Friday 25 February 2011

Quotes of the Week: From dog eats dog goes barking mad to making it as a fashion journalist

Ex Observer editor Donald Trelford in the Independent: "The phone-hacking saga begins to look obsessive, hysterical and opportunistic – a case of 'dog eats dog' gone barking mad. Some of the journalists involved are no doubt motivated by a genuine desire to improve the conduct of their profession, but there are other vested interests at work whose motives are not so pure."

Retiring
Daily Express editor Peter Hill on former PCC chairman Sir Christopher Meyer in a Guardian interview with Roy Greenslade: "Throughout the time that the McCann stories were running he was friendly towards me. He never said a word about it, and nothing was said about it at the PCC. There was no criticism, no suggestion that papers should rein back on the coverage. Then, quite suddenly, Meyer went on television to denounce me. I was absolutely astonished, because, until that time, he'd said nothing about it. I was very angry about it. I shall never forgive him. He didn't disclose that his wife was intimately connected to the McCanns through her charity. But what can you expect from a man who ratted on all his previous colleagues and intimates in the Foreign Office?"

Ros Perlin in the Mail on Sunday: "If the UK continues to follow America’s lead, you can look forward to dozens of ‘internship companies’ selling positions (a California firm called Dream Careers offers its American clients summer internships in London for £6,500 a pop), lots more auctions and the further erosion of pay and working conditions. Interns will keep replacing full-time workers but will rarely get hired on a regular basis themselves."

Fraser Nelson on the Spectator blog: "The penance of Damian McBride continues. After being ejected from No10, and disowned by his mentor Ed Balls, I can reveal that our antihero now has a new job – head of media at the Catholic overseas aid charity CAFOD. He will be doubtless be brilliantly effective at briefing against its enemies (in CAFOD's case, hunger and the devil)."

Guido Fawkes in a letter to Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger after slating the Guardian Media Group for hedge fund investments: "As you may have noticed my blog has been doing some investigative reporting of the kind for which the Guardian is famed."

Alan Rusbriger on the Inside Guardian blog: "If the argument is that no one should write critically about tax avoidance unless they can show total purity in all their dealings and investments, both personal and corporately, then the probable blunt truth is that not a single journalist would be able to write on the subject."

Deborah Ross in the Independent on what it takes to be a fashion journalist: "There is often rigorous training involved of the kind that might include bidding for an internship at a charity auction, plus you have to know all the people who live in and around Primrose Hill and talk excitedly about the cutest little cupcake shop there."

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