Media Quotes of the Week: From Culture Secretary says BBC has forgotten about the working class to best of British journalism is often in local press

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries interviewed in the Sun: "When I talk about access, I mean the make-up of who works at the BBC. They often tell us what percentage of their employees are gay, black or trans. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about what the BBC is doing to represent the vast number of low socio-economic, non-diverse areas in the UK. Places like Breck Road, like Leicester and Bradford. Towns and cities with big council estates and strong working-class communities. It’s almost like they have forgotten about them. They didn’t think they really mattered because nobody was raising the issue. It’s about group-think. The BBC thinks in one way about lots of issues. But that groupthink is out of step with what the majority of other people in the UK think.”

Nick Robinson interviewing Boris Johnson on the Today programme: "Prime Minister, stop talking. We are going to have questions and answers, not where you merely talk, if you wouldn’t mind."

John Simpson on Twitter: "Margaret Thatcher was the first British political leader to question publicly whether the BBC should have a future. ‘It’s so left-wing,’ she told a group of us. ‘But you say you never watch tv; how do you know?’ I asked. ‘Rupert Murdoch keeps me informed about it,’ she replied."

Michelle Stanistreet NUJ general secretary in a statement on the £75k a year pay increase for BBC director general Tim Davie: “NUJ members gave their all over the past 18 months to provide the best possible service to the public during the pandemic. Their reward was a pay freeze last year, and a below-inflation deal this year. This lavish bung for the director general, accompanied by briefings that try to justify his pay in relation to the so-called ‘market’, is tone deaf and represents an insult to staff whose remuneration is repeatedly approached through the prism of public sector constraints."

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on its Pandora Papers investigation: "The ICIJ obtained the trove of more than 11.9 million confidential files and led a team of more than 600 journalists from 150 news outlets that spent two years sifting through them, tracking down hard-to-find sources and digging into court records and other public documents from dozens of countries. The leaked records come from 14 offshore services firms from around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore nooks for clients often seeking to keep their financial activities in the shadows. The records include information about the dealings of nearly three times as many current and former country leaders as any previous leak of documents from offshore havens."

Ed Cumming in the Observer on doing work experience at the NME: "One evening I was offered 24 cans of Carling to stay late and transcribe an interview with Keith Richards. The next morning I was asked if there were any 'news lines'. Not really, I said. Just the usual Keith Richards stuff. A few days later I saw some of the words I’d typed up on the front page of the Sun under the headline: KEITH: I SNORTED MY DAD."

Joe Thomas in the Liverpool Echo on Kier Starmer writing for the Sun: "When Mr Starmer stood on a stage in this great city and vowed not to speak with the S*n during his leadership campaign he was content to receive the support that followed. Now that he is leader he may argue he is involved in a different campaign that requires a different approach. Yet if this is a calculated political gamble it is one that, to many on Merseyside, renders his past words hollow and creates the sense that it is the support of this Labour stronghold that he is willing to risk in his pursuit of power."

Afghan journalists in an appeal to the international community via Reporters Without Borders: "In the short term, we need strong support for evacuations of journalists in danger, by assigning them all necessary diplomatic, consular and financial resources. Journalists who have fled the country must be given facilities so that they continue to work as journalists. At this historic and also chaotic time, the disappearance of Afghan journalism would be disastrous. Ensuring the safety of media professionals is crucial in order to preserve the fundamental right of all Afghan citizens to receive accurate news and information, a prerequisite for any hope of one day seeing Afghanistan on the road to a lasting peace. Help us to make Afghan journalism survive."

Bill Browder interviewed by John Sweeney for  Index on Censorship on the libel action against ex-Financial Times journalist Catherine Belton's book Putin's People: “I’ve known Catherine for many years. She’s one of the most rigorous reporters I’ve ever come across. I’ve read her book. And my own view is that the libel action against her is creating a climate of fear among journalists...This is, in my opinion, not just about terrorising Catherine Belton, this is an act of terror that terrorises you and every other journalist and every other publishing company. And so I fear this will have a huge damping effect on vigorous reporting about what’s going on in Russia, without question. And I think it goes well beyond Catherine Belton."

