Media Quotes of the Week: From Corbyn says tax digital giants to fund public interest media to new journalism and PR degree is sign of bad times

Jeremy Corbyn in the Alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival: "One solution to funding public interest media could be by tapping up the digital monopolies that profit from every search, share and like we make. Google and news publishers in France and Belgium were able to agree a settlement. If we can’t do something similar here, but on a more ambitious scale, we’ll need to look at the option of a windfall tax on the digital monopolies to create a public interest media fund.”

Corbyn on supporting local and community media: "This important part of the media, and its fantastic workforce, could be supported by reform and expansion of an existing BBC scheme, which sees ring fenced funding for ‘local democracy reporters’ employed in local papers. Part of these funds could be made available to local, community and investigative news co-ops, with a mandate to use significant time and resources reporting on public institutions, public service providers, local government, outsourced contractors and regulated bodies.”

Corbyn on editorial standards: "The owners and editors of most of our country’s newspapers have dragged down standards so far that their hard working journalists are simply not trusted by the public...I want to see journalists and media workers set free to do their best work, not held back by bosses, billionaire owners, or the state."

The Guardian reports: "The Labour party has formally complained to the press regulator Ipso about the coverage by several British newspapers of Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to lay a wreath at a cemetery in Tunisia. In its complaint, the party said the Sun, the Times, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Express and Metro had misrepresented the event, which the Labour leader attended in 2014."

Stephen Bush in the Sunday Times [£]: 'The first journalist to reveal Corbyn’s activities [in Tunisia] was . . . Corbyn himself. In 2014 he wrote up his trip for the Morning Star. Corbyn is still a regular reader of the far left daily (he is sometimes spotted texting Abbott about the contents of the paper in shadow cabinet meetings). That made some of the party’s official denials look more than a little ridiculous. Adding to the sense of farce, the party’s line seemed to change repeatedly over the course of the row."

Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump on Twitter: "There is nothing that I would want more for our Country than true FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. The fact is that the Press is FREE to write and say anything it wants, but much of what it says is FAKE NEWS, pushing a political agenda or just plain trying to hurt people. HONESTY WINS!"

The Committee to Protect Journalists: "When American leaders stand up for a free press, they embolden courageous journalists who put their lives and liberty on the line to report the news. And when American leaders fall short, they embolden the autocrats who seek to repress those journalists."

John Naughton in The Observer on Trump's tweets: "Twitter could ban Trump, but with 53.8 million followers it’s unlikely to do that. Mainstream media could start ignoring Trump’s tweets, which effectively allow him to control their news agendas, but they won’t, because he’s good for clicks and circulation. And besides, the guy is, after all, the elected president of the United States. Which, in a way, neatly summarises the problem we’ve got."

Marc Reeves, editor of the Birmingham Mail and Birmingham Live, on HoldTheFrontPage: “I doubt there’s an editor in the regions – or the nationals for that matter – who can say with hand on heart that the composition of their newsroom is as diverse as they would want it to be. In Birmingham, this is even more acute. We serve the most diverse city in the UK, yet our newsroom does not fully reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. We’ve known this for a long time, and I know journalism colleges are working hard on their own recruitment policies, but we have to take action on this directly. With the expansion of Birmingham Live and the creation of four new reporting roles, we have an opportunity to take control of the process and to try to affect something of a step change. We will ensure that at least 50pc of the candidates we shortlist for interview have black or minority ethnic backgrounds."

Jane Martinson on Metro in Prospect magazine: "In less than two decades, Metro has transformed from something described to one executive as a “shitty little freesheet” into a successful paper with a young audience who appreciates its basic news coverage. Whatever its future prospects, Metro has shown that there is a market, perhaps even still growing, for a newspaper based on facts in a world that increasingly seems to be anything but."

Paul Broster, director of journalism at the University of Salford, which is offering a new degree course combining journalism with public relations, as reported by Press Gazette: “The nature of journalism has changed, with those starting in the profession expected to have a wide range of digital skills alongside the ability to write well, find stories and interview. Our journalism programmes have always included a public relations module, but this has become increasingly popular over the years. Many of our journalism graduates now go on to work in public relations, while there is also a huge amount of opportunities helping large organisations raise their profile by creating powerful digital content.”

Nick Cohen Retweeted Press Gazette

Nick Cohen @NickCohen4 on Twitter: "At least 70 UK universities are taking money off students for journalism courses. The majority cannot possibly get a job in the shrinking world of journalism. This is awful but in a sly way Salford is being honest and admitting that many will end up in PR."

