Media Quotes of the Week: From Rusbridger, Barber and MacKenzie on Paul Dacre chairing Ofcom to saving court reporting in the digital age

Alan Rusbridger on Twitter: "The Government seems determined to impose the 'unappointable' Paul Dacre on Ofcom. That means, I'm afraid, that Ofcom will no longer be seen as independent from Government. Big price to pay."

Lionel Barber on Twitter: "If Tories don’t like the conclusion of one independent committee hearing, then they move the goalposts. Applies as much to Dacre on Ofcom job as Paterson on parliamentary standards and lobbying. Slow strangulation of representative government."

Kevin MacKenzie in his a spokesman said column: "In a saga that has lasted longer than finding a decent manager for Spurs I am pleased to report that Boris is still determined to make Paul Dacre, the talented ex-Editor of the Daily Mail, chairman of the media regulator Ofcom...A new panel that will give Dacre the nod is currently being put together. Each will be asked before they join if they have a problem with Dacre. If any answer yes they won’t be on the panel. That’s how it works. The establishment hate journalists. They simply aren’t clubbable. That’s why I like them and why I am one of them."

• According to the Guardian, Paul Dacre has departed his role as chair of the Daily Mail’s parent company. Although Dacre stood down as editor of the Daily Mail in 2018, he remained as chair and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers.

Findings from the government's Call for Evidence on Journalist Safety include:

• Just over 4 in 5 journalists experienced threats, abuse or violence as a result of their work. These incidents included abuse, intimidation, threats of violence, violence, death threats, bullying, sexism, racism and homophobia.
• More than a third of women respondents indicated that they did not feel safe operating as a journalist in the UK.
• The majority of respondents did not report all incidents to platforms, police and employers, due in part to poor confidence they would be taken seriously.
• The Call for Evidence asked journalists to describe in more detail the impacts of incidents to identify the most common themes. The most prevalent identified impacts on everyday behaviour included avoiding certain places or crowds, being defensive and wary in public, and avoiding engaging with the public or readers in both physical spaces and on social media.

Andy Burnham on culture secretary Nadine Dorries in the Observer: "Nadine gets herself noticed, but if it becomes a thing that the culture secretary fights culture wars, then I think the job is in serious trouble. When I heard her [conference] comments, I thought, here we go, a BBC-bashing culture secretary.”

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries in the Manchester Evening News marking Journalism Matters Week: "We've introduced a trailblazing Online Safety Bill that will make us one of the first countries in the world to force tech companies to clean up their sites. But, crucially for journalists, that Bill will also prevent social media firms from arbitrarily taking down content from respected news organisations. And, even better, it includes extremely important protection and exemptions for journalists, so that we can protect their free speech while forcing social media platforms to police their sites properly."

News Media Association chairman Henry Faure Walker in InPublishing marking Journalism Matters Week: "Sadly, the American owned tech giants continue to leech revenues away from British journalism, while exploiting our content to sell advertising on their own platforms. We welcome Government moves to tackle this problem, seeking to deliver a level playing field and fair practices, but time is running out, particularly for some local publishers, and we need the Government to go further, faster. And the BBC needs to be prevented from rolling its tanks, funded by the licence fee, onto the lawn of the hard pressed independent local news sector."

BBC director general Tim Davie on the Corporation's new 10-point impartiality plan :"The BBC's editorial values of impartiality, accuracy and trust are the foundation of our relationship with audiences in the UK and around the world. Our audiences deserve and expect programmes and content which earn their trust every day and we must meet the highest standards and hold ourselves accountable in everything we do. The changes we have announced not only ensure we learn the lessons from the past but also protect these essential values for the future."

