Media Quotes of the Week: From digital giants rapped in 'fake news' report to has Private Eye found the ultimate digital business model?

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Damian Collins MP, chair of the DCMS Committee following the publication of its investigation into disinformation and fake news: “Democracy is at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalised ‘dark adverts’ from unidentifiable sources, delivered through the major social media platforms we use everyday. Much of this is directed from agencies working in foreign countries, including Russia. The big tech companies are failing in the duty of care they owe to their users to act against harmful content, and to respect their data privacy rights."

Collins also claimed: "Much of the evidence we have scrutinised during our inquiry has focused on the business practices of Facebook; before, during and after the Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal. We believe that in its evidence to the Committee Facebook has often deliberately sought to frustrate our work, by giving incomplete, disingenuous and at times misleading answers to our questions."

Collins strongly criticised Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg: “Even if Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t believe he is accountable to the UK Parliament, he is to the billions of Facebook users across the world. Evidence uncovered by my Committee shows he still has questions to answer yet he’s continued to duck them, refusing to respond to our invitations directly or sending representatives who don’t have the right information. Mark Zuckerberg continually fails to show the levels of leadership and personal responsibility that should be expected from someone who sits at the top of one of the world’s biggest companies."

Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour in the Guardian: “Today’s audience – not just Vogue’s audience, every audience – wants journalism to take a stand. People want to know what you believe in and what you stand for. In this time of fake news, when there is so much disregard for truth and value and for supporting those less fortunate than oneself, we have a moral obligation to stand up for what’s right.”

Alan Rusbridger @arusbridger on Twitter on front page of The Times using watermarks on its iPad edition: "Unwelcome trend; intrusive watermarking of important news photos, presumably to preserve their market value."

Telegraph political editor @gordonrayner Gordon Rayner on Twitter responds to Rusbridger: "Important news stories are only unearthed with investment and risk by media organisations. Why on earth should they then give away the hard-earned results of that endeavour to their rivals Alan? Competition breeds excellence, which benefits everyone."

Rusbridger replies on Twitter: "Not saying anyone should give away anything Gordon. Maybe it’s all inevitable - but we’re surely allowed to feel a little sad that future Don McCullins may have branded watermarks slapped in the middle of their brilliant images."

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Jane Bradley Retweeted Alan rusbridger

BuzzFeedUK investigations correspondent Jane Bradley @jane__bradley on Twitter: "When I got the first photo of ISIS ‘Beatle’ Alexander Kotey, we naively didn’t place our watermark prominently enough and countless newsrooms just cropped out the BuzzFeed credit. Scoops like this one take risk & resources and deserve recognition."

Chris Morley, Newsquest NUJ national coordinator, in a statement as the union put in a pay claim on St Valentine's Day: “Newsquest chapels up and down the country have used the fact that it is Valentine’s Day today to fire an arrow of passion from Cupid’s bow to local management to lodge their annual pay claims. They want to show how much burning desire there is among NUJ members to start the recovery from the severe neglect of their pay by the company over many years.... The annual pay for new news apprentices at Newsquest is just £7,250 while the boardroom remuneration bill runs to millions."



Michael Barbaro @mikiebarb on Twitter: "Having been repeatedly warned that this invocation endangers reporters — and is manifestly untrue — the president just keeps saying it anyway."

Owen Jones in the Guardian: "The media is also desperately unrepresentative of those it exists to serve, partly because of the decline of local newspapers, which offered a way in for aspiring non-privileged journalists; and partly because of the prevalence of unpaid internships and expensive postgraduate journalism degrees, two routes into the profession which are financially prohibitive options for most."

BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones  @ruskin147 tweeting about Private Eye reporting a print circulation of  233,869 copies: "Private Eye has found the ultimate digital business model - not having a digital presence."

Media Quotes of the Week: From panic as Jon Snow doorsteps Facebook to you haven't made it until the Whitstable Times reveals your sex secrets

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Carole Cadwalladr Retweeted Carole Cadwalladr

Channel 4's Jon Snow attempting to get an interview at Facebook's headquarters in London over the data scandal: "They've actually locked the building and are not letting me in. Oh dear, there's panic stations in here. There are a lot of guards about. They definitely don't want to talk today. We've given Facebook many opportunities to talk to us, since we broke this story, not once have they agreed to do so...One wonders what they are now running scared of."

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla on Twitter on Mark Zuckerberg's appearance before Congress in Washington:"Remember this. #Zuckerberg only here because: #journalism. But #journalism broken because: @facebook."

