Quotes of the Week: From horrendous to see Brexiteers threatening journalists to publishers should drop corporate jargon on cuts and closures

C4 News head of communications Hayley Barlow @Hayley_Barlow on Twitter after pro-Brexit protesters abused its journalists: "Relieved to report that our Channel 4 News crew were unharmed tonight, and whilst their safety remains our priority, they will not be intimidated or deterred from doing their jobs on what is another momentous day on this ongoing Brexit crisis."

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Jeremy Bowen Retweeted Georgina Stubbs

Jeremy Bowen @BowenBBC on Twitter: "I’ve seen this kind of thuggish intimidation in nasty places around the world. Horrendous to see it in the UK."

Robert Peston @Peston on Twitter: "Big shout of “you’re a wan**r Peston” after my live broadcast outside parliament. Great to get the recognition I deserve."

Krishnan Guru-Murthy‏ @krishgm on Twitter: "A male MP we asked to come on for this discussion about the abusive language and behaviour around Brexit told our producer to get stuffed and shove the programme up his ****. There have always been a few thickies in parliament but they were generally polite. No more."

Janice Turner in her interview with Laura Kuenssberg in The Times [£]: "Kuenssberg was an early, passionate champion of social media as a way to broaden public engagement, arguing to the BBC board of directors in 2008 that journalists should be allowed to be on Twitter. Does she feel, now her Twitter feed brims with vicious, sometimes obscene messages, that she opened a Pandora’s box? 'I’m disappointed that alongside opening up the conversation, it has provided a megaphone for, you know …' She shrugs. Does she read the comments? 'I stopped long ago. It’s like a bully will go and pull someone’s pigtails in order to make them cry and then be satisfied with that. I don’t have a thick skin, just other priorities'.”

Roy Greenslade in the Guardian on the death of Brian MacArthur: "It is irritating that Brian MacArthur’s obituaries have headlined his connection to the Sunday Times’s ill-fated serialisation of the faked Hitler Diaries in 1983. He was an innocent in the affair, caught between a historian who, having verified the diaries as genuine, changed his mind after they had gone to press, and a proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, who was willing to publish and be damned. MacArthur should be remembered instead for being the founding editor of a newspaper, Today, that helped to transform the industry by using computer technology. He should also be recognised for his wisdom as a senior executive at several papers, for mentoring young journalists and for writing, for 18 years, one of the most authoritative and balanced media columns."

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Lionel Barber @lionelbarber on Twitter: "The Financial Times has passed the milestone of 1m readers - one year ahead of schedule. Congratulations and thanks to my brilliant journalist colleagues."

Owen Jones in the Guardian: "There are many good journalists working in Britain. But too many of those working in the British press act as hatemongers who play with matches then express horror as the flames reach ever higher, while broadcasters such as the BBC have given airtime to far-right thugs such as Tommy Robinson. With the far right globally in the ascendancy – from Italy to Brazil – the role of the media must be urgently debated. Mainstream media outlets and politicians are directly assisting the rise of the far right. The silence must end, preferably before more die."

Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump on Twitter:"The Fake News Media is going Crazy! They are suffering a major “breakdown,” have ZERO credibility or respect, & must be thinking about going legit. I have learned to live with Fake News, which has never been more corrupt than it is right now. Someday, I will tell you the secret!"

Steve Dyson in InPublishing on the convoluted statements by publishers announcing job cuts and title closures in the regional press: "Take a look at any publisher’s recent statement about job cuts or title closures, and you’ll quickly spot your least favourite chunks of misleading jargon or gobbledygook. It’s time publishers – in the business of clear communications – learned from these mistakes."

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Alan Rusbridger @arusbridger on Twitter:  " 'Agile' has become one of those corporate words that Orwell would have skewered. This JPI statement is about closing newsrooms & asking journalists to work from home. Fine, but find a better word than 'agile'."


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Media Quotes of the Week: From many media companies make staff sign Non Disclosure Agreements to local porn stash splash lashed

Alan Rusbridger @arusbridger on Twitter: "The Telegraph has done well to expose the use of NDAs to gag former employees. But numerous ex Telegraph journos who willingly spoke to me for this chapter for #BreakingNews insisted on anonymity. Why? Because they’d had to sign NDAs."