Alastair Campbell on Twitter: "It’s such a shame that most people in the country do not see the best of British journalism. So often it is local and regional. Most of the national front pages these days are now either propaganda or trivia."

Media Quotes of the Week: Was Andrew Neil's vision for GB News bound to fail? to Taliban will force foreign journalists out of Afghanistan

Andrew Neil on Twitter: "It’s official: I have resigned as Chairman and Lead Presenter of GB News."

• Kelvin MacKenzie on Twitter: "Inevitable that @afneil would quit @GBNEWS as you can't have two captains on the bridge."

Jake Kanter in The Times [£]: "Two camps are said to have emerged at the channel. On one side of the divide are those who consider themselves traditional news journalists, who joined because of the pedigree of senior presenters including Neil and [Simon] McCoy. On the other is a growing roster of populist commentators, who under the leadership of [chief executive Angelos] Frangopoulos are making the station’s agenda more like Fox News."

James Ball in the New Statesman: "Neil’s vision for GB News appeared to be based sincerely on that belief: the channel tried to hire local journalists to report – or at least do talking head spots – from across the country for 'out of London' perspectives. The channel hired various presenters and pundits from the BBC and mainstream outfits. There was an attempt to be a mainstream but non-left channel. The result was, frankly, boring. The gap turned out not to exist – and so an amateurish channel with appalling lighting and sound, no half-hourly bulletins and horribly under-rehearsed presenters, producers and tech, was interesting to watch only as an example of how not to produce television."

Marina Hyde in the Guardian: "You’ll recall that Neil launched GB News with a lengthy series of broadsides at the 'metropolitan mindset' and the failures of the 'London media'. Can’t argue with a lot of that. And yet, it must be said that there has simply never, ever been more 'London media' behaviour than that we have witnessed at GB News since then. Backbiting, flouncing, courtly factionalism, seemingly daily resignations, the cancellation of one of its own presenters, briefing wars, declining to come back to work from the south of France for literally months – my dear, the sheer pompous luvviedom of this station has been absolutely unparalleled."

Daniel Finkelstein in The Times [£]: "Launching a new television station is hard, and I always thought GB News would find things tough. I was surprised they thought there were enough people wanting to watch programmes about cancel culture in the middle of the afternoon. How many viewers would be shouting through to the kitchen: 'I’ll come to dinner in a minute darling, but Dan Wootton is on. He’s just talking to Ann Widdecombe about lockdowns and I want to find out if she’s for them or against them'?"

Private Eye's Adam Mcqueen, interviewed by Press Gazette: "I keep saying to people who take photos of their favourite stories in Private Eye on the Wednesday when we come out and put them all over Twitter: this stuff’s really expensive. Every story that gets in that there’s probably six or seven that each journalist has looked into that haven’t actually come to anything, but you have to put a lot of resources into checking things out and seeing them through. In a lot of cases lawyers get involved, there have been injunctions and things that you ended up spending months and a hell of a lot of money on. And you need the resources to do that stuff. And it is much easier as a lot of publishers [have found out] just to get a load of people who’ve got opinions to come in and spout off about them and with that goes to the picture byline and the personal brand side of things."

BBC News reports: "A complaint by a journalist over 'a complete failure' by the Police Service of Northern Ireland to properly investigate an online threat to sexually attack her baby has been upheld. Patricia Devlin, a crime reporter with the Sunday World, took the case to the Police Ombudsman last year. Ms Devlin received the threat a year ago in a direct message to her Facebook account, signed in the name of neo-Nazi group Combat 18. Police Ombudsman, Marie Anderson, said the threat made against the journalist was 'repulsive'. She added that it was 'concerning that police failed to take measures to arrest the suspect at the earliest opportunity'."

