Media Quotes of the Week: Shock as French press leads on Theresa May not Kim Kardashian to reader sings the praises of The Times' sub editors

Le Monde: May leads not Kim

A shocked Daily Mail reports: "When news broke that Kim Kardashian had been held up at gunpoint inside her luxury apartment in Paris, people around the world reacted with shock and horror. But in France, where the terrifying incident occurred early on Monday morning, the story failed to make the front page of all but one major newspaper. On Tuesday, Le Parisien was the only paper to highlight the 35-year-old's night of terror as five masked gunmen stormed the Hotel Pourtalès behind the Madeleine church. The French media abide by strict privacy laws and are also sniffy about celebrity culture so it is not unusual for them to avoid stories about Kim Kardashian."

Press Gazette on the guilty verdict against Mazher Mahmood for plotting to pervert the course of justice: "Following the verdict, it was announced that 18 civil claims were being launched against Mahmood which could total some £800 million. Media lawyer Mark Lewis said the claims would 'dwarf” those brought following the phone- hacking scandal."

Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph: "The Daily Telegraph’s investigation into football greed goes far beyond one man. It’s about the moral corruption in a whole industry, and exposing a culture where it is seen as perfectly acceptable for managers to line their pockets. Many other figures are being investigated, with more revelations to come. But if you feel a tug of nostalgia when reading about all this, it’s because such exposés are becoming rarer – and it’s this, rather than an over-powerful press, that ought to alarm politicians. Britain is, by international standards, a fairly incorrupt country. But only relentless scrutiny keeps it that way."

John Cleese @JohnCleese on Twitter on Fraser Nelson's article: "Why do we let half-educated tenement Scots run our English press ? Because their craving for social status makes them obedient retainers?"

Fraser Nelson's response to Cleese in the Telegraph: "...his [Cleese] writing fell short of the standards expected of a Spectator contributor – which is why his status as a contributing editor did not last longer than his first article. An expensive education, you see, can’t buy you everything."

Brian Cathcart on the Inforrm blog on the Allardyce story: "The sting showed us something we knew: people will often behave foolishly if you offer them a lot of money. It is hardly brave or great journalism to catch a football manager in this way, but if this is the best the Telegraph can do, then why not take on someone genuinely powerful and make a difference?"

Kelvin MacKenzie in the Sun: "The real bad boys in this affair are the sports journalists. They have been hearing this type of stuff for years and yet have never written a word about it for fear that it will ruin their cosy relationship with players, managers and ­owners. Can I explain something to them. They are not PRs for the clubs.They are ­supposed to be ­disclosing to readers, viewers and listeners what is really going on in football. Better to be banned from the ground than to not do your well-paid job properly.'

Alexandra Schulman, editor of British Vogue, interviewed in InPublishing : "Four years ago, everyone was saying in two years' time, everyone will be reading magazines on the iPad. Well I never thought they would and they aren't."

Nick Davies ‏@Bynickdavies on Twitter: "Today is my last as a journalist. It's been interesting. Now I'm going travelling."

alan rusbridger ‏@arusbridger on Twitter: "This is a sad moment. One of the very very best reporters of our time. But he's probably earned a break..."

alan rusbridger added,

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, on proposed redundancies at Newsquest South London: “A handful of reporters, with help from a few work experience students, cannot cover half the capital. This will damage the quality of the newspapers and websites and will have a knock-on effect on circulation figures. The huge response from local politicians and London Assembly members across the political spectrum shows they fear reduced news coverage will have a negative impact on local democracy and the holding to account of councils and local businesses.”

Times [£] reader Raymond McCann praises sub editors in a letter to the paper's feedback editor: “I think these unsung heroes (and heroines) of the newspapers deserve more recognition for their work. I particularly enjoyed the clever headline on Thursday about whether the former Miss Universe who was criticised by Donald Trump for gaining weight might help Hillary Clinton’s campaign, ‘Beauty queen could tip the scales for Clinton’.”

Media Quotes of the Week: From this journalism business is easy - just find corrupt people - to are local papers no longer journals of record?