Suchandrika Chakrabarti in the New Statesman: "PR is already winning. What we really need is more well-trained journalists, and we need to find ways to keep them in the industry. If only someone could invent a degree to figure that out."

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Media Quotes of the Week: From don't give up on print to the real steps the digital giants can take to combat fake news, hate speech and propaganda

Newspaper and magazine designer Mario Garcia on his blog: "Don’t give up on print, simply place it where it belongs: not as protagonist but as a strong secondary player. Don’t come to work in the newsroom each day anticipating the death of print, because chances are that you will die first."

David Higgerson on his blog: "Digital is not replacing all of the money being lost in print. But it does contribute many many millions, and publishers which focus on driving audiences, and understanding those audiences, will be the ones who secure more revenue now and in the future...Regularly, the strong online audience performances regional publishers report are mocked by commenters on sites such as Holdthefrontpage and Press Gazette. But those publishers are in a far better place in terms of revenue – and therefore cash to support journalism – than if they persisted with early 2000s strategies of trying to strangle digital presence to force readers into print. For all we want to believe it, there is no evidence anywhere that investment in newspapers, or holding back digital, drives up revenue or newspaper sales."

Minister for Digital Matt Hancock in a speech at the UK Internet Governance Forum: "The impact of the digital disruption is far reaching. Our world beating music industry has, over a long and painful time, discovered in streaming a new business model that appears to be sustainable and bearing fruit. Yet the news media, and the high quality journalism that provides such a vital public service, has yet to find such a sustainable business model, and we must work together to get there."

Woman in Journalism in a new report revealing male bylines still dominate national press front pages: "At Women in Journalism, we believe that democracy can only flourish when the mirror the media holds up to society provides a true reflection; we argue today that because of the lack of diversity in British newspapers the lens we hold up to society is a distorted one. Society sees itself not as it is, but through the prism of a predominantly old, white, male gaze. This puts half the population at a disadvantage – and, at its worst, can put women off entering public life."

Robert Shrimsley ‏on Twitter: "So Boris resorting to the classic 'I don't write the headlines' defence. Well fair play to him, I don't suppose he painted the bus either."

Sydney Ember in the New York Times: "The potential sale of Rolling Stone — on the eve of its 50th anniversary, no less — underscores how inhospitable the media landscape has become as print advertising and circulation have dried up."

Polly Toynbee in the Guardian: "Mounting abuse of the BBC could in the end destroy it: it only survives on the trust and affection of most citizens. Those on the left joining in the attack, dismissing the BBC as part of an “MSM” plot, fuel the right’s aim to dismantle and privatise it."

David Aaronovitch in The Times [£]: "A lot of the stories on sites like The Canary and Skwawkbox are “isn’t life crap under the Tories” offerings, frequently picking up mainstream media items. You also get the occasional straightforward conspiracy theory. But one of the biggest attractions is calling out the BBC for being rigged against the left. That always gets attention, for in the demonology of these sites the BBC or The Times are in on the plot. Never mind the Daily Mail, the Laura Kuenssbergs of this world are the true villains. If you want a revolution and you don’t want too many awkward questions asked about it, you don’t just ignore what you call the conventional media. You try to destroy its reputation. In fact you must make your battle against it one of the centrepieces of your struggle."

Birmingham Mail NUJ chapel statement on plans to cut 10 more editorial jobs: "Our editor Marc Reeves likes to refer to the Birmingham Mail as a ‘house that’s on fire’. There is no doubt he has poured petrol on that house this week...This operation has been run on the fumes of goodwill for too long. That goodwill has been extinguished. In light of this the Chapel has taken a vote of no confidence in the editor or the vague proposals being made. If compulsory redundancies are threatened by management on Monday, we will immediately ballot for industrial action over these forced job losses, low staffing levels and high workloads."

Christopher Williams in the Sunday Telegraph: "The owner of the Evening Standard has made an approach to buy the Metro newspaper from the publisher of the Daily Mail, as media barons jockey for position in an industry merger melee. Evgeny Lebedev, the 37-year-old owner of the London freesheet edited by former chancellor George Osborne, is understood to be keen to add the Metro to his stable to drive cost savings and expansion outside the capital. Industry sources said Mr Lebedev aimed to use the Metro’s nationwide distribution network to launch regional versions of the Evening Standard."

Financial Times reports: "Lord Rothermere, the chairman of Daily Mail and General Trust, has told staff at the UK media group that it is 'not actively considering any change to the ownership' of its free daily title Metro."

