Media Quotes of the Week: Will we end up with just two local newspaper groups? Mail finds 'vile' Mosley pamphlet and Matt's not funny says Labour

Chris Morley, Newsquest NUJ co-ordinator, quoted by Press Gazette, on the proposed takeover by Newsquest of the CN newspaper group in Cumbria: “The rate of takeover of independent newspaper operators is speeding up with apparently just two big players in the market – Trinity Mirror and Newsquest. With Johnston Press paralysed by its debts, the industry seems to be moving to a duopoly of giant owners which is incredibly dangerous for diversity, given the ruthless substitution of unique content for shared material, and plurality of the media. There is too little choice for readers and too few opportunities for journalists."

Alice Pickthall, media analyst at Enders, quoted by the Guardian: “In order to survive, consolidation is key to compete with the online players and retain some share of digital advertising. As the digital market grows, publishers aren’t seeing a proportionate amount of share gain. Facebook has had an especially big impact on the local market. If a local business is offered a lovely shiny [presence] on Facebook who wouldn’t use it? The largest [traditional] players in the market will win, they will continue to pick up smaller publishers to maintain scale in a shrinking market.”

Culture secretary Matt Hancock in the Commons announcing part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry into the behaviour of the press will not go ahead, as reported by the Guardian: "We do not believe that this costly and time consuming public inquiry is the right way forward... It’s clear that we’ve seen significant progress, from publications, from the police and from the new regulator. The world has changed since the Leveson inquiry was established in 2011. Since then we have seen seismic changes to the media landscape.”

Daily Mail after uncovering a racist pamphlet published in the 1960s by Max Mosley, the privacy campaigner and supporter of press regulator Impress: "The discovery of the Mosley pamphlet – arguably one of the most racist official leaflets ever published in a modern British parliamentary election – raises the question of whether Mr Mosley committed perjury, which carries a prison sentence of up to seven years, and whether the trial might have had a different outcome if the judge had known of its existence."

The Times [£] in a leader on Max Mosley and Impress: "To have a supposedly independent press regulator backed by the state was always a contradiction in terms. For it to be dependent on funds handed down by a supporter of Hitler to a motor-racing tycoon with a personal grudge against certain newspapers did not resolve this contradiction. A press regulator cannot credibly be anti-press any more than Ofsted could be anti-school. That is why Impress’s authority is not recognised by a single significant national news outlet. It is less a regulator than a privacy campaign group in disguise, kept afloat by someone whose chief motivation appears to be to prevent the press investigating his own past. It should be wound up, saving Mr Mosley large sums and leaving the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) to regulate the press."

Matt Ferner Retweeted CNN

NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch,  as reported by CNN: "Many in legacy media love mass shootings. You guys love it. Now I'm not saying that you love the tragedy. But I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many in the legacy media."

Matt Ferner on Twitter: "There's nothing more horrific, crushing, draining & painful than covering mass shootings. I vomited while covering the San Bernardino attack I was so overwhelmed. I often can't sleep for days after going to shooting sites, so many I've lost count. No love, I literally hate them."

Mike Lowe‏ @cotslifeeditor on Twitter: "Breaking news: I hear of a newspaper where management has been so spooked by the number of factual and grammatical errors in direct-to-web content that they've had to create a little team of proof-readers/checkers to oversee content. I think they're called 'subs'."

James Mitchinson Retweeted Jeremy Corbin

Yorkshire Post editor James Mitchinson‏ @JayMitchinson on Twitter: "Dear Yorkshire: the smirk on the face of @jeremycorbyn hides a pernicious vendetta which could see politicians force newspapers like The Yorkshire Post under State control. The 'change' he speaks about is the death of democracy using data protection laws. #freethepress"

Derby North MP Chris Williamson on PolitcsHome: "How free  is our media when a handful of proprietors control 71 per cent of the national newspaper market? Now the prospect for some in the commentariat might be scary, but calling for robust and independent media regulation, while pointing out the power that rich men have over information, sounds like common sense to me. In any case, thanks to social media, the circulation of the right-wing press is already falling as low as the gutter in which its editors minds reside. So like it or not, change is definitely on its way."

