Media Quotes of the Week: Hacking back in news with MGN court case to Jihadi John scoop row

Barrister David Sherborne, acting for eight phone-hacking victims, In the High Court: “The evidence demonstrates that voicemail interception, as well as the unlawful obtaining of personal information by blagging or use of private investigators, was in widespread and habitual use by a large number of journalists across all three MGN titles.”

Paul Vickers, the former legal director of  Trinity Mirror and chair of  the Regulatory Funding Company, the funding body behind the Independent Press Standards Organisation, as quoted by Press Gazette: "Having devoted a huge amount of my time to setting up Ipso, I do not want my position to be used by its enemies and the enemies of a robust free press as a weapon with which to beat it. I have therefore told the board of the RFC that I have brought forward my departure date and resigned as a director and chairman with immediate effect."

Caitlin Moran in The Times [£]: "I write books, TV shows, films, columns – and every industry award ceremony I go to, and every building I enter, the whiteness, the maleness, the standard London media accent, is the default. The only Asians are waiters; the only Liverpudlian accent is on the Tannoy on the Tube on the way there."

Lyse Doucet in The Observer: "I’ve met journalists who love war, love the adrenaline rush. I don’t, and none of my closest colleagues would say they do either."

Lynne Anderson, deputy chief executive of he News Media Association: “The news media industry has long been keen to explore a more positive relationship with the BBC, one in which independent commercial newspaper companies would be appropriately credited, and rewarded, for sharing their local – and global – content with the BBC, while being able to access publicly-funded content from the BBC...The NMA would welcome a thorough review of the BBC’s role and remit which properly examines how the BBC could benefit from and support a successful independent commercial news media rather than seeking to provide the universal solution for a market failure which doesn’t exist.”

Brian Williams, father of the Guardian and Observer NUJ chapel, after Kath Viner topped the staff poll for a new editor to succeed Alan Rusbridger:  “The journalists have had their say, now the ball is in the Scott Trust’s court. However, we are confident they will recognise the importance of the editorial staff’s opinion and give full weight to our choice.”

Andrew Billen in The Times [£] reviewing BBC 2's Reinventing the Royals: "Kevin Sim’s Diana: Her Story, Her Words was in the final stages of editing when Queengate happened. It was first postponed and then scrapped, thus depriving us of taped interviews with Diana conducted by her voice coach...The BBC says it was never finished. It could be transmitted tomorrow, insists Sim. I would say the BBC has an obligation to either slam it up on iPlayer now or release it to another public service broadcaster.

The Grey Cardigan on The Spin Alley: "I want to believe what I read in my local paper; I want it to have authority. It’s a bit difficult to be taken seriously when your investigation into council wrongdoing sits between a gallery of pictures of kittens that look like Hitler and a list of Britain’s 37 top dogging spots. And don’t think for one minute that someone might see sense and call a halt to this madness. Local World has just announced that it is recruiting for a national digital team based in Kensington to produce “must-read, highly shareable content” for the group’s existing websites and future new product launches. I can hardly wait."

Brendan O'Neill, editor of Spiked: "For a few months now, Hacked Off, the self-elected moral arbiters of the British press, have been posing as the one and true defenders of press freedom. It’s a bit like Shane MacGowan making a stab to become the next chief exec of Alcoholics Anonymous. That this gang which instigated Leveson and breathed life back into the 300-year-old corpse of state regulation of the press can claim to care about press freedom confirms that what they lack in basic understanding of liberty they more than make up for with brass neck."

Adam Goldman of the Washington Post, quoted by the Daily Telegraph: "Mr Goldman said he was 'shocked' that Emwazi's identity stayed secret as long as it did and that the news was not first broken by a British media outlet.  He took a gentle dig at the BBC, which has tried to claim that it was the first to reveal Jihadi John's true identity in a story that was published before the Washington Post but little detail beyond the name. 'I think they learned it from us. What did they have? They had the name, we had the full story,' he said."

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Media Quotes of the Week: Paris terrorism attack "A newspaper is not a weapon of war.”

Charlie Hebdo’s editor-in-chief, Gerard Biard: “I don’t understand how people can attack a newspaper with heavy weapons. A newspaper is not a weapon of war.”