• David Leigh @davidleighx on Twitter: "And the Guardian personnel dept once tried to make    me sign an NDA."
• Merion Jones @MeirionTweets on Twitter: "BBC tried to make the late lamented Liz MacKean sign an NDA - she politely told them what they could do with it."
• Simon O'Neil @SimonO19 on Twitter: "NDAs are widely used in regional and national press.

Waitrose Food magazine editor William Sitwell who resigned after 20 years as editor after sending the following email to vegan freelance Selene Nelson, who had pitched a story idea, as reported by BuzzFeed: "Hi Selene. Thanks for this. How about a series on killing vegans, one by one. Ways to trap them? How to interrogate them properly? Expose their hypocrisy? Force-feed them meat? Make them eat steak and drink red wine?"

Peter Oborne @OborneTweets on Twitter: "This is crazy. And a dark day for free expression. William Sitwell was a magnificent and generous magazine editor, winner of countless awards. Driven from his job by relentless Twitter trolls."

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Sir Alex Ferguson on the MEN's former Manchester United reporter David Meek, who died aged 88 this week: “I’m very sad to hear of the passing of David Meek, a well-respected journalist who served the Manchester Evening News with great loyalty and dignity. David was an old-fashioned journalist who relied on the accuracy of his reporting and his connection with Manchester United stretched over decades."

Henry Winter @henrywinter on Twitter: "Can’t believe Meeky’s gone. Went on so many trips with him, covering Manchester United. So generous with his time and advice. Meeky was just the loveliest man, a beacon of calm, great company, a journalist of insight and integrity. Thoughts with his family. Such sad news. RIP"

The Labour Party, quoted by the Daily Mail, on why it is dropping its complaints to the Independent Press Standards Organisation about newspaper coverage of Jeremy Corbyn's attendance at a wreath-laying ceremony in Tunisia in 2014: "Regrettably, confidential communication with Ipso was leaked and it was unable to trace the source or assure us it would not recur, and we considered that the complaints process was unacceptably compromised. We therefore decided we would not be taking this Ipso complaint any further."

Time has been named by the British Society of Magazine Editors as the most influential magazine of all time. Time was nominated by James Waldron, editor of Chemist and Druggist, who said:"Time's covers are so iconic that they are still used as shorthand to pinpoint key moments in history. You don't get much more influential than that."

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Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump on Twitter: "A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!"

James O'Brien @mrjamesob on Trump Twitter: "Disgusting man says disgusting things about decent people. Disgusting fan of disgusting man sends bombs to decent people. Disgusting man blames bombs on decent people who keep reporting how disgusting he is."

Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, in a statement: “There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media.
The president, and especially the White House Press Secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that.”

Pic: Northern Echo

Steph McGovern on Have I Got News For You about Donald Trump making a pass at her when she interviewed him for BBC Breakfast in 2012, as reported by the Northern Echo: "Aye love, I've heard better lines than that down Club Bongo."

Lynn Barber in The Spectator: "As a journalist, I am a dinosaur. I like reading words on paper. I like writing long interviews when everyone nowadays seems to want short. I hate dealing with PRs. I don’t follow any celebs on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, because I don’t know who half of them are."

Steve Dyson on HoldTheFrontPage after the Frome Standard splashed on the discovery of a pile of old porn magazines during a house clearance: "The porno splash was a stark example of how a focus on what attracts online clicks doesn’t always make news-priority sense in print. The remaining audience for local newspapers is largely elderly, often in a family setting and interested enough to spend money on reading about local public affairs. The last thing they want is a pointless story about piles of sleazy mags found in dusty drawers."More

Former Northern Echo editor Peter Barron  @PeteBarronMedia on Twitter: "I was once told I should lead the paper on the story attracting the most hits online. Here's a reminder from The Frome Standard of why that's so wrong. Don't care what anyone says - finding porn mags in a drawer isn't news, front page or anywhere else."