John Witherow, editor of The Times, speaking at the Web Summit and reported in his own paper [£]: “Today we are told it’s the tech giants who are killing us. Readers want everything for free, we must do click-bait, it’s a race to the bottom. Except that’s not true. Good journalism does not need saving. It’s thriving. This is a golden age for serious journalism. It’s expanding into audio and visual and reaching new audiences.When young people ask me if they should go into journalism nowadays, I say, by all means, now is a great time.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ’s Global Impunity Index finds: "In more than 80 percent of cases, the killers of journalists are still getting away with murder. Somalia continues to rank as the world’s worst offender, followed by Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, and Afghanistan. Yet while Afghanistan’s spot on the Index is unchanged from 2020, the Taliban’s August takeover raises fears that impunity for journalist murders there may become even more entrenched."

EU Commission statement on International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists: "We will stand by and protect journalists, no matter where they are. We will continue supporting a free and diverse media environment, supporting collaborative and cross-border journalism, and tackling violations of media freedom. There is no democracy without media freedom and pluralism. An attack on media is an attack on democracy.”

From openDemocracy’s new report on the UK Government and Freedom of Information, Access Denied’: "Last year was the worst on record for government secrecy, new research by openDemocracy has revealed. Just 41% of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to government departments and agencies were granted in full in 2020, down from 43% the previous year. This is the lowest figure since records began in 2005."

John Battle in The Times [£] on how to improve court reporting in the digital age: "A step forward would be a reporters’ charter across civil and criminal courts to ensure basic 'rights': a designated place to sit in the court; wi-fi; access to listing details; documents used in evidence; crucial witness statements and the judgment; a point of contact for media inquiries and a right to make representations to the court. Journalists also need a database to access reporting restrictions and relevant documents...The pace of change is not keeping up with the digital age. It is in the interests of the courts, the legal system and the media to make this happen, so let’s get on with it before it’s too late."

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Media Quotes of the Week: Is the media a cult of well-connected public school educated journalists? to the betrayal of the UK's press freedom legacy

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Owen Jones OwenJones84 on Twitter: "The main thing I've learned from working in the British media is that much of it is a cult. Afflicted by a suffocating groupthink, intolerant of critics, hounds internal dissenters, full of people who made it because of connections and/or personal background rather than merit."

Owen Jones commenting on his tweet on Medium: "This tweet has triggered such an inferno amongst British media types, the response would probably have been more measured if I’d told every single one of their mothers to F off in person...Nothing caused so much anger as my suggestion that the British media is profoundly socially exclusive. The journalists denying this are waging a crusade against undeniable fact, evidence and data — and, by doubling down, are helping to ensure that this profound injustice is not rectified. Just 7% of the British population are privately educated. But according to the Sutton Trust in 2016, 51% of Britain’s top journalists are privately educated. Just 19% attended a comprehensive school — unlike nearly 90% of the population."

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fleetstreetfox Retweeted Owen Jones 🌹

FleetStreetFox on Twitter: "I set up 2x school papers, did work experience on local rag, begged for an apprenticeship, did my NCTJ and worked like a dog for 25yrs. No contacts, no degree, and a comprehensive education. It’s not a cult Owen, it’s just people think you’re a bit of a twat."

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PoliticsHome editor Kevin Schofield @PolhomeEditor on Twitter: "I grew up in a working class household, went to state schools, worked my arse off on local papers for years and finally made it to Fleet St (The Sun) at the age of 35. But I guess that doesn't fit the narrative. "

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Dan Hodges @DPJHodges on Twitter:"The reality is it doesn’t matter where you went to school, how middle-class you are, what you gender, race etc is. In the eyes of the Corbynites the only legitimate journalism is journalism that shares, and indulges in, their veneration of Jeremy Corbyn."

Nick Cohen@NickCohen4 on Twitter: "The real scandal is 75 universities are selling post-grad journalism courses to students when there are virtually no jobs for them to go on to. If banks behaved in the same way, the fraud squad would raid them."

Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner and David Pemsel, the chief executive of GNM parent Guardian Media Group in a joint statement: “We are well on track with our three-year strategy to make the Guardian sustainable and break even at operating level by 2018-2019. Thanks to outstanding collaborative work in the UK, US and Australia, we have finished the second year well ahead of our forecast.”

Amelia Gentleman on Twitter: "The Guardian has given me the time and space to investigate the #Windrush scandal over the past six months. Please support independent, investigative journalism like this, so that we can continue to hold power to account."