Andrew Roth in the Observer: "For more than a decade, the Kremlin has been engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with Russia’s independent media. Outlets with independent journalists were periodically purged by their businessmen or state owners. Those journalists found new jobs, then founded new media, and sought other means to protect their work, sources and livelihood from the threat of a new government crackdown. But in the past year, since the protests in neighbouring Belarus, the arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and Vladimir Putin’s “resetting” of his presidential terms, the Kremlin is taking broader steps to bring the media and individual journalists to heel. Some think it’s possible to keep on reporting, but others see it as a death knell for the profession of journalism."

Ian Burrell in the i on the task of replacing Fran Unsworth at the BBC: "Being BBC director of news and current affairs is probably the most prestigious job in the British news industry, but in the age of social media it is close to becoming an impossible task. Of course, there will always be applicants for a role that comes with immense status and a £340,000 salary but, aside from that, it’s strangely unrewarding and surprisingly powerless. Much of the remit concerns making job cuts and withstanding the political controversies that result from the endless online dissection of the output of a 6,000-strong news division that serves 468m people around the world."

Jake Kanter in The Times [£]: "There is an atmosphere of fear and loathing at the BBC as demoralised news staff fret over creeping politicisation of senior roles, job cuts and a fresh assault on the licence fee. The Times has obtained a copy of the BBC’s 2021 employee survey, which provides a snapshot of the anxiety about the future among rank-and-file staff. Only 41 per cent of employees believe the BBC will succeed over the next three years, according to the survey completed in May."

 Los Angeles Times reports: "Journalists from the Etilaat Roz newspaper, Nemat Naqdi, 28, a video journalist, left, and Taqi Daryabi, 22, video editor, show their wounds. They said Taliban fighters tortured and beat them while they were in custody after being arrested while reporting on a women’s rights protest in Kabul, Afghanistan." (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Anthony Bellanger, the International Federation of Journalists' general secretary, interviewed in the Guardian: “The Taliban don’t want to make too many waves right now, but they will want to take control of everything, including the foreign press in Afghanistan. And as often happens in such situations, foreign journalists will be considered agents of foreign governments.  I believe what we will see emerge is an official media – a Taliban media – and no women. All other journalists will just disappear."

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Media Quotes of the Week: From tv crew feel guilty as forced to leave Afghanistan to civil servants are gutting the UK's Freedom of Information Act

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay on leaving Afghanistan: "The operational commanders wanted us to stay to the very end and leave with them, but the orders to remove us came from the MoD or from Whitehall, or both. We had fought to stay for days but ultimately we found ourselves on a military base and we were being ejected - there is nothing you can do. It was all conducted in a cordial manner, but we WERE kicked out. I suspect the prospect of the withdrawal being filmed in heart-breaking detail was a risk the government wasn't prepared to take, because this will end badly for thousands, I guarantee it...

"We felt guilty we were leaving - myself, my producer Dominique, Sky colleague Martin, and Toby. An easy exit for a group of journalists guaranteed safety by our soldiers and our governments. I'll take the jibes and the scorn for leaving. But I will say this: if we hadn't been there, nobody would have seen any of the scenes of horror and desperation that have engulfed this entire operation, none of the incredible work by the British military, and the Foreign and Home Office staff."

Sharif Hassan on Twitter: "Alireza Ahmadi, a dear journalist friend and his younger brother, were among the dead victims of yesterday’s #KabulAirport attack. He worked for different local media outlets for over a decade as a writer, photographer and reporter, giving voice for his people. RIP brother."

A female reporter in Kandahar, quoted by The Times [£]: “The Taliban’s ban of female journalists from TV and radio is not a surprise for me. It was expected as the Taliban started stopping women from work in media, banks, activism and other jobs before they took Kabul. Today, no female presenter or anchor were seen on TV in Kandahar. It’s very sad. I know many female journalists who are in hiding or have fled. There is no space left at all for working women in Afghanistan.”