Financial Times editor Lionel Barber, in a lecture on fake news to Oxford Alumni Festival: "So what is to be done about the fake news phenomenon and the collateral damage to quality journalism? First, the dominant technology sites must recognise they need to take more responsibility for the content which appears on their sites, not just fake news but also hate speech and extremist propaganda. Second, they must drop the pretence that they are simply platforms and channels for publishers’ rather than media companies themselves. They have fast become the main source of news for significant portions of society. The reality is that they are influencing or even deciding via algorithms what information is consumed."

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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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Media Quotes of the Week: From media has ball as Piers Morgan falls to Sky's Alex Crawford on bravery in journalism via Harman versus Mail

Robert Peston ‏@Peston on Twitter: "Can barely hear myself think amid din of schadenfreude in UK media at cancellation by CNN of fellow Gooner @piersmorgan's show"

Piers Morgan ‏@piersmorgan on Twitter: "Humbling to bring such happiness to so many people today. Coming 3rd, as I've always said, is not a trophy. #MorganOut #CNN"

Jeremy Clarkson ‏@JeremyClarkson on Twitter: "I understand that Nigerian TV is looking for a new chat show host. Anyone got any suggestions?"

The New York Times: "There have been times when the CNN host Piers Morgan didn’t seem to like America very much — and American audiences have been more than willing to return the favour."

Jonathan Freedland ‏@Freedland on Twitter: "Unfashionable I know, but reckon it was admirable @piersmorgan maintained his stance on guns even though it clearly didn't help his career."

Metro md Steve Auckland in the Guardian: "There are a lot of people rushing out of print to go online. But I'm quite happy to rush into print because there's a lot of money to be made out of print, and I'll take as much as possible. And you know what – the agencies are crying out for that message. Everyone I've talked to has said it's refreshing to hear somebody who is actually willing to innovate in print."

Harriet Harman in a statement: "In recent days I have been the subject of a politically-motivated smear campaign by the Daily Mail. They have accused me of being an apologist for child sex abuse, of supporting a vile paedophile organisation, of having a relaxed attitude to paedophilia and of watering down child pornography laws. These are horrific allegations and I strongly deny them all of them."

MP tom_watson ‏@tom_watson on Twitter: "Reducing it to a row between Harman and the Daily Mail misses the point: kids were abused by members of PIE and investigations thwarted."

anne mcelvoy ‏@annemcelvoy  on Twitter: "We're in for another "Labour versus the Mail" moral high-ground competitions. Those who like real news may prefer to look away."

SubScribe: "Does it matter? Or is it, as an old journo friend says, 'all showbiz'? Yes it does matter. Not because of its effect on the career of one politician or because it will make a jot of difference to any police investigation or to the treatment of any child. It matters because the bully has triumphed. And so will carry on bullying. And the victims are not only politicians and celebrities. The Mail does not discriminate. It is happy to pour its bile and innuendo over anyone."

Hazel Blears talking to the Hansard Society, as reported by Guido Fawkes: “Until political blogging ‘adds value’ to our political culture, by allowing new voices, ideas and legitimate protest and challenge, and until the mainstream media reports politics in a calmer, more responsible manner, it will continue to fuel a culture of cynicism and despair.”

Ray Snoddy on this blog from new book Is the BBC in Crisis?: "In the wake of current scandals facing the BBC, the up-coming licence fee negotiations, coinciding with the re-negotiation of a new ten-year royal charter, could be the most difficult and unpredictable there has ever been. The march of technology, the current political terrain and an unprecedented raft of scandals could all combine to create a perfect storm for the BBC. Certainly the BBC will never before have entered a licence fee round surrounded by the debris of such a number of internal embarrassments, many of them shrieking managerial incompetence."

Peter Preston in the Observer: "Lord Justice Laws's judgment, in short, doesn't just disappoint Miranda, Greenwald and the Guardian. It says, in effect, that any security service type – maybe after a chat with PM Tony Blair, once he's finished helping Rebekah with something – can present "compelling", if studiously vague, evidence and see passing dossiers, however dodgy, enjoy portentous protection. It can, seemingly, declare media workers potential "terrorists" in a schedule 7 trice. It balances the right to be informed (article 10 of the European convention) against the security right to be forcibly shut up – and declares no contest."

Culture Secretary Maria Miller at the Oxford Media Convention: "The internet isn’t a ‘Second Life’, it isn’t something where different rules apply, where different behaviour is acceptable – it isn’t the wild west.  To put it simply the rules that apply offline are the same rules that apply online."

Alex Crawford, speaking at the St.Bride's thanksgiving service for the Journalists' Charity:  “I'm often asked about bravery and the courage of foreign correspondents who travel to wars and disasters. To me bravery is taking on the establishment and the expenses department, as much as dictators abroad.

