Media Quotes of the Week: From how the Assad regime has failed to silence Marie Colvin to why you should never evacuate the sub-editors' desk

The Sunday Times [£] in a leader: "The Assad regime thought it could silence Marie with one foul act. It was wrong. A documentary, Under the Wire, chronicles Paul’s [photographer Paul Conroy] last days in Homs with Marie. A biography, In Extremis, has been written by Lindsey Hilsum, the Channel 4 News war reporter. A Private War, starring the Hollywood actress Rosamund Pike as Marie, will open in cinemas this month. Even in death Marie’s reporting continues to shame Assad. She represents the very best of her profession and we are proud of her legacy."

Judge Amy Jackson of the US district court for the District of Columbia, as quoted by the Guardian,  declared Marie Colvin was “specifically targeted because of her profession, for the purpose of silencing those reporting on the growing opposition movement in the country. [The] murder of journalists acting in their professional capacity could have a chilling effect on reporting such events worldwide. A targeted murder of an American citizen, whose courageous work was not only important, but vital to our understanding of war zones and of wars generally, is outrageous, and therefore a punitive damages award that multiples the impact on the responsible state is warranted.” 

• Judge Jackson ordered the Syrian regime to pay $300m dollars (£228m) in punitive damages.

The Times [£]: in leader "The Assad family remain ensconced in Damascus, but the Colvin family’s victory is far from pyrrhic. Extensive family assets have been frozen in Britain, the United States and elsewhere for many years. Across numerous jurisdictions, they can and should be seized...Yesterday’s ruling marks the first legal acknowledgment that the Syrian government took active, calculated steps to intimidate, harass and ultimately murder those who sought to inform the world of what they were doing. Alongside punitive damages and a criminal prosecution, it could, and must, lead to a change in international law."

The Observer in a leader: "The premeditated murder of Colvin should now also form a part of the ongoing UN-led criminal investigations of Assad. The UN must designate the deliberate killing of a reporter as a war crime."

Mathew Ingram in the Columbia Journalism Review: "Can a company that became a titan based on its understanding of how to manufacture social virality metrics change its spots, and figure out how to build a sustainable business based on things like donations, events, and e-commerce? At one point, BuzzFeed seemed like the antithesis of traditional media companies who were trying to move from print to digital. But now the former superstar has its own transformation to make, and it appears to be struggling just as much as the ancien regime it was hoping to replace."

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, quoted by the International Federation of Journalists: “The sheer scale of these cuts is sad to see. It’s a swingeing blow to morale in the newsroom and a far cry from where staff were told things would be after major redundancies a year ago, which were billed as setting the company up for the future. That staff are going through this again so soon raises questions that need to be addressed across digital publishing, about future strategy and the importance of long term investment, rather than unrealistic expectations of short term returns. It is a real shame to see BuzzFeed choose to lose another large number of skilled and experienced digital journalists.”

Emily Bell in The Observer: "The future of journalism will generally be smaller and more challenging in the short term and remains uncertain in the long term. However, the problem now is so clear that even the most advanced digital thinkers can see it: a digital free market for journalism doesn’t work."

Matthew Garrahan in the Financial Times: "There are bright spots amid the gloom. Appetite for news remains healthy: just ask anyone who has devoured coverage about the latest Brexit negotiations or the latest travails of Donald Trump. The quality of investigative reporting on these ongoing sagas bears comparison with the best journalism of recent decades."

Verified account

Ex-Sun editor  David Yelland @davidyelland on Twitter: "Tony Gallagher, the current Editor of The Sun, is far more responsible for the Brexit disaster than Leo Varadkar, who he attacks again today - on a page of half truths and no truths."

Jay Elwes @JayElwes on the Sunday Times splash headline on Twitter: "An old subbing point from way back - if you “evacuate” a place, then you remove its inhabitants. If you “evacuate” a person, you give them an enema."

• As backed up by two sub editors in this episode of The Wire 

[£]=paywall