Andrew Jennings in the Washington Post: "This journalism business is easy, you know. You just find some disgraceful, disgustingly corrupt people and you work on it! You have to. That’s what we do. The rest of the media gets far too cozy with them. It’s wrong. Your mother told you what was wrong. You know what’s wrong. Our job is to investigate, acquire evidence.”

Jonathan Calvert‏@JCalvertST on Twitter: "Don't think they love us. This is how Fifa responds to this morning's latest sensational @thesundaytimes revelations."

Breaking News Feed on Twitter: "The writer of the world's most legendary headline has died, RIP Vinny Musetto."

David Yelland ‏@davidyelland on Twitter: " Ah, so long Vinnie, fabuloso headline writer at @nypost - a lovely warm man, poet, total New Yorker..."

Michael Deacon in the Telegraph: "Saying voters are brainwashed by the press is snobbery. Essentially, the argument translates as: 'I, a Left-winger, am much too intelligent to let my views be swayed by the media. Unfortunately, the proles are incapable of critical thought, and therefore lift their opinions whole from the pages of The Sun. It is inconceivable that they could have formed their opinions independently; after all, independent thinkers always vote Labour, like me. Oh, why must the people I claim to stand up for be so thick?' ”

John Cleese ‏@JohnCleese on Twitter: "Piers is now asking when I'll be funny again. 'It's been a long time' Answer: 'Piers,when are you going to be talented. It's been a lifetime'."

Piers Morgan ‏@piersmorgan on Twitter: "Memo to the world's media reporters: until @rupertmurdoch loses the word 'executive' from his title, I wouldn't get too excited..."

Roy Greenslade on his MediaGuardian blog: "The Mail on Sunday’s circulation triumph is (cliché alert) a landmark moment. A middle market title is now the best-selling Sunday newspaper title, outselling all four red-tops and its own market rival, the Sunday Express. Toppling the Sun on Sunday from its perch is some feat and surely heralds the day - possibly in 2016 - when the Daily Mail will also outsell the weekday Sun."

Rupert Murdoch ‏@rupertmurdoch on Twitter: "More nonsense in Mail on Sunday about my views on Europe. Very different in quality from Daily Mail."

Raymond Snoddy ‏@RaymondSnoddy on Twitter: "The Press Recognition Panel has announced consultations around the UK - the main issue should be the date for its winding up."

Coventry North West MP Geoffrey Robinson, in a letter to the editor of the Coventry Telegraph, as reported by Press Gazette: “Redundancies are always a sad business and very sadly they seem to come in a never ending stream at the Coventry Telegraph.Your newspaper is a mere shadow of itself. After the present redundancies, your paper could be left with just four reporters and as few as 20 editorial staff in total. You will have hollowed out your capacity to play the important role of a free press in a modern democracy. Coventry is fast becoming a vibrant dynamic city again. What a pity that our newspaper has abandoned its responsibility to scrutinise and hold to account those of us in positions of responsibility.”

Trinity Mirror memo about staff cuts at the Birmingham Mail and Coventry Telegraph, as reported by HoldtheFrontPage: “The days are long gone when we could afford to be a paper of record and dutifully report everything that happened on our patch."

Media Quotes of the Week: From Hugh Grant and John Cleese to ethics, courage, integrity and shame

Graeme Demianyk ‏@GraemeDemianyk on Twitter: "Hugh Grant given chance to have a nice long moan about newspapers on #r4today as scoops by Guardian, Sun and Telegraph dominate bulletins."

Peter Wright, editor emeritus, Associated Newspapers, in a letter to the Guardian: "[Hugh] Grant’s damascene conversion to the cause of freedom of expression is of course welcome. But perhaps his next campaign could be against the appalling royal charter, which politicians are trying to impose on all journalists, and the oppressive, discriminatory exemplary damages which will enforce it – both measures backed by statute. Ironically, where Hugh and his chums can justly claim credit is that they really did write the royal charter. Indeed it is as a result of their actions that the police and other bodies which should know better think it’s open season to undermine Britain’s free press. That is one of the Leveson’s most depressing legacies."

