Media Quotes of the Week: From Guardian's gruesome Gaddafi pics to Desmond on Dacre

Guardian readers' editor Chris Elliott on the use by the paper of pictures of Gaddafi's bloodied corpse: "At the time I agreed with the Guardian's decision to publish. On reflection – and having read the complaints – I feel less convinced about the way we used these photographs, although I still feel strongly that they are an important part of this story and should have been used. The scale of the photo on the newspaper front page of 21 October and prominent picture use on the website took us too close to appearing to revel in the killing rather than reporting it. And that is something that should feature in our deliberations the next time – and there will be a next time – such a situation arises."

Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail on the appearance of the editor of Private Eye before the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions: "Westminster hates newspapers and wants to regulate them. The expenses scandals of both Houses of Misrule remain a sore subject. They were mentioned by Private Eye’s Ian Hislop. Utter silence fell. It was as though a spaniel had just let slip an eggy one."

The Independent in a leader: "As the Leveson Inquiry into hacking gets underway, and each new revelation of the scale of the practice stokes public fury at gutter journalism, it is as well to remember that not all News of the World investigations involved targeting the phones of celebrities and murdered teenagers. The cricket spot-fixing story is a much-needed reminder that investigative journalism, done properly, is a force for good."

Roy Greenslade in the London Evening Standard on the Leveson Inquiry: "What concerns me is whether we really need Leveson to achieve the mending of our ways. Let's be honest: there would not be an inquiry if the Prime Minister had not been personally embroiled in the affair by having hired ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson to be his communications chief. It meant that David Cameron found himself on the back foot on July 4 when it was revealed Milly Dowler's phone messages had been intercepted. Two days after, as the shock wave reverberated throughout the media and political elite, with Labour MPs in the ascendancy, Cameron announced the convening of the inquiry.Standing back from the hysteria of those days, it can now be viewed for what it was - a political fix to get an embarrassed Cameron off the hook."

Amanda Platell in the Daily Mail on Hugh Grant: "For those of us who have been following the tawdry, inexorable decline of Hugh Grant, the revelation that he has become a father for the first time after what he described as ‘a fleeting affair’ comes as no surprise. Yet this insensitive description, given to his relationship with the mother of his child, was utterly distasteful – even by the sleazy standards of this oleaginous, womanising lounge-lizard...Once a much-loved actor, the truth is that Grant has become a lonely, bitter man consumed with hatred of the media who helped make him a star."

Brian Cathcart on the HackedOff website about the Mail's coverage of Hugh Grant: "The Mail’s great broadside against Grant has nothing to do with morality and nothing to do with the perils of fatherhood outside wedlock. It is simply an act of intimidation. The actor has been a prominent critic of privacy intrusion by the press and the Mail has chosen to make an example of him. It is saying to any prominent person who challenges the press: if you speak out, this is what we will do to you."

Columnist Eamonn McCann in Press Gazette: "A columnist who is any good will eventually be sacked."

The MailOnline's most shocking teaser yet: 'How I stole my husband's sperm in the middle of the night by Liz Jones'.

Richard Desmond on Paul Dacre and the Press Complaints Commission in the Guardian: "I'm not sitting there with Dacre. Dacre goes out slagging me off; he can go fuck himself. I'm not worried about statutory regulation. I'm regulated by Ofcom for TV. I'm happy with that."