Media Quotes of the Week: From press fury at jail threat to journalists over leaks to where to stick the barcode on a Donald Trump front page

The Telegraph reports: "Campaigners have expressed outrage at new proposals that could lead to journalists being jailed for up to 14 years for obtaining leaked official documents. The major overhaul of the Official Secrets Act – to be replaced by an updated Espionage Act – would give courts the power to increase jail terms against journalists receiving official material."

alan rusbridger ‏@arusbridger on Twitter: "The leakers & journos who exposed Gen Flynn wd face 14 yrs in jail in the UK with new Espionage Act."

The Times [£] in a leader: "There is no shortage of laws on the statute book with which to punish those who steal or misuse official secrets. But official Britain is already far too fond of secrets and public interest journalism is already under grave legal and commercial threat. The Cabinet Office should thank the Law Commission for its ideas, and reject them."

The Sun in a leader: "BRITAIN’S Press freedom has never been in greater peril than it is today. A state-approved regulator, run by tabloid-haters and bankrolled by an odious tycoon, continues its campaign to muzzle the printed Press. Investigative journalism is threatened by a perverse law that would force newspapers to pay the costs of anyone who takes them to court, win or lose...Now the Law Commission proposes that any journalist or whistleblower caught handling secret information should face up to 14 years in jail...Number 10 must show it values a free Press and throw out the Law Commission proposals immediately."

The Guardian in a leader: "News organisations, in an intensely hostile business climate, operate in an ever harsher environment. Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 may yet be brought into force, exposing any news organisation that refused to sign up to the recognised regulator to the full costs of both parties in a libel action, regardless of whether it won or lost. The Investigatory Powers Act, which became law last autumn, has in the words of one lawyer, “ripped the heart out” of any ability to protect journalistic sources. In this angry digital age of fake news, where hard fact grows ever more precious, accurate and fair reporting has never been more important. Without it, democracy itself is weakened."

Steve Dyson on HoldTheFrontPage: "Despite shrinking resources, local papers still have space to be filled, and websites to be updated, and there are, of course, some great stories to be found on social media. But reporters need to learn that not everything masquerading as news on Twitter, Facebook et al is worth covering, and much of it is, to be kind, trivial. And whether they’re reading online or in print, readers expect their local titles to know this, and not to feed them non-stories just because they were posted on social media by some over-excited volunteer. Remember the days when reporters all had physical spikes on their desks for poor press releases that weren’t worth a story? Well, in the modern world, a digital ‘spike’ is sometimes badly needed."

Apple chief executive Tim Cook interviewed by the Telegraph: “All of us technology companies need to create some tools that help diminish the volume of fake news. We must try to squeeze this without stepping on freedom of speech and of the press, but we must also help the reader. Too many of us are just in the complain category right now and haven’t figured out what to do.”

A Sun spokesperson, quoted by Press Gazette, on the paper's ban by Liverpool Football Club: “The Sun and Liverpool FC have had a solid working relationship for the 28 years since the Hillsborough tragedy. Banning journalists from a club is bad for fans and bad for football. The Sun can reassure readers this won’t affect our full football coverage. A new generation of journalists on the paper congratulate the families on the hard fought victory they have achieved through the inquest. It is to their credit that the truth has emerged and, whilst we can’t undo the damage done, we would like to further a dialogue with the city and to show that the paper has respect for the people of Liverpool.”

The Times [£] in a leader: "Editors of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia whose entries are of notoriously variable reliability, have chosen to cease recognising the Daily Mail as a secondary source for information, and Jeremy Corbyn has condemned as “fake news” a clutch of reports suggesting that he is close to stepping down as Labour leader. Newspapers make errors and have the responsibility to correct them. Wikipedia editors’ fastidiousness, however, appears to reflect less a concern for accuracy than dislike of the Daily Mail’s opinions. And Mr Corbyn is in a state of undignified denial that his leadership is a liability for his party and that his colleagues are appalled by his ineptitude. That is a genuine story, not a manufactured one. And it is the duty of legitimate news organisations to reveal real news."