Matthew Moore in The Times [£]: "The number of defamation cases in the UK courts has fallen to a record low as celebrities increasingly use privacy actions to block negative stories rather than taking action after publication. Only 49 defamation cases were heard last year, down from 86 three years ago, according to research by Thomson Reuters. The decline follows the introduction of the Defamation Act 2013, which came into force in 2014 and made it harder to bring successful cases by requiring the claimant to demonstrate that they have suffered serious reputational damage. Legal experts said that the fall also reflected a change in tactics by celebrities, who now sought to ban newspapers from printing embarrassing stories in the first place, rather than bring a defamation case afterwards."

Ian Birrell in The Times [£] on Russia Today: "RT disseminates fake news and inflates dodgy theories to winkle open fissures in western societies and cover up atrocities carried out by Vladimir Putin and his blood-splattered pals. It is aided by fellow travellers inflaming its nonsense on social media and abetted by a motley collection of greedy fools taking cash to appear on its shows. But while it is clearly a mouthpiece for Moscow, we should not ban RT. Such a move would backfire, with retaliatory action to expel our journalists in Russia that would hamper both understanding of events there and the free flow of news for opposition forces."

Celia Walden on the secret of husband Piers Morgan's smooth skin, according to The Times [£] Diary: “Piers’s ego is so large that it pushes the wrinkles out.”

Letter to The Times [£] from press freedom campaigners: "The UK is among the worst-ranked western nations for press freedom. Today the World Press Freedom Index 2018 placed the UK 40th among 180 countries, just ahead of Trinidad & Tobago and Burkina Faso. Britain is the nation that helped to create press freedom. That legacy is being betrayed. Journalists have been hauled before criminal courts on flimsy charges, only to be acquitted. A state-approved regulator has been established, which the majority of the British press refused on principle to join. And parliament is now considering turning the screws on journalists further. The Data Protection Bill is passing through parliament. Lords and MPs are threatening to re-table amendments that would lead to the demise of our free press. The amendments could kick-start another state-backed press inquiry, and may end journalists’ exemption from data-protection rules, which is crucial for protecting their sources. Financial penalties would be imposed unless they signed up to a state-approved press regulator. Put simply, these peers and parliamentarians want to muzzle our maverick press because it holds them, and other public bodies, to account. We call on parliament to reject any further restrictions on the press. Britain’s status as a beacon of liberty and democracy is being jeopardised."

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Media Quotes of the Week: From this is the most thrilling and frightening time to be a journalist to staff photographers are an endangered species

Columbia Journalism Review editor-in-chief Kyle Pope on a special issue of the CJR on the threats facing journalism: "What this issue makes clear is that journalists around the world are doing astonishing work in a climate that is perhaps tougher than ever. We are working under a leader of the free world who calls us liars, as our ad revenue continues to leach away to Facebook and others, in office environments that can be hostile to our own coworkers. I’ve said before that we are living through one of the most thrilling—and frightening—moments to be a journalist in our lifetimes. The story is enormous. Our readers care deeply what we have to say. The stakes couldn’t be higher."

Matthew Moore in The Times [£]: "The former head of Formula One is seeking to gag the media using a law never intended to limit press freedom. Max Mosley, 77, is attempting to use data protection law to force newspapers including The Times to stop publishing widely reported details about his sexual life. The privacy campaigner is also trying to ban newspapers from asserting that he personally funds or bankrolls Impress, the state-recognised press regulator, or can exert control or influence over it...Mr Mosley’s attempts to use the Data Protection Act 1998 to restrict press freedom in this way are legally unprecedented. The act governs how companies and organisations can handle individuals’ private data but includes a broad exemption for journalism."

• The Times in a leader: "The Data Protection Act 1998 was passed by parliament to protect personal data from misuse in an age when more and more of it is accessible online to any company, government or hacker who knows how and where to look. It was not passed to muzzle the press."