John Cleese pictured in the Independent

John Cleese on the press at a Hacked Off rally, as reported by PA and Press Gazette: "Of course they want to regulate themselves, we'd all like to regulate ourselves wouldn't we? Builders, accountants, murderers, they'd all like to regulate themselves. The murderers would make a very good case - they'd say we murdered a lot of people, we know people who have murdered people. We really are best qualified to regulate ..."

Labour Party deputy leader Harriet Harman at the same rally: "We are absolutely committed to what Leveson proposed and we do not think that business as usual is acceptable."

The NUJ in a statement:  "The union wants to see any new ethical guidelines introduced at the Telegraph newspaper in relation to advertising and journalistic ethics to be meaningful and include a conscience clause for journalists. Journalists need to be protected and enabled to do the job they came into the industry to do without fear or favour, regardless of ownership."

Chris Frost, chair of the NUJ ethics council: “We welcome proposed changes to stop using RIPA to spy on journalists – we are very pleased everyone now agrees on this principle but as always the devil will be in the detail and so we urge the government to provide that detail now and then allow for a full and proper democratic debate amongst politicians, industry and civil society about the changes they intend to propose.”

Roy Mincoff, NUJ legal officer: "Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act journalists must be notified by the authorities of an application to access their material and sources and have the ability to object, a right of hearing before a judge and the possibility of an appeal. The protections for journalists’ data under RIPA must be no less than that provided by PACE. To continue to allow the authorities to access journalists’ data and therefore sources will have a serious chilling effect on those who would otherwise reveal corruption, crime, abuse and wrongdoing by public and private bodies. Journalists are the public watchdog, with a duty to inform the public. The public has a right to be informed."

Kelvin MacKenzie in the Financial Times: “Rupert would rather cut his right leg off than support Ukip at the next election.”

Roy Greenslade on his MediaGuardian blog on the Telegraph/Dispatches sting on MPs: "Leaving aside whether or not the MPs breached parliamentary rules, the way they spoke about themselves while being covertly filmed was justification enough for its undercover sting. They were shown to be using their positions in order to grasp money, so the public interest was obvious."

alan rusbridger ‏@arusbridger on Twitter: "Struggling to think of any paper in recent times running something as desperate as this."

Piers Morgan ‏@piersmorgan on Twitter: "Fleet Street is now into the machine-gun phase of its Reservoir Dogs cycle. This won't end well...."

Stig Abell ‏@StigAbell on Twitter: "Just seen that the Telegraph put their despicable story on the front page. A paper being run by the woefully inadequate."

Janine Gibson ‏@janinegibson on Twitter: "Silly revenge pieces about the Guardian are one thing, but that hit on the Times has come from a very dark place indeed."

The Observer:  "In every business there’s pressure and scope for tragedy. But to equate these deaths with the decision – the commercial decision – to go easy on a big bank in trouble is gross far beyond any Fleet Street club. It demeans those who wrote it and those who ordered it. It will not be forgotten, or easily forgiven."

Peter Preston in The Observer: "The simplest question at the heart of the Telegraph’s HSBC shambles – and subsequent vileness – is also the one that matters most. Why on Earth was Peter Oborne, doughty political columnist, trooping back and forth to the chief executive’s office complaining about black holes and white flags? What had  Murdoch MacLennan got to do with soft-pedalled coverage and cowardly retreats? Where was the stalwart soul who’s supposed to stand on the frontline defending journalism’s values? Where was the editor?"

Owen Jones in the Guardian: "Peter Oborne, a man of integrity and courage, has done us a huge service. With the disappearance of secure journalism jobs, most journalists can simply not speak out about journalistic practices without permanently banishing themselves from the industry."

Grey Cardigan on TheSpinAlley remembers being forced by a publisher to drop a negative restaurant review: "I was understandably furious, seeing such interference as a breach of a sacred code. I argued the toss for several days, right up until the point that the review should have gone to print. I was then informed that if I didn’t drop it, he’d have the page replaced by our production department. I was outranked and outflanked. There was only one thing left to do – resign on principle. Ten years earlier I would have done it. But I still had a big mortgage to pay off and there weren’t many other jobs going out there. To my eternal shame, I swallowed my pride and looked the other way as the dirty deed was done. I regretted it then and I regret it now."