"Bravery is not - as some people seems to think - the defining quality of the war correspondent. Bravery comes in little acts achieved in every job or life, every day.

“Bravery in our profession is the editor who trusts his or her journalists in the field when everyone else is screaming otherwise. It's standing up to the accountants who say we can't afford to cover that genocide, or that natural disaster.

“Bravery is being prepared to go head to head with not only your own Government but that of several others by exposing the real extent of one nation's surveillance and snooping.

“Bravery is knowing you're guaranteed unpopularity but printing or broadcasting anyway because you KNOW it is the right thing to do."

Metro extends London commuter belt distribution at 82 new railway stations in south and east

Free commuter paper Metro is printing an extra 50,000 copies daily and extending distribution of its London edition to Southampton, Peterborough, Cambridge and Ipswich, MediaGuardian reports today.

It says the move is designed to catch London commuters before they arrive in the capital and are offered rival publications.

Metro's London edition will increase its daily circulation to 800,000 copies and be made available at 82 extra railway stations in commuter belt towns including Southampton, Peterborough, Northampton, Hastings, Cambridge, Ipswich and Bedford.

Steve Auckland, managing director of Metro, is quoted as saying: "Following the largest audit our distribution team have undertaken in all of our south-east stations we found that in some areas supply was not meeting demand and in other areas we did not have access to the platform. We have now been able to rectify this and extend our supply."

Metro is also increasing distribution at 117 stations in the London region where the paper is already available.

Metro: The 'enemy within' for newspaper industry

Steve Dyson on his blog reviewing regional newspapers, hosted by HoldtheFrontPage, has a bash at the free Metro aimed at commuters today, claiming it stops people buying newspapers.
Dyson argues: "When paid-for circulations are scarily dipping, now is the time to question the existence of the daily Metro, which numbs the commuting public into shunning paid-for regionals and nationals.
"Especially when that Metro is owned by partnerships of groups who run regional titles in the various cities it's distributed, and nationals in the case of Associated Newspapers and Trinity Mirror."
He asks: "Why is the industry continuing to shoot itself in the foot with a daily enemy within? I think we should be told."

Newspaper layout fail...

One of those unfortunate juxtapositions of ad and tragic news story. Spotted in Metro by bitterwallet. Hat tip George Dearsley.

Will it be lights out for London Lite?

With the Evening Standard going free in London how long will Associated keep London Lite going?
Back in March, I covered a press conference for Press Gazette celebrating 10 years of Metro.
The paper's md Steve Auckland admitted that the recession would probably put back the date Lite was anticipated to make a profit, which had been estimated as five to six years away.
That was without the Standard going free, although Lite has seen off the challenge of thelondonpaper.
Auckland said he was confident that free papers could survive an advertising recession and was proud of the way Metro had changed the image of free papers, once derided as "freesheets".
He said the title had attracted a "lost generation" of young newspaper readers and transformed the media landscape."Up until then, the perception of frees was as a bit of a rag, not sexy and struggling to get young urbanites," he added.
Auckland said Metro had won over a sceptical ad industry since launch and paved the way for more quality frees, such as Shortlist and London Lite, but I don't think he imagined the Evening Standard would follow the trend to go free.
Roy Greenslade on MediaGuardian says: "Now, unless Associated dramatically closes the Lite, people will have a proper choice, between a Standard that publishes journalism of quality, and a Lite that skims the surface of the daily news agenda and concentrates on lighter material.
"It will be fascinating to see how people react to being given a "real" paper for nothing.
I know the journalists on the Standard are split. Some are genuinely excited, believing it's a natural step. Some believe it will devalue their work and represents a journalistic nadir.
There is no earthly reason, however, why a quality free daily should not work. I seem to recall once urging The Independent to take that step.
"Whatever the case, it's another sign of the revolutionary times in newspapers. It's no good crying about it. If we want to get good journalism to people we have to innovate."
The Evening Standard explains its reasons here for going free.

Up to 30 job cuts predicted at Metro

Associated Newspapers’ national free Metro is planning to make up to 30 redundancies on its regional arts and entertainment sections, according to paidContent:UK.
It says the company is cut its Metro Life sections - the regionalised arts, entertainment and food pages produced by journalists at Metro’s offices in Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham and Bristol.
PaidContent:UK reports: "We understand that all regional staff have been called to compulsory meetings in London, Manchester and Glasgow on Thursday afternoon to discuss their fate and formally begin a consultation process." A spokeswoman for parent company DMGT declined to comment to paidContent:UK.
The cuts at Metro follow the decision by News International to close its free thelondonpaper.