks volumes about the threat to freedom of speech in that country and the atmosphere of impunity and violence that has taken hold in the Mediterranean archipelago... Her bravery cost her her life. It should not be lost in vain."

The Times [£] in a leader: "It is unconscionable that a Nato member benefiting from the most valuable mutual security guarantee in the free world should be trampling so blatantly on a fundamental advantage it can offer its own citizens — that of freedom of expression. Mr Erdogan’s government has jailed more journalists than any other country. It has shut down more than 150 media outlets as part of a state of emergency proclaimed last year. It claims that the courts are acting independently in special circumstances created by the failed coup in Ankara and elsewhere. In reality, as the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has noted, 'Turkey’s judicial system has become an instrument of persecution'.”

Damian Green to lobby journalists about the Evening Standard, as reported by Politics Home: “The Evening Standard… Russia Today with less George Galloway.”

Quentin Letts to Polly Toynbee on the Today programme: “Do you know, whenever I’m on with Polly I wish I could just pin her to the ground and tickle her under the armpits and make you smile my dear!”

Polly Toynbee on Quentin Letts in the Guardian: "Pin me down? Tickle me? Can you imagine him saying that to Simon Jenkins or Jonathan Freedland? There was no harm done: I’m not vulnerable. But on Twitter there was anger at another wearying reminder of the extent to which contempt for women informs the Mail culture."

Walter Merricks CBE, the chair of IMPRESS, in a statement after the High Court rejected a claim by the News Media Association, representing major publishers, that IMPRESS should not have been recognised as a press regulator: "This judgment shows that the system of externally verified self-regulation, recommended by Sir Brian Leveson, is fully functional. We can now get on with the important job of upholding high standards of journalism. At a time when the news publishing industry is under massive pressure, IMPRESS is uniquely able to reduce publishers’ legal risks and enhance their standing in the eyes of audiences and advertisers. We are grateful for the ongoing support of the NUJ, Sir Harry Evans and many others in and around the industry, and sorry that the NMA have wasted so much time attacking IMPRESS, which meets the standards that they refuse to meet"

The News Media Association in a statement, reported by The Times [£]: “Impress is a state-sponsored regulator funded almost entirely by one wealthy individual, Max Mosley, and headed by a chief executive who has admitted to holding biases against leading newspapers and journalists. Impress cannot and never will be a regulator for the UK newspaper industry which remains wholly opposed to Section 40.”

Nick Cohen in the Observer: "Instead of being populated by serious thinkers, Brexit’s thinktanks are filled with propagandists, tabloid hacks and tax-exile newspaper proprietors. Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are columnists turned politicians. The Sun, Telegraph, Mail and Express do not just cheer on the cause while the grown-ups make the real decisions, as they did in Margaret Thatcher’s day. They are what brains the Brexit campaign possesses."

Donald J. Trump‏@realDonaldTrump on Twitter: " '46% of Americans think the Media is inventing stories about Trump & his Administration.' @FoxNews It is actually much worse than this!"

Donald J. Trump‏@realDonaldTrump on Twitter: "So much Fake News being put in dying magazines and newspapers. Only place worse may be @NBCNews, @CBSNews, @ABC and @CNN. Fiction writers!"

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