Mark Zuckerberg interviewed in The Atlantic: “I think there’s just been a very basic shift in how we view our responsibility. We used to view our role as building tools for people and saying, ‘Hey we’re going to put this power in your hands.’ And we think people are basically good, and we think that that can have a net positive effect. Now I just think we understand—both because of the ability for us to develop these things and because of the scale at which we operate—that it’s also our responsibility to make sure that all these tools are used well, not just to put them in people's hands.You know, you can’t just give people a voice. You need to also make sure that that voice is not used for foreign interference in elections or disseminating fake news.”

Lionel Barber‏ @lionelbarber on Twitter: "Days after Boris Johnson congratulates Viktor Orban on his election victory, Magyar Nemzet, Hungary’s major opposition newspaper (and online op) announces it is closing after 80 years in print. A light goes out in central EUrope ....."

The Times [£] reports: "Two out of every three stories shared on social media on the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal are from Kremlin-backed media outlets. The discovery came as officials said information warfare was four times more significant a factor than military force in today’s standoff with Russia — in a reversal of the Cold War years. Moscow has flooded pro-Russia news channels and social media platforms with more than 20 conspiracy theories about the Salisbury attack to deflect attention from Britain’s assertion that Moscow is to blame.”

Spokesman for Salisbury District Hospital, which is treating Sergei Skripal, condemning the behaviour of a Russian tv crew, as reported by SKY News: "This footage shows appalling behaviour on the part of these Russian journalists - approaching staff in the middle of the night with no warning and without asking for any permission. Our staff, who have been rightly lauded for their recent efforts, working tirelessly to give all of our patients high quality care, deserved better. We would like to reiterate that any attempt to harass, intimidate or cause distress to any of our staff or patients is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated."

The Guardian reports: "The Assad regime “assassinated” the Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin as part of its campaign targeting journalists covering the Syrian civil war, according to a claim filed in a Washington court on Monday. The legal action over the 2012 killing is the first war crimes-related case against the Syrian government to reach court. It includes evidence from high-placed defectors who testify that reporters were tracked via their satellite phone signals. Colvin, an American reporter who operated out of London, and Remi Ochlik, a French photographer, were killed “in a targeted rocket attack” on a makeshift media centre in the rebel-held city of Homs, the papers allege."

Repoters Sans Frontiers secretary-general Christophe Deloire, after Palestinian journalist Yaser Murtaja was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Gaza: “We condemn the disproportionate reaction by Israeli forces, who killed or wounded several civilians including journalists. We urge the Israeli government to adhere strictly to UN Security Council Resolution 2222 on protecting journalists, adopted in 2015, and we call for an independent investigation leading to the conviction of those responsible for this crime against press freedom.”

BBC's Nick Robinson in the New Statesman: "Impartiality is difficult. Perhaps never more so than in recent years when deep divides have opened up over Brexit, Scottish independence and inside both our major parties. We don’t always get it right. However, there is still a powerful case for impartial broadcast journalism that seeks to inform rather than influence, or sway, or respond to commercial imperatives, staffed by people who – regardless of their personal background or private views – are committed to delivering what Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein calls 'the best obtainable version of the truth' and offering their audience a free, open and broad debate. The alternative is news that largely broadcasts people you like saying things you agree with. I say as gently as I can to people on both sides of the Brexit argument – be careful what you wish for."

Natasha Morris, NUJ legal & equality officer, on the gender pay gap in the media: “It is clear from the latest figures that more needs to be done to support women into senior positions within the workplace, ensuring that maternity leave does not mean the end of career progression. Employers must cultivate a culture where shared parental responsibility is the norm and not the exception and part-time roles are better paid. It is vital that companies are transparent about pay and where inequality is identified that robust and immediate measures are taken to address these issues.”

Indira Lakshmanan‏ @Indira_L on Twitter: "The death of local news is affecting civic behavior and voting patterns. Deep dive by @Politico found Trump performed best in 'news deserts,' areas with lowest newspaper circulation/readership." https://politi.co/2qfw2fx

Illustrator Mick Hill in a BBC interview on how he added "naughty" images to his artwork on biscuit tins: "I knew I made it when I got into the Whitstable Times."

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Media Quotes of the Week: How print still beats the web to now nasty Rob Titchener abuses hacks

Jack Shafer on Politico: "Print—particularly the newspaper—is an amazingly sophisticated technology for showing you what’s important, and showing you a lot of it. The newspaper has refined its user interface for more than two centuries. Incorporated into your daily newspaper's architecture are the findings from field research conducted in thousands of newspapers over hundreds of millions of editions. Newspaper designers have created a universal grammar of headline size, typeface, place, letter spacing, white space, sections, photography, and illustration that gives readers subtle clues on what and how to read to satisfy their news needs. Web pages can't convey this metadata because there's not enough room on the screen to display it all."