Society of Editors executive director Ian Murray in a statement on Jeremy Corbyn's warning to right-wing media owners that 'change is coming': “The Society of Editors does not align itself with any political party nor stance, however we do stand for a free press, a self-regulated press, and we are concerned that in his statement Mr Corbyn appears to be suggesting Labour have plans to change the media landscape in the UK. If that is the case then we would ask him to clarify what those proposed changes are and to urge him to resist any temptation to attempt to silence voices that may be opposed to his point of view through press restrictions.”

The Telegraph in a celebration of cartoonist Matt Pritchard's 30 years with the paper:  "Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, was also invited to join the anniversary celebrations. His team politely declined, saying none of the Matt cartoons they had seen about Mr Corbyn were funny."

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Media Quotes of the Week: From trashing Tatler to why we need more not fewer journalists in the digital age via ex-Sun ed sorry for 'white van man'

Julia Raeside reviewing BBC 2's Posh People: Inside Tatler for the Guardian: "They all seemed like nice people but what they represented was a revolting, self-serving waste of everyone’s time and money."

Giles Coren about working for Tatler, in The Times [£]: "Newspapers in the 1990s were for the most part grim, windowless tram sheds in the middle of nowhere, full of angry middle-aged men trying to cling on to their jobs in a dying industry. But Tatler was on the second floor of Vogue House, slap in the heart of the West End and positively bursting with girls. The place was full of natural light and the smell of expensive perfume. And my desk was right by a window looking over the trees of Hanover Square towards Bond Street. Not that I ever looked out of it. Because the view inside was so much better. I just used to sit there all day in a puddle of my own drool, wearing three pairs of underpants just in case I was called upon to stand up."

Mr Justice Mitting finding in favour of the Sun in the 'plebgate' libel case: "For the reasons given I am satisfied at least on the balance of probabilities that Mr Mitchell did speak the words alleged or something so close to them as to amount to the same including the politically toxic word pleb."

The Sun [£] in a leader: "We must not forget the whistleblower who was the source of our original story. He also displayed courage by coming forward to expose Mitchell. Shamefully, and despite the clear public interest dimension  The Sun's story, he was sacked by the Met for gross misconduct."

Rupert Murdoch ‏@rupertmurdoch on Twitter: "Great for London Sun and freedom of speech. Journalist cleared on public interest grounds, top Tory snob minister loses libel action."

Dr Evan Harris, associate director of Hacked Off, on the release of Andy Coulson: “Like any other prisoner Andy Coulson is entitled to be released early on licence, but it will be interesting to see whether the newspapers make the same complaints about this convict being released after serving 5 months of an 18 month sentence as they usually do when they express outrage at the same treatment for other prisoners who aren’t their former colleagues. For too many papers when it comes to the criminal justice system it is one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us.”

Labour MP tom_watson ‏@tom_watson on Twitter: "Coulson: The repercussions of his time at News Corp aren't quite over but I hope he finds peace and a productive life."

Mike Darcey, chief executive of News UK in The Times [£], after it was revealed police had viewed phone data of 1,700 News UK staff which was mistakenly handed over by Vodafone: "A senior Vodafone executive has personally apologised to me for what he insists was ‘human error’. Vodafone accepts that the data was ‘wrongly disclosed’. They also recognise that the mobile phone records of journalists — and lawyers — contain privileged information and we have made clear to them that we regard this as a very serious issue. I am personally appalled that this could happen and have relayed this in the strongest terms when speaking with Vodafone.”

Ex-Sun editor David Yelland ‏@davidyelland on Twitter: "I think I helped invent the term white van man. I am most terribly sorry.."

Mike Lowe ‏@cotslifeeditor  on Twitter: "Did a news editor write this head?"

