Media Quotes of the Week: From the new look Indy to are local newspaper editors too bland?

Publisher Evgeny Lebedev on the Independent's latest redesign: "This newspaper has a proud record of innovation. It was the first broadsheet title to go compact, after which many others, including The Times, followed. In the past four years, my family took its sister title, the London Evening Standard, free, returned it to profit, and launched this newspaper’s very successful spin-off, i, which comfortably outsells The Guardian. That tradition of innovation makes me glad to see our masthead made vertical. Together with other changes you can see today, I believe this redesign revives the elegance and sophistication of the paper’s first editions."

MI6 chief Sir John Sawers to MPs on the Edward Snowden security leaks, as reported by the BBC:  "Our adversaries were rubbing their hands with glee...the leaks from Snowden have been very damaging, they've put our operations at risk".

David Leigh ‏@davidleigh3 on Twitter: "The irony of all this slagging-off is that, so far, Snowden & co have witheld key names, locations etc. Let's hope for their patience."

Andrew Norfolk: 'Lucky to work for Times'

Andrew Norfolk, The Times' journalist who investigated the Asian gangs who groom young girls, speaking at City University: "I feel so lucky at a time of staff and budget cuts that  a newspaper gave me three years to work on a story. It was a major commitment by The Times."

The Sunday Times [£] in a leader: "This is a right royal mess. A royal charter is a centuries-old device for granting the royal imprimatur to organisations that seek it, such as Cambridge University. It is not a mechanism for imposing strictures onto the unwilling. So the press will now move to create its own body to govern its behaviour. Meanwhile, the government will proceed to establish an empty quango with a board of grandees who may have nothing to do."

The Observer in a leader: "So one clear imperative, as Ipso takes shape, is to make sure it represents the whole industry. A matching responsibility, though, lies with government. At no stage, through the year since Leveson reported, has there been a proper, inclusive negotiating process: merely a series of bilaterals over pizza and coffee. Of course, constructing a broader conclave is difficult. But the plain fact is that, on point after point, Ipso is not terribly far away from what Sir Brian Leveson intended, and it might not be incapable of ticking all of his important boxes if, at last, the principals can meet face to face."

Culture secretary Maria Miller interviewed on the Andrew Marr Show."Marr: 'If the press's system works the Royal Charter is redundant really because they have got their own system.' Miller nodded her head and said 'subject to them doing it'."

Matthew Norman in the Telegraph: "Devolving the implementation of the Royal Charter on press regulation to the Privy Council was an act of genius. Given the suspicion that what attracts the political class to this folly is the desire to keep matters of public interest private, what better messaging than leaving it to an ancient, anachronistic body that operates, as the name suggests, in the utmost privacy? Initially Downing Street refused even to name the specific counsellors involved." 

Newspaper Society president Adrian Jeakings to Ed Miliband at the Newspaper Conference annual lunch:“The regional and local press - in common with newspapers and magazines across the UK – will not be signing up to the cross-party royal charter. It was devised by politicians and a special interest lobby group and imposed on an unwilling industry."

Grey Cardigan on The Spin Alley on the banning of newspapers by football clubs: "What’s needed, of course, is the solidarity shown in other trades. Ban one of us, and we’ll all ignore you. Imagine the impact of that action across all local and national titles. Sadly, our own selfishness – and that of our bosses – subverts that notion."  

Celia Walden in the Telegraph: "If Twitter were only responsible for trivialising and vulgarising life into a series of bite-sized, meaningless superficialities, I might have come around to it by now. I’m trivial enough to buy handbags on eBay and vulgar enough to live in LA. But it’s the shared moments it has stolen, the way it has bruised my life by taking up so much of my husband [Piers Morgan] and friends’ time and energy, that I really resent. And all to what aim? A relentless pursuit of the eternal moi." 

Local newspaper editor interviewed for new study, as reported by HoldTheFrontPage: “Because of the roles they do, editors are not as active in the community as they used to be… they are probably blander than they used to be and that has also diminished their role and importance in people’s eyes.”

'Deeply contentious issues' on Royal Charter plan

While MPs were congratulating themselves in the Commons on reaching the cross-party agreement on a Royal Charter-based press regulation system,  major players in the industry warned it contains "deeply contentious issues".

A statement from major national titles and bodies representing the regional press and magazines said: "We would like to make it clear that, contrary to reports broadcast by the BBC this morning, no representative of the newspaper and magazine industry had any involvement in, or indeed any knowledge of, the cross-party talks on press regulation that took place on Sunday night.

"We have only late this afternoon seen the Royal Charter that the political parties have agreed between themselves and, more pertinently, the Recognition Criteria, early drafts of which contained several deeply contentious issues which have not yet been resolved with the industry.

"In the light of this we are not able to give any response on behalf of the industry to this afternoon’s proposals until we have had time to study them."

It was signed by Daily Mail Group, News International, Newspaper Society, Professional Publishers Association and  Telegraph Media Group.

Update: Adrian Jeakings (above), president of the Newspaper Society and chief executive of Archant, issued this statement:

“Lord Justice Leveson found that the UK’s local media had nothing to do with the phone hacking scandal which prompted the Inquiry. Indeed, he praised regional and local newspapers for their important social and democratic role and recommended that the regulatory model proposed should not provide an added burden to our sector. He called on the Government to look urgently at what action it might take to help safeguard regional and local newspapers’ ongoing viability as a valued and important part of the British press.

“Yet the deal announced by the three main political parties today completely ignores the Leveson recommendations on the local press. The Royal Charter proposals agreed by the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour - with huge financial penalties for newspapers which choose to be outside the system and an arbitration service which would open the floodgates to compensation claimants - would place a crippling burden on the UK’s 1100 local newspapers inhibiting freedom of speech and the freedom to publish.

"Local newspapers remain fiercely opposed to any form of statutory involvement or underpinning in the regulation of the press. A free press cannot be free if it is dependent on and accountable to a regulatory body recognised by the state."

Archant staff to get £200 bonus as chief executive says company 'on track' to hit targets

Archant chief executive Adrian Jeakings (pictured) has ended the year by promising staff a £200 bonus.
In a message sent to all employees, Jeakings said: “2009 has been a very difficult year for consumer media and Archant has not been spared the ravages of the recession. However, I am delighted to be able to tell you that we are on track to hit the targets that we set at the beginning of the year, before the full scale of the downturn had become apparent.
“This has been achieved through the hard work and dedication of all of our people. I am proud that we have managed to get through the worst recession for 80 years whilst accelerating our development activities, in anticipation of the recovery."
He added: “I am therefore delighted to be able to announce that a bonus of £200 will be paid in January to all employees who do not participate in a management bonus scheme. The bonus will be paid pro-rata to staff who work part-time and those who joined the company during the year.”

Staff at many other regional newspaper groups are in the grip of a pay freeze.