Hugh Tomlinson in The Times [£]:  "The boom in Afghanistan’s free press was hailed as one of the greatest virtues to come out of the years of conflict that followed the US-led invasion in 2001. The birth of independent broadcasters and radio stations provided job opportunities for a new generation of educated, young Afghans, including many women given the chance to work for the first time. In the months before the final Taliban offensive, however, female journalists and media workers were murdered, apparently to frighten women out of the workplace."

Piers Morgan on Twitter: "I’m delighted OFCOM has endorsed my right to disbelieve the Duke & Duchess of Sussex’s incendiary claims to Oprah Winfrey, many of which have proven to be untrue. This is a resounding victory for free speech and a resounding defeat for Princess Pinocchios. Do I get my job back?"

• The Times [£] reports: "Morgan said that ITV would have to make a public apology if it wanted to restore him to Good Morning Britain. ITV sources said that executives had no 'current plans' to give him his job back, although there is speculation among insiders that the broadcaster may return to its star presenter. 'I’d put money on it,' one source said."

NUJ broadcasting organiser Paul Siegert in a statement on claims the Government is going to set the BBC licence rise below the rate of inflation: "Cutting funding to the BBC, via a below inflation rise in the licence fee, will mean the BBC will be able to offer less to the public - less local and national news, less journalism, less on the radio, website and TV, and less diversity and less quality programming and output."

The Sun in a statement: “On 17 September 2019 we published a story titled ‘Tragedy that Haunts Stokes’ Family’ which described a tragic incident that had occurred to Deborah Stokes, the mother of Ben Stokes, in New Zealand in 1988. The article caused great distress to the Stokes family, and especially to Deborah Stokes. We should not have published the article. We apologise to Deborah and Ben Stokes. We have agreed to pay them damages and their legal costs.”

The Guardian in a leader: "Whitehall is too fond of secrecy. It is absurd to think that it was once forbidden to name the heads of the UK intelligence services. In the past decade, revelations from WikiLeaks to Edward Snowden to the Pegasus project have demonstrated the extent of official impunity when it comes to national security. The sensible political response would be to halt such actions and impose a system of oversight and democratic control. Putting state activities beyond sight with laws that control the press would represent a new stage in the growth of authoritarian government in Britain."

Ray Snoddy on Mediatel: "Can anything save Channel 4 now from an unnecessary, pointless and potential damaging privatisation? At least the Channel seems to have a new, powerful ally – God – or at the very least, Bishops of the Church of England. Archbishop Cottrell of York has written to Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden saying that Channel 4 offers 'something unique and precious in the British public service broadcasting ecology' and how important it was that such important programming should not be lost. The Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines was even sharper in his denunciation. The privatisation plan was 'ideologically driven and therefore short-sighted and wrong, ' he wrote. The voice of the bishops might have achieved more purchase from devout Anglican Theresa May than the occasional, convenient Catholic, Boris Johnson."

Chris Cook in the Financial Times on the Freedom of Information Act:  "There was no golden age of the FOIA: reporters always needed to disguise what they actually wanted. The law gives the government the right to keep some types of information secret, and many civil servants have long seen their job as stretching those bits of law to cover any information that might be important. Some institutions, particularly the Cabinet Office, have habitually disobeyed the law. Increasingly, though, it appears officials are openly trying to keep secrets secret...MPs are unlikely to vote for the removal of the Freedom of Information Act: after all, it would look pretty rum. But they do not need to. The civil service is quietly gutting it."

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Media Quotes of the Week: From appeal to help journalists in peril in Afghanistan to low pay leaves local press reporters stuck in financial time warp

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet in a statement on the plight of journalists in Afghanistan: “As the Taliban have taken control of towns and cities across Afghanistan, there has been a consequential rapid escalation of violence and threats against journalists and independent media. Media outlets have been forcibly closed down or taken over by the Taliban to broadcast their own propaganda. Staff have fled or are in hiding. Women journalists are being banned from working and are fearful for their lives. Many remaining media outlets have curtailed their reporting due to security concerns – as a result to date over 1,000 journalists and media workers have lost their jobs.

