Media Quotes of the Week: From journalists were attacked and abused by racist England football fans to training on the Oxford Mail was my university

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet in a statement: “The level of abuse and violence our members have experienced while reporting on matches and fans viewing the games is shocking. Our members have told us about having missiles thrown at them, threats of violence and insults while lawfully doing their jobs. They have also witnessed disgusting racist behaviour from the so-called fans...We will reporting these incidents to the UEFA inquiry and raising them with the police.”

• The NUJ quotes a videographer who reported being threatened by a knife from an England supporter: “The amount of racism I witnessed was equal to any far right protest I have ever covered in my 16-year career as a video journalist, not just against black English players, but also against Scottish, German and Italian fans. Often the opposing fans were chased off by England fans under the threat of violence if they stayed. I personally faced nothing but welcome from the opposing fans, not one case of abuse or threat.”

The Times [£] reports: "Ministers will tell technology giants to immediately hand over details of the racists who abused England players so the government can 'make examples' of the perpetrators. Comments posted on the footballers’ social media pages after they lost to Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday have intensified frustration with the companies’ failure to stamp out abuse. Ministers believe social media platforms need to provide information in a more timely fashion to help the authorities crack down on the problem."

• Peter Barron on Twitter: "As a newspaper editor, I refused to publish anonymous letters unless there was a valid reason. Those making a point or criticising others had to do so with the courage to be named. The same principle should apply in social media so cowards can’t hide."

BBC News reports: "Four Iranian intelligence officials have been charged with plotting to kidnap a New York-based journalist critical of Iran, US prosecutors say. The indictment did not name the target, but Masih Alinejad (pictured), an Iranian-American author and activist, says it was her.  The conspirators, who all live in Iran and remain at large, also allegedly plotted to lure a person in the UK and three others in Canada to Iran."

Nick Davies on Press Gazette on the decade since the closure of the News of the World in the wake of the phone hacking scandal he exposed in the Guardian: "Nothing important has changed. I suspect it’s true that criminality committed by Fleet Street newspapers has fallen to zero, or near zero. But what we didn’t achieve was the creation of a decent press regulator. The most important thing about a decent press regulator is that publishers would be required to abide by its first clause, for members to correct anything false and misleading they published. If that had been in place we wouldn’t have left the European Union.Public debate continues to be polluted by false and misleading information. Some titles at the dark end of Fleet Street remain a distortion of what journalism should be.”

The Financial Times reports: "BBC News is facing a test of its independence after an intervention by a BBC board member with close ties to Downing Street stalled a senior editorial appointment on political grounds.  Sir Robbie Gibb, communications director to Theresa May when she was prime minister, tried to block the preferred candidate to oversee the BBC’s news channels because the appointment would shatter relations with the government, said people with knowledge of the recruitment process.  Gibb, who became a non-executive director of the BBC in April, issued his warning to the news division’s managers after Jess Brammar, former editor of HuffPost UK and deputy editor of BBC Newsnight, emerged as the favoured candidate in the recruitment process. Gibb, a former BBC journalist, told BBC director for news and current affairs Fran Unsworth in a text message that she “cannot make this appointment”, said people privy to the communication. He added the government’s “fragile trust in the BBC will be shattered” if she went ahead." 

• Huff Post's Paul Waugh on Twitter: "This is truly extraordinary. How can a non-exec director of the BBC interfere in a recruitment process? Especially when the only crime of the journalist involved, @jessbrammar, is standing up for her reporters' right to ask questions of the government?"

• Media Guido on Twitter: "Government source: 'Brammar has been running a borderline fake news lefty clickbait website for years. Remarkable that someone like this would even enter consideration'."

Press Gazette after prison officer Robert Norman (pictured), whose identity as a confidential source was given to police by Trinity Mirror (now Reach), lost an appeal against his conviction at the European Court of Human Rights: "The news closes the book on a dark chapter for UK journalism and underlines that reporters should trust no-one, especially their employer, when it comes to the protection of sources. Never put anything in a work email that you would not be happy to be read out in court or handed over to the UK state."

Statement on the second anniversary of the Global Conference for Media Freedom: "We acknowledge the impact of the pandemic on media freedom, in particular that this crisis has been used to put in place undue restrictions on free and independent media...We condemn intimidation, harassment and violence against journalists. We commend the crucial role played by journalists and media workers and pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession."

Sahara Reporters on press freedom fight in Nigeria:"The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) has resolved to resist the government's attempt to stifle the media’s constitutional freedom of speech in Nigeria, even as it set July 12, 2021 to stage a Front Page protest by publishing a uniform artwork in all the newspapers. Publishers say the new laws confers on the Press Council the power to determine ethics and fake news, investigate infractions and impose fines on journalists, publishers and distributors. It proposes fines of up to N.25 million on the journalist, and N5 million on a corporate body. It specifies jail terms of one to three years and fines ranging from N.25 million to N5 million on journalists, news agents and media outlets."