Hugh Muir in the Guardian on Trinity Mirror buying the Express titles from Richard Desmond: "These days good cheer for the print sector is rare but it must ultimately be good news that Richard Desmond has decided there are better things to do than be a press baron. Press barons aren’t a much admired breed but Desmond over his 17 years found ways to lower even a denuded brand. He took a newspaper with a long history – once the biggest selling daily paper in the world – and turned it into an object of ridicule and pity."

Guido Fawkes on this blog: "The usual suspects who raise a hue and cry about media plurality seem strangely silent about the Mirror – Express merger. Print sector media plurality is being dramatically reduced from four major media groups to 3 plus the also rans. The new group will have about a quarter market share of the UK dead tree press. As the print market withers it is turning oligopolistic…Tom Watson is silent, the usual gobby ‘media plurality’ campaigners are also mute. The Guardian isn’t going on about the hackers at the Mirror not being fit and proper to take over the Express. There are genuine public interest concerns; plurality is being reduced and the distinctive political voice of the Express is being put at risk. Are plurality concerns only applicable to Rupert Murdoch?"

Rob Irvine, who is stepping down as editor of the Manchester Evening News: "It has been a privilege to be editor of the Manchester Evening News and to have led such a talented team of journalists. We have tackled the ever-changing landscape of multi-media journalism to build a local, national and global audience. What matters to our readers matters to us. We offered a place for the people of Greater Manchester to come together when our city suffered a murderous act of terror which claimed 22 innocent lives in May last year. We raised millions of pounds for the bereaved and those most affected, and through our We Stand Together campaign we are helping to heal our city's wounds. Now it's time for me to hand over the reins."

The Times [£] in a leader: "Without a reporter in the room at a magistrates’ court, patterns in crime go unnoticed, police prejudices unprobed, communities unprotected by knowledge of what is happening around them. Without reporters on the streets, abuses of children or of old people in care homes go unrecorded. Public life does not hold itself to account. That is why the future of the press matters, even if newspapers may seem self-serving in writing about it. That is why the government should be congratulated for announcing a review into the sustainability of newspapers."

Fiona Swarbrick, NUJ national organiser, on unpaid internships in journalism  "Employers often talk the talk when it comes to increasing diversity, but they are reluctant to deal with the practicalities of the problem. The reality is that unpaid internships (as well as poorly paid entry level jobs) can make it impossible to get your foot on the ladder if you don’t have access to financial support from elsewhere."

Matthew Parris in The Times on "Nick" [£]:  "Were the British — were ordinary men and women — really gripped by a wave of madness in which it became possible to believe the rantings of a self-serving fantasist? Maybe they were; maybe millions do think Westminster and Whitehall really are like this; but the media? The reply “we must report what we hear” won’t do. Palpable or likely hogwash should be reported in sceptical voice. Too often, Nick’s exotic fantasies were reported wide-eyed."

Committee to Protect Journalists: "Myanmar's media, both local and foreign, are under heavy assault as security measures used to suppress the press under military rule are reactivated under Suu Kyi's quasi-democratic regime, several journalists who cover the country told CPJ. It marks a dramatic reversal in recent press freedom gains and augurs ill for the country's delicate transition from military to elected rule...Nowhere is that backsliding more apparent than in the continued pretrial detention of local Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo."

Matthew Moore in The Times [£]:  "A YouTube documentary that blamed government failings for the Grenfell Tower fire was produced by a media organisation owned by the Russian state, it can be revealed. The three-part series, presented by a former resident of the block, was described as a “grassroots report” into how austerity and gentrification caused the tragedy. In fact the film was made by a subsidiary of the Kremlin-controlled television network RT."

The NUJ reports: "£15 a week. That is the budget available to spend on photography at local Johnston Press newspapers in Scotland. This sum amounts to less than a daily cup of coffee from your local takeaway. Johnston Press, publishers of local newspapers such as Deeside Piper, Fife Herald, and Montrose Review, has cut away at the amount its spends on professional photographers. It is a similar situation at its titles across the UK, where staff photographers have become an endangered species."

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