"Government action to date has been insufficient, vague and lacking in urgency. This is needlessly contributing to the distress and fear of journalists and their families. Urgent government support must be put in place to secure access to the airport and onto military planes back to the UK. That means visas need to be approved swiftly, we have already seen too many days of inaction."

• The International Federation of Journalists has established a special appeal within its IFJ Safety Fund and the NUJ is asking all members to make a donation at: https://www.ifj.org/safety-fund.htm

The Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Joel Simon in a statement: “The United States has a special responsibility to Afghan journalists who created a thriving and vibrant information space and covered events in their country for international media. The Biden administration can and should do all within its power to protect press freedom and stand up for the rights of the vulnerable Afghan reporters, photographers, and media workers.”

• CPJ has registered and vetted the cases of nearly 300 journalists who are attempting to reach safety, and there are hundreds more whose cases are under review.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reporters Without Borders (RSF): “We will respect freedom of the press, because media reporting will be useful to society and will be able to help correct the leaders’ errors. Through this statement to RSF, we declare to the world that we recognise the importance of the role of the media.”

• RSF said in a report in 2009: “The reign of the Taliban from 1996 to 2001 was a dark period in Afghanistan’s history.” All media were banned except one, Voice of Sharia, which broadcast nothing but propaganda and religious programmes.

Dominic Raab, quoted by the Guardian: “We recognise the bravery of Afghan journalists and those that have worked tirelessly to support them in the pursuit of media freedom and the defence of human rights. The vibrant Afghan media is one of the greatest successes in Afghanistan in the last 19 years, and it should be celebrated and protected.”

Times of Malta reports: "Yorgen Fenech has been indicted for the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, meaning he will face a trial by jury for the journalist’s 2017 murder. The business mogul faces charges of complicity in murder and criminal association, with prosecutors understood to be pushing for him to be sentenced to life in prison for the former crime and an additional 20 to 30-year sentence for the latter one."

BBC Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford on BBC News on having to leave Russia: " I'm being expelled and I've been told that I can't come back, ever. I've really loved trying to tell the story of Russia to the world but it is increasingly a difficult story to tell. I have to say, though, I wasn't expecting this to happen. There were clear signs for Russian media: there have been really serious problems recently, for Russian independent journalists, but until now, for the foreign press, we'd somehow been shielded from all of that. But this, I think, is a clear sign that things have changed. It's another really bad sign about the state of affairs in Russia and another downward turn in the relationship between Russia and the world."

• BBC director-general Tim Davie said in a statement: "Sarah is an exceptional and fearless journalist. She is a fluent Russian speaker who provides independent and in-depth reporting of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Her journalism informs the BBC's audiences of hundreds of millions of people around the world. We urge the Russian authorities to reconsider their decision."

The Observer in an interview with Nosrat Bazoft, the mother of journalist Farzad Bazoft who was executed in Iraq in 1990 while on assignment for the paper: "Nosrat says she still seethes with fury over the UK government’s response after her son was incarcerated at Abu Ghraib, kept in solitary confinement, starved and beaten. She holds the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, personally responsible. 'She didn’t do enough. Everything was her fault. She could have stopped the execution. The British government had the power to stop it. They were exporting so much trade to Saddam that they had the leverage,' Nosrat said. The release of official government files in 2017 confirmed that Thatcher’s government opted not to take any action in retaliation for the execution of Farzad for fear of harming lucrative exports to Iraq."

Guido Fakes reports : "When the Daily Mail intended to follow up a Guido exclusive that Len McCluskey had shared a hotel room with Karie Murphy (Corbyn’s then-chief of staff), McCluskey’s consigliere and legal chief Howard Beckett immediately muscled in, insisting the story was 'untrue, vexatious and malicious' and that 'such allegations are open to legal action by the parties concerned'. In no uncertain terms, he threatened to sue any paper that printed the story.  Except the story wasn’t untrue or defamatory...Now that McCluskey has a book to sell, he’s admitted to the whole thing, claiming 'we wanted our relationship to be kept private, away from the public gaze', and that they were very much more than just 'close friends'."

