Iain Dale on his blog: "Today the world will go mad. A man and a woman are having a baby and that will now lead the BBC news, the LBC news and every other news. The plight of Jamal Khashoggi will be relegated to a footnote. The Brexit backstop? Nah, not so important. The government’s new Loneliness Strategy? Forget it. And yet in every newsroom up and down the country journalists will be tearing their hair out, not wanting to do this. Because they know what real news actually is...It’s not news. It’s showbusiness."
- Robert Peston @Peston on Twitter: "So I would argue that Brexit backstop blow-up is more important in news terms than 6th in line to throne conceives. But I am aware that argument was lost some time in the ninth century."
The International Federation of Journalists in a statement: "It is increasingly clear the Saudi government is engaged in weaving a carefully orchestrated tissue of lies to cover up their role in Jamal’s killing. The idea that it takes days for the Saudi regime to find out what happened inside their own consulate is unbelievable – it is an embarrassing charade. The impunity with which the Saudis are acting is grotesque but it is in many ways matched by the sight of leading governments around the world displaying their willingness to aid and abet this gross cover-up to protect their own financial and political interests."
Jamal Khashoggi in his final column, published after his death, by the Washington Post: "Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate. There was a time when journalists believed the Internet would liberate information from the censorship and control associated with print media. But these governments, whose very existence relies on the control of information, have aggressively blocked the Internet. They have also arrested local reporters and pressured advertisers to harm the revenue of specific publications."
Margaret Atwood in the Guardian on the anniversary of the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta: "Impunity for the killings of journalists drives a cycle of violence. Throughout her 30 years as a journalist, Caruana Galizia faced countless threats, suffering harassment online and off. Her house was set on fire; her family’s pet dogs were killed. She faced legal threats to stop her reporting, too: at the time of her death 43 libel cases were pending against her, many from high-level politicians."
Statement from new media venture Tortoise, edited by James Harding, on its kickstarter page: "We are overwhelmed by information. The problem isn’t just fake news or junk news, because there’s a lot that’s good – it’s just that there’s so much of it, and so much of it is the same. Most of it is in a hurry. A lot is partial and confusing. Too many people chasing the news, but missing the story. It’s made people anxious and distrustful. It’s not nearly fun or funny enough. No wonder we’ve all been feeling bewildered and, frankly, exhausted. Drowned out and locked out of power. We believe it’s time that changed. To learn how to live well in a world where everything moves at breakneck speed, we believe we need to slow down to wise up. We are building a different kind of journalism. One that opens up. Gives everyone a seat at the table. Creates a system of organised listening. News that reflects the way we really are and shapes the world we want to live in."
MoreSarfraz Mansoor @sarfrazmanzoor on the BBC drama Press on Twitter: "Series 2 will be smaller than the first series and eventually go online only."
Outgoing editor of Huff Post UK Polly Curtis @pollycurtis on Twitter: "I’m so proud to have led the HuffPost UK team this past year. It's a fantastic team focused on original reporting, brilliant political scoops and getting outside the London bubble to see how people feel about the changes happening in society and the world."
Roy Greenslade on Johnston Press in the Guardian: "This is a story mostly about capitalism and partially about technological development. Yes, there was human greed along the way because some former bosses and managers have trousered hundreds of thousands of pounds down the years. Many Johnston Press staff, both former and current, will find it difficult to forgive this."
Rebecca Whittington Media on Johnston Press: "The established flagship titles, which have enjoyed investment and are heralded as the jewels in the JP crown – the Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post, the Sheffield Star and the i – will be snapped up. It’s the Pontefract and Castleford Express-type newspapers – which are already suffering due to a lack of dedicated staff, no presence in their towns, no investment and shared content – which will be left on the scrapheap. It is sad and worrysome. My prediction, for what’s it’s worth, is that the larger JP titles which have seen investment and done well in steering the tanker round to meet the company’s digital plan, will be sold off. The smaller ones will not. The company will be broken up and significant parts of rural England and Scotland may well find themselves without a local newspaper."
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