Financial Times  news report on the Barclay brothers: "Forbes estimates their joint wealth at $5.3bn. 'It’s hard to work out why they’re so desperate to extract value from the newspaper,' said one former employee."

Nick Cohen on Twitter: "Best line in Guardian editor hustings from @janinegibson on the Telegraph "You can only sell your integrity once". (Think I'll steal it)

Media Quotes of the Week: From MP threatens reporter with cruel and unusual punishment to why Newsquest journalists aren't laughing

MP Nadine Dorries tweet to Sunday Mirror reporter, as reported by the Mirror: "Be seen within a mile of my daughters and I will nail your balls to the floor... using your own front teeth. Do you get that?"

Martin Cloake ‏@MartinCloake on Twitter: "Is Nadine Dorries's suggestion an official part of the new press regulation plan?"

Robert Peston giving the James Cameron Memorial Lecture at City University: "I don't believe I would have been able to do what I've done at the BBC if I had worked all my life in regulated television. My ability to take calculated risks and break stories, that I believe to be important, owes a huge amount to the fact that I grew up and was trained in newspapers."

Steve Dyson on Local World chief' David 'Rommel' Montgomery's vision for the local press, on the Guardian's MediaBlog : "Rommel's missive makes no attempt to motivate, inspire or lead his troops; instead, he denounces their profession, embarrasses his managers and depresses the entire industry."  

Andrew Miller, chief executive of parent Guardian Media Group, in the Independent: “The BBC is a frustrating competitor for us. It’s like a very good friend and has the great traits you love, but then several things really annoy you about them. I get frustrated that the BBC is the biggest state-subsidised Internet [operation] in the world. It is a global competitor for us in those different market places…to the advertising revenues that we go for.”

David Cameron on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour: "I've said what I've said about Page Three and The Sun and I haven't changed my views. But should we do more to try and help parents to protect their children from legal pornography on the internet? Yes I think we should, and again last week we made some big progress on that. You can control your children's access to newspapers and books and magazines."

Iain Dale, on being axed as a columnist by the Eastern Daily Press after seven years, as reported by HoldTheFrontPage: "There aren’t many columnists who last seven years on any newspaper, even when they come as cheaply as I do!"

Early Day Motion 795 DEFENCE OF PUBLIC INTEREST AND THE PROSECUTION OF JOURNALISTS: "That this House recognises the need for journalists to pursue difficult stories in the public interest without fear of prosecution; is concerned about the situation facing journalists who have been arrested and charged in relation to charges of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office; believes that such charges, levied against individuals who had no role in the authorisation of payments nor responsibility for a workplace culture where such payments were institutionalised and where trade union recognition was not allowed, do nothing to tackle the real issue of corporate responsibility for any alleged wrongdoing; regrets that it is ordinary working journalists who are being targeted, whilst senior executives and the companies themselves escape blame; further regrets that to discount the public interest defence in bringing legal proceedings sets a very damaging precedent for the industry; and therefore calls on the Director of Public Prosecutions to ensure that a consistent and fair approach is taken in regard to such cases."

John Cleese ‏@JohnCleese on Twitter: "Can you help? Mail on Sunday is phoning around trying to find a negative angle on my wife's charity swim for cancer..."

NUJ organiser Chris Morley in a statement on plans by Newsquest to transfer subbing of papers in the North East to Wales: "Even by Newsquest standards, is it breath-taking if management think no consequences will flow from sending local news around 270 miles from the far north of England to the southern fringe of Wales. The sorry reign of Paul Davidson as chief executive is due to come to a close on April Fools’ Day next year, but none of his journalists are laughing as he seems to be intent on carrying on right to the end with his nihilistic vision of dismantling quality journalism around his group."