University of Gloucester senior lecturer in journalism Paul Wiltshire on his blog on the difficulties recruiting new reporters into local journalism despite a boom in jobs: "Of our most recent cohort of graduates, only two have for the moment gone into news reporting. I’m delighted for them, and they’re doing well. But that’s out of 17. Why so few, particularly when there are so many jobs out there and so many editors are desperate for staff? Well, let’s cut to the financial chase. There is still at least one publisher starting trainees on as little as £17,100 a year...When our students can easily get two-and-half grand more than that for entry-level social media, PR or content creation roles, who can blame them for turning up their noses?...

"For decades, the industry built its business model on a belief that young staff will suck up poor pay and conditions because the media jobs market is so competitive, and that if it doesn’t work out with one reporter, there’ll be another coming round the corner in a minute to take their place at the interview table. If the difficulties so many editors are now facing don’t show the madness of that business model, nothing ever will. Some of the new, specialist roles which have been advertised in the last few months have come with more imaginative salaries. But general reporters – the people who form the beating hearts of newsrooms, real or virtual – are still stuck in a financial time warp."

Media Quotes of the Week: From journalists appalled by proposed changes to Secrets Act to it's August and Llama Drama Ding Dong! is back

Sun deputy editor-in-chief James Slack interviewed by journalism.co.uk on the proposed changes to the Official Secrets Act: "Every journalist I have spoken with at The Sun and elsewhere is appalled that the government is even considering doing something so draconian, and which could have such a profoundly damaging impact on the public's right to know. Look at what ministers are proposing. The lack of public interest defence would have a chilling effect on the media's ability to report wrongdoing, hypocrisy, and criminal negligence. It would also make it far less likely that whistleblowers would be prepared to come forward in the first place."

Tim Dawson on the NUJ website on the Boris Johnson-Nick Ferrari interview on LBC: "Had the leader of any other administration performed Johnson’s radio-studio volte farce, free-speech campaigners would have rightly celebrated. An undertaking from someone whose commitments are so malleable, however, is all but worthless. So, if the executive can’t be trusted, we must take the issue to parliament. Support from cross-party MPs and Lords is the only certain approach to safeguarding journalistic freedoms."

Justin Borg-Barthet in the Guardian on libel reform: "London is a favourite destination for the powerful to bring lawsuits that may be perceived as attempting to shut down public scrutiny and discussion, rather than to achieve a satisfactory legal outcome. Of course, all litigation is costly and not without risk. But often the threat of a defamation or data protection lawsuit in London is enough to stop material that may be considered of public interest from being published at all. Seemingly regardless of the truth of the matter or the public interest in knowing about it, a small group of London law firms appear only too happy to send threatening letters across the globe in an attempt to shut down reporting....

"In the European Union, discussions are under way to introduce measures that address lawsuits known as Slapps (strategic lawsuits against public participation). A coalition of NGOs has produced a model law that would require courts to dismiss exaggerated or vexatious claims at an early stage. Equally importantly, courts would be required to shift costs to the Slapp claimants, imposing penalties and fines that could deter abusive litigation. Of course, any laws adopted by the EU’s institutions no longer apply in the UK. Those efforts need to be mirrored by homegrown legislation in the UK’s legal systems."

Roger Lytollis, author of Panic As Man Burns Crumpets on Press Gazette: "This year Newsquest, Reach and JPI Media are all recruiting journalists for their websites. The numbers are a fraction of those made redundant in the past decade, but it’s a step in the right direction. The question is the same as it’s been for at least 15 years. Are enough readers willing to pay for local news, whether through subscriptions, donations, paywalls, or buying one of those old-fashioned things called a newspaper? Maybe, if it’s worth paying for. If publishers have enough staff, including some with the experience to know their patch and to guide the many newcomers. And if publishers trust that readers want to read local news and features, not press releases and clickbait. Paying for journalism shouldn’t be seen as a strange idea. It might even reduce the onslaught of online abuse against journalists by challenging the view encouraged for too long by publishers: that their work is worthless."

