Thursday 24 March 2016

Media Quotes of the Week: From lights go out at the Independent on Sunday to don't depress journalism students by mentioning job prospects



Independent on Sunday editor Lisa Markwell ‏@lisamarkwell on Twitter: "First (and last) look at the @IndyOnSunday front page. As strong, distinctive and smart as 1990. Goodnight."

Lisa Markwell in the last edition of Independent on Sunday: "Looking back over the Sindy's 26 years, the courage of its campaigns, the verve and intelligence of its reporters, the beauty of its many designs (particularly The New Review) – Britain has been lucky to have it. And from the letters and emails I've received, many of you will feel its loss keenly."

Roy Greenslade on MediaGuardian: "The Independent on Sunday, the title known affectionately as the Sindy, is no more. And even the most fervent digital missionary cannot fail to be moved by its passing."


Robert Fisk interviewing foreign correspondent Clare Hollingworth (above), who scooped the world with the news that Germany was invading Poland in 1939 and starting the Second World War, in the last issue of the Independent on Sunday: "So there was only one question left for an Independent on Sunday correspondent. Did the future of newspapers lie in websites, in computers, I asked her? 'Newspapers will all end up on computer,' she replies, but this was a bad thing. Why? She thought for several seconds. 'You have to feel the paper,' she says."


Simon Jenkins, in the Guardian, on the terrorist attacks in Brussels: "The TV news channels behaved like Isis recruiting sergeants. Their blanket hyperbole showed not the slightest restraint (nor for that matter did that of most newspapers). The BBC flew Huw Edwards to Brussels. It flashed horror across the airwaves continually for 24 hours, incanting the words 'panic', 'threat', 'menace' and 'terror'. Vox pops wallowed in blood and guts. One reporter rode a London tube escalator to show possible future targets, to scare the wits out of commuters. It was a terrorist’s wildest dream."


Raymond Snoddy ‏@RaymondSnoddy on Twitter: "Twitter executives should celebrate 10th birthday and the creation of the world's conversation - and then find a way to make it pay."


Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, on the Investigatory Powers Bill: "The government is still not listening to a legitimate need for proper protections for journalists sources as recommended by parliamentary committees who have studied the draft legislation in detail."


Stephen Glover in Prospect on the Guardian: "More than anyone in the upper echelons of the GMG, [Alan] Rusbridger epitomised a public sector ethos of a kind that also holds sway at the BBC. It was as though the Guardian had a God-given right to arcane printing presses and a fine building and worldwide digital fame irrespective of its ability to pay for these things."


Donald Trump, quoted by the Guardian, says if elected president he would: “Open up our libel laws so when [newspapers] write purposely negative stories … we can sue them and make lots of money...when the New York Times or the Washington Post writes a hit piece, we can sue them”.


NUJ national organiser, Laura Davison, in the Guardian on Independent journalists switching from print to the website: “The pay and conditions on the digital side are worse than on the print side. Experienced staff are being lost because of low budgets and current digital staff have concerns about pay, workloads and other issues. This will surely have an effect on the quality of the product. To succeed it will have to invest in journalism and there are few signs that this is part of the plan.”


Nick Cohen in Standpoint: "Nearly all my colleagues who have lost their jobs now teach on journalism courses. One told me he was not allowed to 'depress' his students by telling them that, if they are looking for a paid job which will allow them to buy a flat one day and start a family, journalism is now about as reliable a career as blacksmithing or coal mining."

[£]=paywall

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