Media Quotes of the Week: From catching Usain Bolt to John Cleese's contempt for UK journalists

AFP photographer Olivier Morin blogs about his picture of Usain Bolt and a bolt of lightning in Moscow: "I admit, with only a thumbnail view at first, I didn’t even see the lightning in the background, but after a moment I saw four photos with the bolt in the sky. Two of these weren’t usable because the cloud was too dark and the lightning was hard to see. But with the other two images, thanks to a little luck, the lightning is nice and visible; I’d gotten 'the' shot."

Tim Rayment in The Sunday Times [£] on its libel battle with crime boss David Hunt: "With legal bills, losing a libel case can cost the same as employing an entire newsroom of journalists. In uncertain times the temptation is to settle. But a journalist’s instinct is to protect journalism. If a newspaper allows the libel laws to be abused by those seeking to launder their reputations, what is the point of continuing with investigative journalism?"

Roy Greenslade on his blog on the appointment of former Press Complaints Commission director Stig Abell as new managing editor of the Sun: "I have no doubt that many newspaper editors and executives will be gobsmacked by the news of Abell's appointment. There may well be a feeling that he has changed sides and reversed the normal order of things – the gamekeeper has become the poacher."

Anthony Longden from the new edition of the book  What do We Mean By Local?: "QuarkXpress and its successors are tools like any other. You cannot hand someone a saw and call them a carpenter but, in effect, that was what happened – the emphasis was now merely on pulling copy into boxes. Anyone can do that, can’t they? Traditionally, sub editors had been hugely experienced, and generally quite terrifying journalists. They were the scourge of poorly written copy (and those who produced it). They could spot and remedy legal risks. They worked at a ferocious pace, and they had been rigorously trained as young reporters. They were also a bit older, and there was the rub: many found the transition from paper to computer just too much, and chose to bow out. Almost imperceptibly, sub editing became a secondary activity."

Paul Robertson in  What do We Mean By Local?:  "Regional media businesses have spent years agonising over ‘the Internet’. What do we put on it? Who does it? How do we make money on it? All are valid questions, but the constant questioning and lurches of direction are paralysing the industry. It is fiddling while Rome burns."

Neil Fowler in What Do We Mean By Local? advises local papers: "Start charging for some online content – and hold your nerve. Ditch fancy website names and use your brands – their value is immense."

John Mair in What Do We Mean By Local?: "Unless the ‘locals’ learn from the past and especially the last decade, such proud names as the Wolverhampton Express and Star, the Cambridge Evening News, the Northampton Chronicle and Echo will exist only on the tombstones on media history."

Polly Toynbee in the Guardian: "Newspapers are still the nation's political megaphone, regardless of dwindling sales. When scarcely an edition of the Sun, Times, Sunday Times or indeed the Mail leaves the presses without a tilt at the BBC, that's alarming. If the Conservatives won the next election, would the BBC survive the redrawing of its charter in 2017 in anything like its present splendour?"

Mail on Sunday in a leader: "The more that emerges about the Soca report, the more it appears that the press has been singled out. It is being punished for a type of wrongdoing which, in fact, extends far more widely. It would be hard to reopen the Leveson inquiry itself. But politicians now considering how to respond to it should certainly bear these significant new facts in mind."

Edward Snowden interviewed by the New York Times Magazine, as reported by the Huff Post: "After 9/11, many of the most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power -- the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government -- for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period of heightened nationalism. From a business perspective, this was the obvious strategy, but what benefited the institutions ended up costing the public dearly. The major outlets are still only beginning to recover from this cold period."

Bearded: Lebedev and Paxman

Evegeny Lebedev in the London Evening Standard: "Whatever one’s views on the specifics, Jeremy Paxman got one thing right. A beard, like a great work of art or literature, must meet its public fully formed."

David Wooding ‏@DavidWooding  on Twitter: "When politicians get it wrong should they be forced to issue a front-page apology, too? #leveson #onlyasking"

John Cleese in a Guardian video interview on the British press [excepting the Guardian, Independent and Daily Mirror]: "The rest are the most appalling, depraved, disgusting, amoral creatures you could find anywhere outside of prison. And of course many of them are going to be inside a prison soon." 


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