Ian Hislop on Private Eye hitting record sales of 287,334 copies, as reported by Press Gazette: “Our sales are real, we are not making these figures up. This is a record. It’s obviously to do with Brexit and Trump and people thinking where can I find something that might be true and something that might be funny. People say you can’t do satire any more because of Trump. I think people are saying: ‘Can we have some?' "

Private Eye reports: "WHEN Wiltshire Police officers turned up at the Eye offices last month to talk about Hello, Sailor-type cartoons and photo bubbles that once ribbed Sir Edward Heath in the magazine more than 40 years ago, the visit would have been faintly comical had it not been such a waste of yet more police time and public money. It was a sign of the lengths those involved in Operation Conifer (cost so far: roughly £900,000) are prepared to go to find something – anything – that might stand up wild allegations of historical child sex abuse, and worse, levelled at the former Conservative prime minister."

Jeremy Corbyn asked on BBC Breakfast if he has set a date to stand down as Labour Party leader: " “I’m really surprised the BBC is reporting fake news."

Peter Barron ‏@PeteBarronMedia on Twitter: "Barcodes can be irritating and get in the way of creative newspaper design - but not at @TheNewEuropean;"

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Media Quotes of the Week: From what they won't be reading in Reading any more to what's on the menu for readers of different national newspapers

Simon Edgley, managing director of Trinity Mirror Southern, on the move to close seven local papers in Berkshire, including the Reading Post, and focus on digital publishing around the getreading website: “This is a bold digital-only publishing transformation that will re-establish us as a growing media business that delivers the best quality journalism to our digital-savvy audience. We wholeheartedly believe that the future of our business here in Berkshire is online and this is an important and pioneering step that might, in time, be applicable to other existing markets or indeed new ones.”

The Grey Cardigan on The Spin Alley:"I think we all know what’s going to happen here. The 'best quality journalism' will turn out to be a roomful of kids with no journalism qualifications, cutting and pasting complete bollocks while uploading submitted content and mobile phone pictures with nary a glance at its relevance or even legality. 'Go out of the building and research and write a proper story? Sorry, don’t know how to do that.' It’s a sad day for the regional newspaper industry and especially for the journalists involved. It’s an even sadder day for the population of Reading."

Martin Shipton, chair of the Trinity Mirror NUJ group chapel, on the newspaper closures in Berkshire: "This is a watershed moment for the regional newspaper industry. Trinity Mirror is shutting down well-established titles and replacing them with an online news presence unattached to newspapers. So far there is little evidence that an operation of this kind can generate the revenues needed to sustain a workforce of sufficient size to provide a decent news service. The speed at which this transition is taking place is very worrying. It seems the remaining journalists will be used as guinea pigs for an as yet unproven business model. There are good grounds to fear for the future of the sector."

Steve Dyson on the Guardian's Media Blog: "Trinity Mirror, of course, is a plc and so is perfectly entitled – some would say legally bound – to employ strategies it thinks will best make the most profits for its shareholders. But if its ‘digital-only’ gamble is played out across the company’s regional portfolio, with fewer fixed costs, and fewer reporters, and if this is then looked at and emulated by other publishers, it could spell catastrophe for the local newspaper industry."

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet on the legal challenge by six NUJ members who say they are being monitored by the Met Police: "It is outrageous that the police are using their resources and wide-ranging powers to put journalists under surveillance and to compile information about their movements and work on secret databases. There is no justification for treating journalists as criminals or enemies of the state, and it raises serious questions for our democracy when the NUJ is forced to launch a legal challenge to compel the police to reveal the secret evidence they have collected about media workers."

Guardian readers' editor Chris Elliott on the paper's decision to lead the successful legal fight to name 16-year-old murderer Will Cornick: "Whatever the legal arguments, the Guardian has to be sure that its decision to go to court to have the boy named is consistent with the values it espouses and for which it is often criticised, not least when it puts its faith in the capacity for rehabilitation. The next time we are faced with a choice, I hope we take a longer, harder look at the options."

Tatler editor Kate Reardon in the Observer: "When people are being cruel about Tatler, they say it’s the only magazine that tries to photograph every single one of its readers. Hell, yes! My God, if I could, I would!"

David Conn ‏@david_connon Twitter: "When Panorama exposed Fifa corruption in 2010, FA wanted World Cup & denounced BBC. Now Bernstein is on BBC saying FA should boycott Fifa..."

Rory Cellan-Jones @ruskin147 on Twitter: "PR email this morning starts 'Hi Rory, I hope you're both well..' I'm in two minds about this..."

YouGov profiles of newspaper readers, as published on the Guardian's Media Blog:

• The top three favourite dishes of Guardian readers are likely to be antipasti, aubergine parmigiana and braised endive, they are into hiking and shop at Waitrose.

• Chips, curry sauce, ham and eggs are a Daily Mirror customer’s dishes of choice. The favourite sport of this reader is football and they describe themselves as bighearted.

• The Telegraph reader enjoys eating Vichyssoise soup, stinking bishop cheese and Tournedos rossini, is most likely to own a cat as a pet and describe themselves as analytical but arrogant on occasion.

• A Sun customer enjoys eating pork chops and chips, watches 36-40 hours of TV per week and describes themselves as big-hearted but headstrong on occasion.

Media Quotes of the Week: From Twitter already better than the BBC to last Post for Liverpool

Emily Bell in the Guardian: "Twitter is already a far more effective tool for reporting, discovery, dissemination and collaboration than anything the BBC will ever produce."

Nick Cohen ‏@NickCohen4 on Twitter: "In the beginning was the Word and the subs cut it."

John Kampfner in GQ: "At no point in my lifetime, and I wonder if at any point in our modern history, have we so coveted the idea of taking offence. We look for it everywhere, under every bed, in every tweet, on every comedy show. Getting upset has become a national pastime. It's the new human right. Anything that offends society's strict codes of taste and decency can land the blogger, the tweeter, the journalist or politician in trouble. Within hours, a mob conventional wisdom has formed, based in pious generalities, which requires instant apology and recantation."

Committe to Protect Journalists deputy director Robert Mahoney, on Huff Post: "The grilling by a House of Commons select committee of Guardiane editor Alan Rusbridger crystalized the problems of an independent press trying to serve the public interest in a country that lacks robust legal safeguards of press freedom."

Mick Hume on Spiked: "In the UK many will defend press freedom for what they deem the ethical, public-interest journalism of the Guardian or the BBC, but not for the ‘unethical’ tabloids. Indeed, the language of ethics has become a code for trying to purge the press of that which is not to the taste of those for whom ‘popular’ is a dirty word – we might call it a campaign of ‘ethical cleansing’."

Ian Burrell in the Independent: "Charging for news is nothing new.  But demanding paid subscriptions for popular news remains a radical concept  in the internet world. It’s still early  days but the success of Sun+ must  have surprised some people."

Jonathan Heawood, director of the Impress Project, in the Guardian: "A small group of journalists, lawyers and free speech campaigners are kickstarting this process. We have drafted a prospectus to show how it may be possible to build a regulator which is truly independent of newspaper owners and politicians. We don't have all the answers, but we have some ideas. And – unlike the people behind Ipso – we would like to talk about them."

BBC News director James Harding on complaints there was too much coverage of the death of Nelson Mandela, as reported by the Guardian: "Nobody needs a lecture on his importance but we are probably talking about the most important statesman, the most significant statesman, of the last 100 years, a man who defined freedom, justice, reconciliation, forgiveness. The importance of his life and marking his death seems extremely clear to us."

Editor Mark Thomas on Trinity Mirror's decision to close the Liverpool Post, as reported by HoldTheFrontPage: “It has been a privilege to edit the Liverpool Post for the last seven years. This is without doubt the saddest day of my career. I am very proud of all the journalists who have worked alongside me on the Liverpool Post. This is no reflection on them."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, on the closure of the Liverpool Post: "It is a tragedy for the city and for the journalists that such an iconic title of such long standing has been closed down... It also sends alarms bells ringing for the consequences of the trend at Trinity Mirror and other newspaper groups to convert dailies to weekly production."

Steve Dyson on the Guardian's Media Blog: "Birmingham Post journalists themselves will certainly have one nervous eye on this week's news from Liverpool, the other looking for reassurance from their bosses."

Media Quotes of the Week: From MP threatens reporter with cruel and unusual punishment to why Newsquest journalists aren't laughing

MP Nadine Dorries tweet to Sunday Mirror reporter, as reported by the Mirror: "Be seen within a mile of my daughters and I will nail your balls to the floor... using your own front teeth. Do you get that?"

Martin Cloake ‏@MartinCloake on Twitter: "Is Nadine Dorries's suggestion an official part of the new press regulation plan?"

Robert Peston giving the James Cameron Memorial Lecture at City University: "I don't believe I would have been able to do what I've done at the BBC if I had worked all my life in regulated television. My ability to take calculated risks and break stories, that I believe to be important, owes a huge amount to the fact that I grew up and was trained in newspapers."

Steve Dyson on Local World chief' David 'Rommel' Montgomery's vision for the local press, on the Guardian's MediaBlog : "Rommel's missive makes no attempt to motivate, inspire or lead his troops; instead, he denounces their profession, embarrasses his managers and depresses the entire industry."  

Andrew Miller, chief executive of parent Guardian Media Group, in the Independent: “The BBC is a frustrating competitor for us. It’s like a very good friend and has the great traits you love, but then several things really annoy you about them. I get frustrated that the BBC is the biggest state-subsidised Internet [operation] in the world. It is a global competitor for us in those different market places…to the advertising revenues that we go for.”

David Cameron on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour: "I've said what I've said about Page Three and The Sun and I haven't changed my views. But should we do more to try and help parents to protect their children from legal pornography on the internet? Yes I think we should, and again last week we made some big progress on that. You can control your children's access to newspapers and books and magazines."

Iain Dale, on being axed as a columnist by the Eastern Daily Press after seven years, as reported by HoldTheFrontPage: "There aren’t many columnists who last seven years on any newspaper, even when they come as cheaply as I do!"

Early Day Motion 795 DEFENCE OF PUBLIC INTEREST AND THE PROSECUTION OF JOURNALISTS: "That this House recognises the need for journalists to pursue difficult stories in the public interest without fear of prosecution; is concerned about the situation facing journalists who have been arrested and charged in relation to charges of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office; believes that such charges, levied against individuals who had no role in the authorisation of payments nor responsibility for a workplace culture where such payments were institutionalised and where trade union recognition was not allowed, do nothing to tackle the real issue of corporate responsibility for any alleged wrongdoing; regrets that it is ordinary working journalists who are being targeted, whilst senior executives and the companies themselves escape blame; further regrets that to discount the public interest defence in bringing legal proceedings sets a very damaging precedent for the industry; and therefore calls on the Director of Public Prosecutions to ensure that a consistent and fair approach is taken in regard to such cases."

John Cleese ‏@JohnCleese on Twitter: "Can you help? Mail on Sunday is phoning around trying to find a negative angle on my wife's charity swim for cancer..."

NUJ organiser Chris Morley in a statement on plans by Newsquest to transfer subbing of papers in the North East to Wales: "Even by Newsquest standards, is it breath-taking if management think no consequences will flow from sending local news around 270 miles from the far north of England to the southern fringe of Wales. The sorry reign of Paul Davidson as chief executive is due to come to a close on April Fools’ Day next year, but none of his journalists are laughing as he seems to be intent on carrying on right to the end with his nihilistic vision of dismantling quality journalism around his group."

Media Quotes of the Week: From bullying in the media to is Twitter a 'left-wing electronic mob' ?

Stanistreet: 'Dreams shattered by bullying'

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, on bullying in the media: "It has been heart-breaking to deal with members whose dreams have been shattered because of the behaviour of their managers and of failure of employers to tackle bullying and bullies. I have heard testimonies from members who said, 'News editors threw reporters on to the same story, everyone was terrified of putting a foot wrong. People were put under such pressure. Reporters were effectively encouraged to shaft each other. It was such a demoralising situation' and from women journalists who had been offered promotion in return for having sex with their boss."

Roy Greenslade on his MediaGuardian blog on bullying: "Outsiders may wonder why adults put up with the MacKenzies and Dacres. The obvious answer is that they control people's livelihoods. It is a case of accepting it or getting out (and not "getting in" anywhere else). For too brief a period in the 1970s, the National Union of Journalists exercised enough power to save the jobs of those who dared to buck the system by standing up to the bullies. But the NUJ, having lost its fight to create closed shops, gradually lost its potency. And there is still not much constraint on the autocratic rule of popular paper editors."

Local World chief David Montgomery's vision for the future of local papers, as reported by Press Gazette: "On the smaller weekly titles a single individual, Content Manager, will skim largely online published content to create the newspaper in a single session or small number of sessions rather than a number of staff following a laborious and time-consuming schedule spanning many days of the week. On daily papers only a handful of Content Managers will be office bound and will orchestrate all products across the platforms." 

Grey Cardigan on TheSpinAlley: "While this is terrible news for Local World’s employees – despite several years of shedding talent, still some of the best in the business – it could well be good news for those just waiting in the wings for the big groups to get fed up with these troublesome regional titles and start returning them to local ownership where they truly belong. And all those redundant hacks launching proper, hyperlocal news websites must be rubbing their hands with glee. Monty’s pursuit of this Holy Grail is deluded, dangerous and desperately unfair on those who have carved out successful careers in our trade."

The International New York Times in a leader: "The global debate now taking place about intelligence agencies collecting information on the phone calls, emails and Internet use of private citizens owes much to The Guardian’s intrepid journalism. In a free society, the price for printing uncomfortable truths should not be parliamentary and criminal inquisition."

Frank La Rue, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, on the political reaction to revelations about secret surveillance programmes, as reported by the Guardian: "I have been absolutely shocked about the way the Guardian has been treated, from the idea of prosecution to the fact that some members of parliament even called it treason. I think that is unacceptable in a democratic society."

Raymond Snoddy ‏@RaymondSnoddy on Twitter: "Mail often criticised, correctly, for nastiness but another big campaign win - old media persuades new media to think again on child porn."

Patrick Smith of BuzzFeed: Patrick Smith ‏@psmith on Twitter: "Re: 'cat pictures', B2B journalism tends to just have 'pictures of middle aged white men in suits' so it's nice to be a bit creative."

Daniel Radcliffe on Sky News: "I don’t have Twitter and I don’t have Facebook and I think that makes things a lot easier. If you go on Twitter and tell everybody what you’re doing moment to and then claim you want a private life, then no one is going to take that request seriously."

Steve Dyson in InPublishing looks at the regional press in 10 years time: “Of the 78 dailies currently remaining, more than 30 sell less than 20,000 a day and will go weekly – or close – in the next five years; a similar number – perhaps more – will convert by 2023. The industry will mainly consist of two types of weekly publisher: regional ‘giants’ with shared online platforms; and local start-ups and buy-outs with hyperlocal blogging websites. The likes of Newsquest, Johnston Press, Newsquest, Trinity Mirror and Local World  will have changed out of all recognition, and will halve in number. The two that remain, along with the larger family firms, will publish fat, cat-killing weeklies covering cosmopolitan cities, large towns and urban counties where there are still enough readers and advertisers wanting regular and unique local insight in print.”

Darren Parkin commenting on HoldTheFrontPage: "One of the biggest problems facing newspaper groups right now is that the current decision-makers are hanging on to pensions and retirement plans that cash in before digital completely takes over. So why would they bother hastening the demise of something they understand over something they don’t? Too many newspaper boardrooms are filled with docile fifty-somethings who simply will not step aside and let the younger talent set the pace and the agenda for the future."

Peter Hitchens , in a letter to the Independent: "Twitter is a left-wing electronic mob, and I visit it only to promote my Mail on Sunday blog, and to respond to and correct the ignorant attacks that are sometimes made on me there. This activity is like unblocking the sink: necessary, disagreeable – but satisfying when you succeed and positively enjoyable when you hear the waste gurgling away down the drain."