Darren Styles, managing director of Stream, who has signed a deal to produce a UK edition of Rolling Stone magazine, as quoted by Press Gazette: “The arrival of Rolling Stone in the UK is not only a hugely exciting development for our brilliant team, but also fantastic news for the UK music and entertainment industries which deserve the showcase and platform that this iconic brand will deliver. A Rolling Stone cover is the picture worth 10,000 words, and UK artists will now have opportunities of their own to achieve just that, as well access to the RS network that stretches well beyond its native USA to Australia, China and more than a dozen other countries.”

Jim Rosenthal in the Sunday Times [£]: "Everyone goes on about Oxford University as a place of academic prowess, but the Oxford Mail was my university. The four years of training was priceless. I used the principles I picked up there every day of my working life."

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Media Quotes of the Week: Clive Myrie defends Covid hospital reports after BBC branded 'ghoul' by Telegraph columnist to actor detects paparazzo

BBC's Clive Myrie responding on Twitter to Allison Pearson's column in the Telegraph claiming his reporting on Covid needed to be more positive: "I’m sorry my reports for you don’t display your unalloyed optimism over this pandemic and I’m sorry I can’t gloss over -as you have- in your discursive article the fact that 100,000+ people just happen to be dead."

Allison Pearson in the Telegraph: "I’m not scared, Clive. To be honest with you, I’m angry. Angry that, night after night, you and your colleagues drive the juggernaut of panic straight into viewers’ homes. Angry that there are so many positive statistics and stories, which would bring much-needed optimism to millions of battle-weary Britons, but the national broadcaster prefers to hang out like a ghoul in a graveyard, implying that everyone buried there died of Covid."

Yorkshire Post editor James Mitchinson in a letter to readers after local MPs branded the paper's story claiming supplies of the coronavirus vaccine could be diverted from its patch as fake news: "Yesterday’s story was never about politics; it is about matters of fact. Now, thanks to a small cabal of our own MPs, it has become a story about the essence of a free Press and the forces around it that wish to do it harm. Those in power would do well to spend less time intimidating local newspapers, dodging simple questions and attacking journalists - like myself - and focus on saving lives. They can best do that by being honest with us and by working with us. That is surely not too much to ask?"

Gulnoza Said, Committee to Protect Journalists' Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, on Russian authorities threatening and harassing journalists covering protests called for by jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny: “Despite being poisoned and repeatedly thrown into jail, Alexei Navalny refuses to go away, so Russian authorities will likely try to make him and his supporters disappear via censorship. Journalists must be allowed to report freely and safely on crucial political developments in the country – even the ones that authorities are afraid of.”

Rupert Murdoch, accepting the Australia Day Foundation’s lifetime achievement award, quoted by The Hill: “For those of us in the media, there’s a real challenge to confront: a wave of censorship that seeks to silence conversation, to stifle debate, to ultimately stop individuals and societies from realising their potential. This rigidly enforced conformity, aided and abetted by so-called social media, is a straitjacket on sensibility. Too many people have fought too hard in too many places for freedom of speech to be suppressed by this awful woke orthodoxy.”

Recruitment ad for new tv and digital channel GB News: "We’re looking for brilliant journalists from all backgrounds to help us shake things up. You’ll be bursting with ideas and determined to find original stories and new voices from every part of the country. You’ll be a disruptor and an innovator who approaches the news in a provocative and entertaining way. We are serious about changing things, so only apply if you genuinelywant to make a difference and reflect the stories and issues that really matter to the people of the UK."

 

The Guardian reports: "Rolling Stone magazine is offering 'thought leaders' the chance to write for its website if they are willing to pay $2,000 to 'shape the future of culture'. The storied magazine, which has published journalism by writers including Hunter S Thompson, Patti Smith and Tom Wolfe, approached would-be members of its new 'Culture Council' by email, telling them that they had the chance to join 'an invitation-only community for innovators, influencers and tastemakers'. Emails seen by the Guardian suggest that those who pass a vetting process – and pay a $1,500 annual fee plus $500 up front – will “have the opportunity to publish original content to the Rolling Stone website”.

New White House press secretary Jen Psaki in her first press briefing, as reported by Vox: “I have deep respect for the role of a free and independent press in our democracy, and for the role all of you play. As I noted earlier, there will be moments when we disagree, and there will certainly be days where we disagree for extensive parts of the briefing even, perhaps. But we have a common goal, which is sharing accurate information with the American people.”

