Media Quotes of the Week: From journalism job cuts hit BBC, Guardian and local press to charges dropped against Indy reporter arrested in the US

BBC News reports: "The Andrew Neil Show will disappear from BBC schedules as part of cuts to the corporation's news operation. The political discussion programme had already been off the air during the Covid-19 crisis and will not return. But the BBC said it was talking to Neil about a new BBC One interview show. In total, 520 jobs will go, from a workforce of around 6,000 people."

Jim Waterson in the Guardian: "The Guardian has announced plans to make job cuts in both editorial and commercial roles, as the economic shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact the media industry. The proposals could affect up to 180 jobs – 110 in departments such as advertising, Guardian Jobs, marketing roles, and the Guardian Live events business, with 70 coming from editorial."

Martin Tideswell on Twitter on leaving the editorship of The Sentinel, Stoke-onTrent: "It’s been a really emotional day. A tough week. I’m immensely proud of my team and grateful to the many people who have supported me and The Sentinel/StokeonTrentLive. If you see a local journalist, give them a hug. Value them. They’re all heroes to me."

Gareth Davies on Twitter: "My timeline today has been full of talented local reporters facing the threat of redundancy and few, if any, high profile voices talking out in support of them. It’s vital, now more than ever, that communities have well-staffed and resourced local media. In fact it’s a necessity."

Martin Shipton, NUJ FoC at Reach's Media Wales, quoted by BBC News, on journalists facing redundancy: "They have given their all during the pandemic to produce high quality content for print and online, yet even at this stage they have not been told how many of them the company wants to leave the organisation. To add insult to injury they have done away with our editor-in-chief and Media Wales is being amalgamated with the English Midlands division of Reach under a marketplace publisher based in Birmingham, whose remit covers the English Midlands as well as Cheshire and Lincolnshire."

Tim Shipman in the Sunday Times [£]: "No 10’s attitude to the media was further reinforced on Friday night when [Dominic] Cummings addressed ministerial advisers. 'He called the media snakes and reptiles,' one of those listening revealed."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, in a statement on the written judgment on the Belfast High Court decision to quash the warrants for the arrest of investigative journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey: "This case is an important and historic victory for all journalists working in the public interest. We very much welcome the decision of the judges to quash the warrants and the bold emphasis they have placed on the right of journalists to protect their sources."

Maria Ressa, quoted by the Committee to Protect Journalists, after sixty press freedom groups and other supporters formed a #HoldTheLine  coalition in support of the journalist threatened with jail in the Philippines: “I am moved by the incredible outpouring of support we’ve received from around the globe for our campaign to #HoldTheLine against tyranny – even as President Duterte continues his public attacks on me, the legal harassment escalates, and the state-licenced and Facebook-fuelled online violence rages on. We can’t stay silent because silence is consent. We need to be outraged, to fight back with journalism. If we don’t use our rights, we will lose them. Please stand with us!”

Nick Cohen in the Observer: "The nationalist right is determined to police opinion. In Hungary and Poland, the media are becoming its propaganda organs. Trump incites hatred of reporters who tell the truth about his administration. Johnson threatens the independence of the BBC and Channel 4. Yet they can pose as the champions of free expression because the loudest strain in progressivism has embraced censorship. The practical danger in giving up on freedom of speech is that the day will come when you find you are lost for words just when you need them most."

Janice Turner in The Times [£]: "Almost every day I hear from Guardian journalists, principled, progressive writers, who are terrified of uttering what now counts as WrongSpeak. As the tram-tracks of left-wing discourse have narrowed, any critique of Black Lives Matter or conservative Islam or, worst of all, suggesting a humane balance must be reached between trans activist demands and women’s rights, can result in vicious censure from colleagues, even demands that they are sacked. Questions imply criticism: disagreement is hate-speech. When journalists cannot address issues for fear of losing their jobs, a void is created in the public sphere. If moderate views are unprintable, they become unspeakable. Cancellation trickles down."

The Independent reports: "Authorities in the United States have dropped criminal charges against an Independent journalist arrested while covering race protests in Seattle. Chief US correspondent Andrew Buncombe was detained, shackled and assaulted by a prison guard after being arrested on a charge of  'failure to disperse' as local police sought to clear demonstrators in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park, prompting strong criticism from press freedom and human rights organisations. Mr Buncombe, who denied committing an offence, could have faced up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 (£4,000) fine, but Seattle’s deputy city attorney has now confirmed prosecutors will not be pressing charges."

Andrew Buncombe on how he was arrested covering the Black Lives Matter protest: "The officers took my phone, and told me I was under arrest. I requested several times that they tell me what I was being charged with, and read me my rights. They told me I had the 'right to remain silent', but were unable or unwilling to tell me the charge. They then handcuffed me, shackled my ankles and loaded me into a van...In Trump’s America, where the media is routinely cast as evil and dishonest and where an African American reporter for CNN can be arrested live on air, the need to defend journalism and its centrality to an informed democracy has never been greater. And the foundational act for journalists is to show up, either literally or else in spirt and commitment and focus."

Christian Broughton, editor of the Independent, talking to the Society of Editors: “As a global news organisation, we have some journalists based permanently in countries with poor records for press freedom, and we frequently send reporters into conflict zones and dangerous situations. But when the phone rings to tell you a reporter has been arrested, you don’t imagine that the correspondent in question would be in the United States.”

 [£]=paywall