Media Quotes of the WeeK: From PM scorned for telling kids journalists abuse people to Facebook faces more flack after Australian climbdown

Boris Johnson, in an online lesson with schoolchildren at Sedgehill Academy in Lewisham, south London, as reported by Sky News: "When you're a journalist it's a great, great job, it's a great profession. But the trouble is, sometimes you find yourself always abusing people or attacking people. Not that you want to abuse them or attack them, but you are being critical, when maybe you feel sometimes a bit guilty about that, because you haven't put yourself in the place of the person you're criticising."

@NUJofficial general secretary Michelle Stanistreet: "This banal disparaging of journalists as unfeeling bullies reveals a prime minister with complete disdain for journalism and press freedom."

Chris Matheson, the shadow media minister, quoted by the Daily Mail: "For Boris Johnson to say journalists are 'always abusing people' probably says more about his own career. It is particularly troubling coming so soon after the Prime Minister stood by one of his ministers who attacked a journalist who was just trying to do her job. We know from Donald Trump that these kind of assaults on the free press are dangerous and designed to stir up distrust and division. Boris Johnson should withdraw these remarks and apologise"

Press Gazette reports: "The UK’s regional print daily newspapers saw their circulations fall by an average of 18% in the second half of 2020. The daily titles audited by ABC saw a total circulation drop of 27%, according to Press Gazette’s analysis. Meanwhile, non-dailies audited by ABC saw average circulation declines of 21%."

Irish News editor Noel Doran after graffiti appeared threatening the safety of the paper's security correspondent Allison Morris: "We condemn the attempt to intimidate our colleague Allison Morris which will not succeed, and we stand with Allison and all other journalists who have faced similarly despicable threats."

Committee to Protect Journalists deputy executive director Robert Mahoney in a statement after Belarusian journalists Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova were sentenced to two years each in prison over their coverage of protests in the country: “These prison terms are naked political persecutions designed to bully into silence any journalist who would dare report independently on democratic protests in one of Europe’s most authoritarian states. Journalists Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova should be free and President Aleksandr Lukashenko should ensure that they are.”

Matt Hancock responding to claims by Sky News' Sophy Ridge that people are wondering why he was being so cautious on lifting lockdown restrictions, as reported by the Express: "Well I know that everybody at Sky News is keen to be able to get back to having parties."

From The Times [£] obit of restaurateur Joe Allen whose Covent Garden venue was popular with journalists: "In the heyday of Fleet Street expense accounts it was a haunt of bibulous hacks who used the restaurant’s telephone to file postprandial stories that were not so much dictated as decanted."

Press Gazette in a comment after Facebook ended its ban on news content after an agreement with the Australian government: "Facebook and Google are seeking to stuff the protesting mouths of Australian publishers with cash and have ensured that (for the moment) they control cash-for-content payments. In exchange, the pair will continue to enjoy the fruits of their monopoly positions in search and social media advertising respectively."

Campbell Brown, vice president of global news partnerships at Facebook, quoted by BBC News: "Going forward, the [Australian] government has clarified we will retain the ability to decide if news appears on Facebook so that we won't automatically be subject to forced negotiation. We have come to an agreement that will allow us to support the publishers we choose to, including small and local publishers."

• BBC North America technology reporter James Clayton in an analysis: "Although both sides have moved, and both will claim victory, this whole episode has damaged Facebook. Politicians from across the world offered support to the Australian government - there were even accusations of bullying by the social network. And considering Facebook desperately doesn't want these laws replicated in other countries, antagonising Australia's allies may not have been the smartest of moves."

John Naughton in the Observer: "Given that the social media giants have polluted the public sphere with disinformation, hatred and lies, and destroyed a business model that once funded good journalism, the companies should be subjected to a tax used to support that same good journalism. A bit like the BBC licence fee, in other words. It is the price they have to pay for the consequences of their ultra-profitable business models and insane profit margins. And for the privilege of being allowed to exist in a democracy...The Silicon Valley narrative that sees democracies in the role of the guy who followed processional elephants during the Indian Raj, sweeping up their dung, is as ridiculous as it is pernicious. It is high time we called the industry’s bluff."

From a joint statement by media unions, including the NUJ: "Facebook and Google are guilty of excessive profiteering. It is time not only to make them pay a fair share for the content they use but to level the playing field. If your local newspaper or local radio station has to pay tax why are Facebook and Google allowed to avoid and evade their social responsibilities?If governments were to tax their revenues or their profits, an independent fund could use those revenues to support a news recovery plan, saving jobs, sustaining media, supporting new voices."

The Times [£] in a leader: "Across the world, in various forms, social media companies are facing a new era of regulation. Providing fair compensation for news content is a vital component of the organisations they must become. Google, Facebook’s key rival, has recently struck deals with a variety of news organisations, including News Corporation, ultimate owner of The Times. Facebook should be keen to follow suit, and swiftly. Liberal democracy requires a thriving plurality of media content, local, national and worldwide. It is time for Facebook to become traditional media’s partner, rather than its nemesis."

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