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet in a statement after the BBC revealed it had spent more than £1 million on barristers and solicitors to deal with tribunal claims brought by staff in equal pay and race discrimination cases: “It’s a shocking sum of money to have spent on defending the indefensible. There have been so many occasions in the past four years when the NUJ has urged the BBC to stop wasting money on lawyers and instead sort things out sensibly with individuals who have been discriminated against and cheated out of pay and pension contributions. There have even been equal pay cases amongst them where we have been confident that the arrears in salary owed were ultimately dwarfed by the cost of the legal team arguing against settling."

Insight editor Jonathan Calvert asked "What do you hate most about the job?" in The Sunday Times [£]: "Dealing with needlessly aggressive media lawyers who seem to be paid by the yard, judging by the length of their letters."

Actor Philip Glenister in The Sunday Times Magazine on playing DCI Gene Hunt in Life on Mars [£]: "The show really raised my profile, but I only ever had one unsavoury paparazzi incident. I noticed this blacked-out van following me around where I live in East Sheen. I went up to the driver and said: 'If you want a picture, just take one and f*** off because I’m out with the kids.' He said: 'Look mate, I’m just doing my job. And how do you know I was following you, anyway?' I said: 'Well, believe it or not, I play a f***ing detective!'.”

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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: From 'too old and expensive' specialist journalists face the sack to the rock star who just loves giving interviews

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet in the Guardian on the decline of specialist journalists: "Newspapers which have shed their specialists – putting them in the line of fire during redundancy rounds because they were probably older and more expensive – have pursued a shortsighted policy. These are the people who come in with the best stories and usually have a feature or two up their sleeves if holes need filling."

From The Independent: "Jeremy Corbyn’s lodger is reportedly working for MailOnline as a freelance journalist, it has emerged. Gian Volpicelli has been writing science stories for the right-wing news website, one of Mr Corbyn’s fiercest critics in the media."

Oxford Mail editor Simon O'Neill launching a campaign against weakening the Freedom of Information Act: “The Act is, if I am not mistaken, about to be severely curtailed and made subject to hefty charges, all because a few politicians who got caught fiddling their expenses and some well-remunerated Sir Humphreys see it as a pain in the proverbial butt. That must not be allowed to happen for the sake of a government and society that is truly open. This is our information, not theirs.”

The Press Association, in a submission to the Freedom of Information Commission on the possible introduction of charges for FoI: “Requests for internal review, or appeals, would, under a charging system, almost certainly be beyond the reach of the PA, as they would for all but the wealthiest news organisations."

The Sunday Times [£] on the Government's plans for a new Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act: "The bill will grant soldiers and journalists greater protection from people using human rights law to sue for damages. There will be an explicit statement backing 'freedom of expression' for the press."

Simon Jenkins in the Guardian: "Any journalist acquainted with professional sport over the past half century has known about drugs. We were told the Ben Johnson scandal at the 1988 Olympics would put a stop to doping. Nothing put a stop to it. The money and prestige is too great. In the case of soccer’s Fifa, it was clear for decades that Sepp Blatter’s operation was rotten to the core. A lone British journalist, Andrew Jennings, struggled to expose the IOC and Fifa’s Blatter, to the silence or ridicule of British representatives on both bodies."

Adele, interviewed in Rolling Stone: "There's a lot of things I don't think I'll ever get 'round to doing. Not because I'm famous, but just because I just don't think I'll ever have the time. Like being a journalist, or like being a teacher."

MP John Mann in the House of Commons, quoted by Press Gazette: "Evidence from the University of Reading shows that if people buy a newspaper, they will live longer. Why will they live longer? Because some of the people who buy newspapers on a daily basis walk to buy them and walk home. By doing that, if people buy The Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Mail or even The Daily Telegraph, they will live longer. I do hope the journalists are listening: that ought to be their banner headlines, because it is true. A bit of activity on a daily basis assists, which is the beauty of the great outdoors."

Kelvin MacKenzie in the Sun after prison officer Amanda Watts was jailed for a year for selling stories to the paper about George Michael : "So what did Amanda Watts, 43, who worked at HMP Highpoint, Suffolk, do that earned her such a long sentence? She revealed who visited Michael and gave The Sun a sketch of the singer’s cell. Big deal. Old Bailey juries repeatedly refused to convict journalists for paying public officials so when a judge gets a chance to make an exemplary sentence he takes it with both hands."

Noel Gallagher asked in an Esquire interview by Alex Blimes if he has any hobbies:“This is my hobby!...

Blimes: “You mean, music?“

Gallagher: "No! This: doing interviews. I fucking love it. I could do this all day long. It’s sick.”
Blimes: “Why do you love it so much?”
Gallagher: “Because I get to be a gobshite, and I get to do that thing: to be the last of a dying breed.”

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