Thursday 6 May 2021

Media Quotes of the Week: From London journalists please stop patronising the North to Putin's trolls are targeting UK national newspapers



Janice Turner on Twitter:
"What’s the point of a @BBCr4today reporter getting on a train to Doncaster (my home town as it happens) just to talk to local people in a condescending voice & report they haven’t heard of various politicians? Shallow, patronising & reveals nothing but their own snooty prejudices. Also the self congratulatory tone of  'I’m not in London, aren’t I amazing'. Mate, there are four London trains an hour. You haven’t crossed the Sahara."

Jane Bradley on Twitter: "Hartlepool has been through a lot over the years and it doesn't deserve the onslaught of lobby journalists bravely venturing up north for the day."


Huw Edwards on Twitter: "
A polite word from my Cameronian shed to remind fellow journalists that elections in Wales and Scotland are not 'local' or 'regional' but NATIONAL. The English elections are local and regional."







The Guardian in a leader celebrating its 200th anniversary: "News organisations, at their best, are concerned with the public interest; social media firms are happier to peddle only the news and views that readers agree with. The Guardian will respectfully disagree with those who don’t share its preoccupations and aims to persuade them with reason. A newspaper is an essential building block of any democracy. It has a role to supply voters with sourced and verifiable information about politics and the state of the world."


Newsquest chief executive Henry Faure Walker 
announcing a £1.5m per annum investment in local journalism with the recruitment of 50 new digital journalist roles across the UK: “The focus that we have placed on growing engaged local digital audiences over the last few years is paying off, with most of our sites now reaching almost 80% of their local population. This coupled with the success we are having with digital subscriptions, gives us the confidence to launch a major expansion in local journalism."


The Observer
reports:
"An epidemic of online violence against female journalists worldwide is undermining their reporting, spilling over into real-life attacks and harassment, and puts their health and professional prospects in jeopardy, the UN has warned. The avalanche of misogynistic abuse and threats is not only damaging women working in media, it is also weaponised 'to undercut public trust in critical journalism and facts in general', a report commissioned by the UN’s cultural agency Unesco has found."


Nick Cohen in the Observer:
"It is now a cliche for political journalists to write that Conservative voters have 'baked in' Johnson’s sleaziness, as dopeheads bake in hash to a brownie. I will leave it to Conservative readers to say whether the insulting conviction they don’t care about charlatanry and crookedness is true. I will leave it to lawyers to say whether the defence 'you cannot jail my client, your honour, the public has baked in his guilt' has ever worked in court'."


Jon Snow announcing he is leaving Channel 4 News after 32 years at the end of the year: 
“After three incredible decades on Channel 4 News, it is time to move on. I am excited by the many things I want to accomplish but I have to say I have enjoyed every minute of my time with the programme. It has brought me adventure, as well as sorrow in some of the stories that I have had to report and also joy in reporting others, but above all, it has brought me community in working with the most fantastic group of people who are bound in intellect, humour and understanding."


Committee to Protect Journalists Africa programme coordinator Angela Quintal after two Spanish journalists working on a documentary about poaching in Burkina Faso were killed when gunmen ambushed a convoy: 
“Authorities in Burkina Faso must thoroughly and transparently investigate the killings of journalists David Beriain and Roberto Fraile and ensure that those responsible are found and brought to justice. Too often journalists are killed with impunity; authorities must ensure that does not happen in this case.”


The Sunday Times [£] reports:
 "Britain is to launch an international effort to combat Russian propaganda this week, after a new study found that a network of trolls is targeting national newspapers to spread pro-Moscow views. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, accused Russia of 'behaving exceptionally badly' and said Britain was in an 'attritional struggle' with Vladimir Putin’s regime over fake news and misinformation. Research funded by the Foreign Office has found that pro-Russian trolls are posting provocative statements in the online comment sections of The Times, the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Daily Express to give the false impression that the public supports Russian aggression towards Ukraine. These are then picked up by Russian state media as evidence that the UK public backs Moscow."

 [£] =paywall




No comments: