Friday 16 July 2010

Quotes of the Week: Outrage from Julian Assange to moderation with Guido Fawkes

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange interviewed in the Guardian: "I think it's an international disgrace that so few western journalists have been killed in the course of duty, or have been arrested in the course of duty. How many journalists were arrested last year in the United States, a country of 300 million people? How many journalists were arrested in the UK last year?"

Andrew Marr on new media on the BBC News website: "The kit now being sold is truly liberating. Just a few years ago, I was shaking my head and saying I thought I'd had the best of times for journalism, and wouldn't want my children to join the trade. No longer. I'd like to be 20 and starting out again right now."

Lord Mandelson in The Times on the Gillian Duffy 'bigot' affair: "Gordon followed my advice, but afterwards, when he stepped outside into the midst of the throng of waiting media, my heart sank. What he was saying was instantly undermined by the return of a classic Gordon idiosyncrasy: the appearance of a broad grin, very often in an inappropriate context, when he was nervous. In this case, he grinned as he was saying that his remarks about Mrs Duffy had left him mortified. The effect was unfortunate."

Ginny Dougary in The Times on Lord Mandelson:
"Trying to shift Peter Mandelson from the political to the personal is no walk in the park either; more like an icy trek in a hostile landscape with no signposts to guide you. Nowhere is this more true than on the subject of his sexuality and his private life. It is not that we are obsessed with talking about it but that he is obsessed with not talking about it. He may, in fact, be the most closeted “out” gay out there."

Editorial consultant Peter Sands on why the Express & Star, Wolverhampton, is the top selling regional newspaper: "It has resisted the trend to turn evening newspapers into mornings (a misguided mantra by van drivers in suits purporting to be circulation managers). If something happens in the morning it will be in the paper, and the readers know that. The morning newspaper market is a crowded place where readers have ten papers to choose from, the evening market is an exclusive zone. Where would you rather be?"

Peter Preston in The Observer warns of a double dip recession for the press: "Most of the press wanted cuts and pain. So bang – for starters – goes a £75m Department of Health ad campaign against obesity. And bang goes a swathe of public service job ads which Eric Pickles, the local government secretary, says must go (far more cheaply) online. HMG is Britain's biggest advertiser."

Tanya de Grunwald in a post on this blog about media companies offering unpaid internships: "At GraduateFog.co.uk we think the real villains are the companies who run these internships (which are often nothing more than a calculated way to cut staff costs). This is an issue that has not been taken seriously enough up until now - possibly because it's always reported on by journalists who have worked unpaid in their day, so have little sympathy!"

Liz Jones in an Independent interview frowns on all the freebies enjoyed by fashion journalists: "If a Westminster reporter took money from the Government or a football reporter took money from a club, it would be a scandal."

Guido Fawkes on why he has introduced software to moderate comments on his blog:"Temperamentally Guido would prefer it to be totally free without any limits. In practice the place would be over-run by 9-11 troofers, Jew-haters, Jihadis, muslim-haters, old fashioned racists and loonie lefties, who unable to get an audience of their own, try to parasite off Guido’s readership."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're all here for you, Julian, millions want to help you and support your superlative assault on lies as news in our time of the greatest need for simple truth. If there is anything we (fan club in Ashland Oregon) do to assist in anyway please. Keep threatening and providing hope, Julian: greatest journalist since Pulitzer!, and before that Tyunesdale (first translator of Bible to English so "the people" could read it. Right on;Go guy! GREAT HERO, at last there is one!

Anonymous said...

Jullian Assange is the greatest hero of journalism of all time, he threatens every corrupt institution and governmental lie going, Hitler could never have come to power with such a journalist or balance of truth. Only Julian can keep the corporations from ruling and corrupting us. Go Julian, great hero!

Anonymous said...

Jullian Assange is the greatest hero of journalism of all time, he threatens every corrupt institution and governmental lie going, Hitler could never have come to power with such a journalist or balance of truth. Only Julian can keep the corporations from ruling and corrupting us. Go Julian, great hero!

Anonymous said...

May all aspiring and practicing investigative journalists learn from Julian who has insluenced too many powerful minds now to ever die. If the CIA or some similarily stupd organization kills him, a thousand other Julian's will be inspired to take his place - now that he has shown us the way. Go ahead, make a myrter of him, see how much trouble it makes for dictators large and small, fascists insidious and ever present, and those who fester in private - go ahead corporation nationalism, see what you have created with your insane power greed.For every one of us that appears, goes, ten will bloom. Julian Assange is our only hope for the, or any, future.Up the rebals! Long live simple truth!

Anonymous said...

As we webt frin notices written on trees to an illiterate public, to Bibles then newspapers written in the native language, so have we gone from newspapers to this tool and Julian Assanges brilliant example of how truth cannot be stopped, like water, it eventually leaks in somewhere, somehow, and threatens who are frightened of it. WikiLeaks is our only hope in our time of absolute ignorance of what our government and corporatins are going. This is our only way to go from the big lie to the simple truth, by publishing what they are terrified of the public knowing, by exposing the lies to the world in their own language.ASSANGE has begun something that cannot and willnot be stopped - TRUTH. WikiLeaks offers a chance to survive the universal madness that drives us to extinction. Rock on hero!!

leahireland@aol.com said...

I am not so hot at the computer and being on line, just wanted to send a big Bravo to Julian and WikiLeaks and keep getting all these "comment" pages from where to where I don't know. Coould some whiz out there be kind and let me know how I can join the celestial chorus out here in lieland that are singing glory and hope to Julian and his incredible courage and smarts to be the David outsmarting the Goliath of our time? Go Julian, great man indeed.