International Federation of Journalists general secretary Anthony Bellanger in a statement on the US appeal to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the UK: “President Joe Biden must end the years of politically motivated prosecution of Julian Assange by finally dropping the charges against him. The criminalisation of whistleblowers and investigative journalists has no place in a democracy. Condemning Assange would not only endanger his life but also fundamental principles of press freedom.”

Steve Vines in the Observer: "As someone who has not only been a journalist but also founded several businesses in Hong Kong, it seemed to me that this place had a unique ability to bounce back and survive the fiercest of storms. The realisation that, at least in the near term, this resilience has been decisively crushed made me contemplate the previously unthinkable – leaving."

The International Federation of Journalists in a statement: “The IFJ is happy about the recent decision of the US government to resettle Afghan journalists working for US media outlets as refugees in the United States. The IFJ also urges the US government to move ahead with the implementation of this decision as soon as possible in order to protect media workers who are at risk.”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) have published a joint report  describing the methods for persecuting journalists the Lukashenko regime in Belarus has developed in the past year: "Nearly 70 journalists have been subjected to serious violence by the security forces. The report includes the accounts of some of the victims, such as Natalia Lubneuskaya of the Nasha Niva news site, who sustained a knee injury when a rubber bullet was deliberately fired at her, and Hrodna.life reporter Ruslan Kulevich, who was held for two days although baton blows had fractured both of his hands at the time of his arrest. Prison conditions are often appalling. Belsat TV reporter Alena Dubovik was jammed with 50 other women detainees into a cell meant for four people, was beaten while half naked and was denied food for 24 hours. The Belarusian Association of Journalists, RSF’s partner organisation, has tallied nearly 500 arrests and detentions of journalists in the past year."

Tom Hamilton on Twitter: "Keir Starma needs to get involved in the alpaca row purely to create the conditions for the headline STARMER LLAMA DING-DONG."

• According to the Daily Mail,  Starmer has got involved in the alpaca row and upset Labour members: "Voters are cancelling their Labour Party memberships after Sir Keir Starmer said Geronimo the embattled alpaca must be slaughtered."

The Times [£] reports: "A minister has dismissed the case of Geronimo the alpaca as an 'August story' and insisted it must die as animal rights activists marched on No 10...Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, said the case was an August story; suggesting it would not make the news at any other time of year."

• The famous 'Llama drama ding dong!' headline appeared in the Lancashire Evening Post above a story about a llama that escaped and caused havoc in a school playground. It was the title of a book of headlines by former Press Gazette editor Tony Loynes. It was also featured in comedian Dave Spikey's book featuring funny headlines, which was wonderfully titled: "He took my kidney, then broke my heart."

A pedant writes: "While often conflated, alpacas and llamas differ in key ways. The most-distinguishing physical differences between alpacas and llamas are their size, their hair, and their face shapes." 

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Media Quotes of the Week: Rudd resignation shows power of investigative journalism; Cambridge Analytica closure; the deadliest day for the media in Afghanistan

Guardian editor-in-chief KathViner in the Guardian: "The resignation of the British home secretary, Amber Rudd, over the Windrush scandal marks an important moment for independent, investigative journalism, demonstrating how it can hold power to account in order unequivocally to change people’s lives for the better. The Guardian reporter Amelia Gentleman has spent the past six months exposing the truth of the suffering of the Windrush generation, who arrived in the UK after the second world war from Caribbean countries at the invitation of the British government."

Cambridge Analytica in a press statement: "The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers. As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business, which left Cambridge Analytica with no realistic alternative to placing the Company into administration."

Carole Cadwalladr@carolecadwalla on Twitter: "Remember. SCL & Cambridge Analytica are disinformation specialists. What exactly are they shutting down & why?...The news that Cambridge Analytica is shutting down is not some great triumph. It’s a billionaire using Britain’s insolvency laws to try & evade scrutiny - at the cost of his employees. We need a criminal investigation. And we need evidence secured. The question is how???"