Ian Hislop, quoted by Press Gazette: "I am appalled and shocked by this horrific attack - a murderous attack on free speech in the heart of Europe. I offer my condolences to the families and friends of those killed - the cartoonists, journalists and those who were trying to protect them. They paid a very high price for exercising their comic liberty."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary: "The assassination of journalists at Charlie Hebdo, cynically targeted on press day to maximise casualties, is an attempt to assassinate the free press. Our hearts go out to the families of the 10 journalists and police officers killed in this despicable raid. The newspaper had already been the subject of attacks by people who want to supress democracy and freedom of speech. These journalists have now paid with their lives; the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice. Supporters of free speech and civil liberties must stand together with governments to condemn this act and defend the right of all journalists to do their job without fear of threats, intimidation and brutal murder."

Committee to Protect Journalists deputy director Robert Mahoney: "This is a brazen assault on free expression in the heart of Europe. The scale of the violence is appalling. Journalists must now stand together to send the message that such murderous attempts to silence us will not stand."

David Aaronovitch in The Times [£]: "A reason why Charlie Hebdo could be singled out for attack is because the rest of us have been cowards. There should, of course, be satires on Islam as on Christianity as on capitalism as on Russell Brand. But there aren’t. Part of this is because of a misplaced decency ("why make people feel uncomfortable?”) but most of it is fear."

The Daily Telegraph in a leader: "It does not follow that because many newspapers, such as this one, do not publish cartoons of Mohammed that somehow we have been intimidated into not speaking out. Any suggestion that a publication failing to follow Charlie Hebdo’s example is caving into terrorism is absurd: we all make editorial decisions to avoid offending people that have nothing to do with appeasing militant Islamists."

The Financial Times: "The response of the free world to this must be unwavering. Charlie Hebdo may be a very different publication to our own, but the courage of its journalists — and their right to publish — cannot be placed in doubt. A free press is worth nothing if its practitioners do not feel free to speak."

Nick Cohen in The Observer: "The palace and the politicians expect a smooth succession to the reign of Charles III, even though he is a man who has spent his life demonstrating how woefully unqualified he is to be a constitutional king. A small measure of his failure lies in the BBC’s decision to postpone and possibly ban Reinventing the Royals."

Yasmin Alibhai Brown in the Independent: "Freedom of speech and expression is held up as a shining British value. But the Queen and her brood can and do stop the media and authors from pursuing legitimate investigations and asking tough questions. They can come down so heavy that seasoned journalists shake with terror and give up."

The NUJ Photographers' Council on the Campaign for Children’s Privacy call for legislation to prevent the media from publishing photographs of children without consent from parents or a legal guardian: "This proposal is simplistic, dangerous, wrong in principle, unworkable and not the answer to the problems they raise. Banning photographs of children – all children – without prior parental consent would have a chilling effect on a free press. The campaign does propose exceptions for crowd shots and photographs published in the public interest."

Nick Robinson @bbcnickrobinson on Twitter: "Pre-election memo to all parties : when your members laugh at or jeer unwelcome questions from journalists it says more about you than us"

PressThink: 'When to Quit Your Journalism Job': "If you work in any kind of editorial organization, it is your job to understand the business model. If you feel you can’t do that, you should quit. By 'understand the business model,' I mean you can (confidently) answer this question: What is the plan to bring in enough money to sustain the enterprise and permit it to grow? Can’t answer? You have the wrong job."

Johann Hari, interviewed in the Guardian: “I can talk to you about why what happened in my life happened. But I just think that’s a way of trying to invite sympathy, and that would be weaselly. If you tell a detailed personal story about yourself, you’re inherently asking people to sympathise with you, and actually I don’t think people should be sympathetic to me. I’m ashamed of what I did. I did some things that were really nasty and cruel.”

James Bloodworth in the Independent on Katie Hopkins' Twitter comments being investigated by the police:"Dare to be rude about the wrong person or group and, in a bad parody of Erich Honecker’s East Germany, you could hear the knock on the door in the middle of the night and be dragged off to some dreary police cell for questioning. I exaggerate of course, but not much: around 20,000 people in Britain have been investigated in the past three years for comments made online, with around 20 people a day being looked into by the forces of the law, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act."

Stephen Fry ‏@stephenfry on Twitter: "Some good suggestions as to what to do with my door-stepping journos. Everything from sandwiches to Rottweilers. Maybe coffee is the answer."

Rolf Dobelli in the Guardian: "News is toxic to your body. It constantly triggers the limbic system. Panicky stories spur the release of cascades of glucocorticoid (cortisol). This deregulates your immune system and inhibits the release of growth hormones. In other words, your body finds itself in a state of chronic stress. High glucocorticoid levels cause impaired digestion, lack of growth (cell, hair, bone), nervousness and susceptibility to infections. The other potential side-effects include fear, aggression, tunnel-vision and desensitisation."

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