Allison Pearson in the Telegraph: "It is scarcely credible at the start of the 21st century that the number of national newspaper columnists who went to Westminster, Eton or other private schools outnumber those of us who went to a comprehensive. How is it possible that the kind of school that serves 93 per cent of the population should be so pitifully under-represented among the ranks of those who pontificate on state education about which, to be perfectly fair, they know absolutely bugger all?"

Harold Evans‏ @sirharryevans on Twitter: "For sheer disgusting hyena journalism see -or rather don't- NY Post splash on Clinton sickness."

Donald Trump at a rally in New Hampshire, as reported by the Huffington Post: “I have really good news for you. I just heard that the press is stuck on their airplane. They can’t get here. I love it...They called us and said, ‘Could you wait? I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ Let’s get going, right? Let’s get going, New Hampshire.”

Trinity Mirror in a statement: "Trinity Mirror has confirmed that it will be handing back four of the eight regional Metro franchises it operates to DMGT. The Scotland, Cardiff, Bristol, and East Midlands Metro franchises will be handed back with effect from 1st January 2017 but (it is understood) are likely to be continued to be published by DMGT. Trinity Mirror will continue to operate its other Metro franchises in Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Birmingham. Trinity Mirror has run the regional Metro franchises since each was launched over the last 15 years. However, as circulation and advertising revenue has declined, the profitability and sustainability of each franchise for the company has been reviewed."

Metro in a statement: "From 1 October 2016, Metro is set to increase its national print circulation by 10%, increasing the paper's daily print run to 1.477 million – its largest ever. Most extra copies of the newspaper will be distributed in the London area, upping the number available each weekday morning to almost 900,000 in the capital. Metro will be expanding the edition's existing presence on the bus network, with the paper available to even more commuters in London and the South East."

David Walsh in the Sunday Times [£]: "It has always been clear that those with most to hide are often quickest to sue. Putting it bluntly, they use their lawyers to discourage inquiry. This response is now exacerbated by changes in the way we receive our news and the difficulties that have arisen from our industry’s original sin: free content. [David] Simon’s point is undeniable. Proper journalism depends upon an online revenue stream. The irony is that journalism has never been as vital to a country’s overall health as it is now. A current example: there is a sporting body out there, funded by you and I, the taxpayer, who seem almost eager to pass on every difficult question to their lawyers. They employ PR staff but you wouldn’t know this if you emailed a serious question. Instead the lawyers write long letters for large fees. What lawyers love, though, is further correspondence. Most newspapers cannot afford to engage in lengthy legal actions and, of course, this is something the unscrupulous exploit."

Jeff Jarvis in an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg after Facebook took down the famous Vietnam war picture of a girl victim of napalm: "Dear Mark Zuckerberg, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Facebook needs an editor — to stop Facebook from editing. It needs someone to save Facebook from itself by bringing principles to the discussion of rules. There is actually nothing new in this latest episode: Facebook sends another takedown notice over a picture with nudity. What is new is that Facebook wants to take down an iconic photo of great journalistic meaning and historic importance and that Facebook did this to a leading editor, Espen Egil Hansen, editor-in-chief of Aftenposten, who answered forcefully: 'The media have a responsibility to consider publication in every single case. This may be a heavy responsibility. Each editor must weigh the pros and cons. This right and duty, which all editors in the world have, should not be undermined by algorithms encoded in your office in California…. Editors cannot live with you, Mark, as a master editor'."

Peter Preston in The Observer: "Facebook, though now the biggest carrier of digital news on Planet Earth, says it isn’t an editor or publisher, merely a humble platform. But now watch it change algorithms like any publisher in a jam. Watch it take editorial decisions, switching idiocy for sense. And watch it drain advertising revenue pretty voraciously from the news sites it carries. Dear Mark is part of our news world now. And he needs to be fully, intelligently engaged in it."

Dylan Jones in The New European: "Van Morrison tends to think that most journalists are dumber than cardboard. As one said, he takes to interviews like a duck to tarmac."

Daily Mail@DailyMailUK on Twitter: "Police create crime map that looks like a giant pink penis"

Ben Fenton ‏@benfenton on Twitter: "Slow news day?"

Daily Mail U.K. ‏@DailyMail on Twitter @benfenton: "yes".

Rob Titchener in The Archers reviews the papers: "Here's another one. 'Serial Abuser Posed as Mr. Nice Guy'. My life reduced to a salacious headline. How can they live with themselves inventing this nonsense. These hacks have no idea."

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