Quotes of the Week: From Guardian's Woolwich front page to who is Britain's best columnist?

Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger in the Guardian on the paper's front page on the Woolwich murder (above): "This was an extraordinary, perhaps unprecedented, event. In broad daylight on a British street a man was hacked to death allegedly by someone who then essentially gave a press conference, using Islamist justifications. It was, by any standards, a unique news picture – but in a new media context in which the killer's message had already been distributed around the world virtually in real time."

Guardian readers' editor Chris Elliott in his Open door column on the same front page:  "It was right to use the picture and the video, as both were crucial to an understanding of the event. It's not the first time shocking images have been run on the front page. However, the effect of the quote embedded in the photograph meant the message was unmediated."

Daily Mail in a leader: "It is morally unfathomable of our national broadcaster to seize on the gruesome murder of a British soldier as a reason to give a platform to hate preachers blamed for inspiring his killers. Yet such is the BBC’s grotesque thinking when it invites the likes of Anjem Choudary, who refuses to condemn Lee Rigby’s slaughter, to outline their case for destroying our country’s way of life."

Sarah Branthwaite of Foot Ansty on Woolwich and the contempt law in the digital age, on HoldtheFrontPage: "In order to assemble a truly neutral jury for any future trial of these suspects, one imagines enquires being made to locate individuals who were in a coma last week but fully recovered in time for the trial."  

Carl Bernstein interviewed in the Daily Telegraph claims Britain is: "On the verge of inhibiting press freedom and that is corrosive, even potentially fatally corrosive, to a democracy, and to your great democracy, because a free press is the only institution that, when push comes to shove, is liable to keep up freedom."

Matthew Parris in The Times [£] salutes newspaper proprietors after they were criticised in a speech by ex-Labour MP Chris Mullin at The Orwell Prize:  "Does he not understand how many proprietors down the ages have loved newspapers, cared about their survival, believed in their journalism and knowingly acted as patrons to talented journalists and tremendously important investigation, reporting and scrutiny, whose commercial usefulness is often a complete unknown? Does he realise how precarious now is the whole future of daily newspapers in Britain? Apart from historic buildings and football clubs I know no other sector where owners and investors appear so willing to pay for the privilege of losing money in the public interest."

Michelle Stanistreet in the Guardianon Local World boss David Montgomery: "Amid the management-speak, Montgomery's vision is a chilling one. Does he really have so little inkling that it is high-quality journalism and top-quality writing that is the key to successful newspapers and websites? His thinking is sadly not unique; it is a pattern we are already seeing. Journalists are being reduced to pouring words – sorry content – into pre-determined grids, with the danger of turning newspapers into open sewers."

Former Irish Times editor Conor Brady, quoted by Roy Greenslade, on problems facing the press in Ireland: "There are fewer journalists and they're working longer hours, discharging more tasks and spreading themselves across a wider range of duties than ever before. Not only this. Many of them are being poorly paid; there are very few new entrants now with the security of staff jobs."

Ex-Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson on HoldtheFrontPage on why he no longer buys his old paper: "The reason I’ve stopped buying the paper is because an exact replica is now available free of charge – yes, completely buckshee – on my iPad. I’m owning up to my print desertion because this iPad moment deserves comment, debate and careful consideration by the industry."

The NUJ in a submission to the Culture Secretary opposes the industry's proposed Royal Charter on press regulation:  “The alternate charter removes the obligation to offer an arbitration system, run under the auspices of the regulator set out in the Crime and Courts Act 2013. The NUJ believes this attempt to drop the arbitration system is a sign of contempt for both the public and parliament from UK publishers. They are not prepared to accept their past bad behaviour; they have little intention of behaving better in the future and they will continue to put profit before ethics.”

Roy Greenslade on his MediaGurdian blog on steep cover price rises on some of Newsquest's regional newspapers: "You have to hand it to Newsquest/Gannett. They certainly know how to milk a cow to death." 

Michael Wolff ‏@MichaelWolffNYC on Twitter: "Let's say it again, not just because it irritates people, but because it's true: Rod Liddle is the best columnist in the English language."

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