Verified account

Carole Cadwalladr Retweeted Carole Cadwallad

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John Mulholland@jnmulholland on Twitter: "Cambridge Analytica closing after Facebook data harvesting scandal revealed by @carolecadwalla in the Observer - and not because of 'siege of media coverage' as per their statement."

Facebook's CTO Mike Schroepfer, asked to apologise for the company threatening defamation proceedings against the Guardian and Observer over the data scandal, while appearing before the Culture and Media Committee: "We thought this was accepted cultural practice in the UK...I am sorry that journalists feel that we are trying to prevent them from getting the truth out."

Jane Martinson in the Guardian: "It really shouldn’t matter where, or how, somebody grew up – Jon Snow is just one example of a brilliant journalist who grew up in a privileged household. But the media industry needs to look outside the white male able-bodied elite to others who want to speak truth to power. Without that, it could so easily become an industry just speaking to itself."

Ashley Highfield on his decision to resign as chief executive of Johnston Press, as reported by City AM: "I have been privileged to lead Johnston Press during a period of unprecedented turbulence in our industry. Since 2011 we have grown our overall audience in particular our digital business, created an industry leading tele-sales operation and maintained margins. The acquisition of the i newspaper has been a particular highlight."

Jeremy Vine @theJeremyVine on Twitter: "Excellent piece by @guyadams raises the horrible thought that money given to Save The Children by a little old lady somewhere has ended up being spent on getting lawyers to put the wind up journalists who reported on their sex scandal."

Independent Press Standards Organisation in a statement: "The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) has announced it is creating a compulsory version of its low cost arbitration scheme. This change will mean that someone who has a genuine claim against a newspaper who could have gone to court (for example for libel, invasion of privacy, data protection or harassment) can ask for arbitration of their claim and the newspaper cannot refuse. It costs a maximum of £100 for the claimant. Under the current scheme, the newspaper could decide not to arbitrate on any given case. The new scheme will also include a higher level of damages: arbitrators can award claimants up to £60,000, including aggravated damages."

The Times [£] in a leader: "The sentencing of 14 journalists from one of Turkey’s oldest and most respected newspapers to jail terms of up to seven and a half years on terrorism charges is a disgrace. It makes a mockery of even the pretence of the democratic freedoms expected of a Nato ally. It sends a repressive message that opposition to the government will not be tolerated and that Turkey is entering a dark age of absolutism and intolerance."

The Afghanistan Federation of Journalists (AFJ) in a statement after 10 journalists were killed on Monday in a bomb attack and a shooting: “This terrorist attack is a war crime and an organized attack on the Afghan media. Despite today's attack and other threats against journalists, the Afghan media is committed to providing information. The attack in the heart of Kabul and in the Green Zone indicates a serious lack of security by the government...April 30 will be remembered as the deadliest day in Afghan media history and the industry will mark the day in future in honor of its fallen colleagues."

Steven Butler @StevenBButler Asia program coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists, on Twitter: "Today marks one of the deadliest days on record for the media in Afghanistan & indeed around the world. We salute the incredible bravery of these journos, while noting the cynicism & cruelty of a suicide bomber pretending to be a media worker to target the press."

Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Joel Simon, quoted by the Columbia Journalism Review: “These are all Afghan reporters that have been killed, but at least five are working directly for the international media. So theses are the reporters who keep the world informed. This is not a local story; it’s not just about local news coverage in c. This is a threat not just to the Afghan media, this is a threat to global media.”

The Guardian in a leader: "Although the rich world takes notice of those who bring the news out to us, the vast majority are people serving their own communities, working for little glamour and less money, with a display of routine everyday heroism that puts more pampered colleagues to shame. The defence of journalistic freedom, and of journalists’ lives, is not some western affectation. It is something that all societies need if they are to be honest with themselves. It is a necessary check on the ambition and even the vanity of the powerful, and the dangers that some brave journalists defy prove just how much we need it – and them."

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