The Times [£] in a leader: "Facebook did not kill Lee Rigby. Adebowale and Adebolajo did. The organisation charged with watching them was MI5. Mr Cameron should bear these facts in mind before embarking on a quixotic crusade against the internet."

Emily Bell, giving the Reuters Memorial Lecture 2014: "Cover technology as a human rights and political issue as if it were Parliament. Maybe even with more verve and clarity ­were that possible. It is just as interesting and about ten thousand times more important. The beats of data, privacy and algorithmic accountability currently either don't exist or are inadequately staffed. We have to stop coverage of technology being about queueing for an iPhone and make it about society and power. We need to explain these new systems of power to the world and hold them accountable. It is after all what we do best."

Herald & Times Group managing director Tim Blott on the launch of The National in Scotland: "It is the first time in many years that a new daily newspaper has been launched in Scotland. The National is an exciting opportunity to meet the needs of a very politically-engaged section of the Scottish population. We recognise that launching a newspaper in 2014 is to some extent counter-intuitive but we consistently argue for the power of great journalism and informed opinion."

Paul Lewis ‏@PaulLewis on Twitter: "Reporters ordered what to wear in the presence of British Royals when they visit New York and DC next month should absolutely resist."

Nick Cohen ‏@NickCohen4 on Twitter: "@PaulLewis And don't stand when they enter the room"

Malcolm Starbrook in InPublishing: "As revenues get slimmer, publishers will continue to try to run stripped down versions of their newspapers with a direct result on content. Increasingly, we seem to be in the business of curation rather than creation and the unique voice of the newspaper is lost in the competing and strident shouts emanating from the world wide web publishing the same stories, same photos and same tokenism approach to breaking news. We need web platforms that break stories and newspapers that explain and put that information into context. For that, we need more journalists not fewer. But then we struggle to convince people they need to value our journalism. The trend is for people not to pay for the news and information they can obtain though the web. However, as publishers, we need to continue to provide the news, views and information that impacts on people’s lives. By doing that, we will build the audience that our advertisers will want to interact with. It is still the journalism that matters and, internally, we need to support the importance of that basic function.”

[£] = Paywall

Media Quotes of the Week: Is Parly paedo probe payback by Fleet Street? to Hansen on Twitter

Ian Burrell in the Independent: "We are now seeing payback for what many papers regard as Westminster’s disproportionate response to the misdemeanours of Andy Coulson and some of his underlings. The press coverage of Parliament’s paedophiles has been awesome to behold – that is, awesome in the traditional sense of jaw-dropping, rather than punching the air in delight. It refutes the popular notion that Fleet Street’s muscles have been withered by the debilitating impact of the changing media landscape."

Don Hale in the Daily Star Sunday on what happened when he was editor of the Bury Messenger and tried to investigate claims of about politicians involved with a paedophile group: “I was sworn to secrecy by ­Special Branch at the risk of jail if I repeated any of the allegations."

Pic:BBC

John sweeney ‏@johnsweeneyroar on Twitter: "Today is a great day for Church of Scientology, North Korea, Barclay Twins, Glencore etc. I've been made redundant from #BBCPanorama. Byeee"

Former cabinet minister Cheryl Gillan on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour: "I sat at the breakfast table with my male colleague, saying I cannot believe we have all these exciting politicians into key positions and what people are talking about it is what they are wearing, their makeup, how tight their jacket is and what their shoes look like. I think it's just insulting."

Michael Wolff @MichaelWolffNYC on Twitter: "Wouldn't it be a hoot if Murdoch was just beginning the most active and expansive phase of his career?"

Adam Boulton asked on Sky News if he wants to take a pause: “No, I’ve swallowed a fly, that’s alright.”

Socialist Worker: Headline and column caused outrage

Owen Jones in the Guardian on the Socialist Worker column on Eton schoolboy Horatio Chapple who was killed in a polar bear attack: "Whoever wrote that Socialist Worker column thought they were being oh-so-revolutionary, so courageously and provocatively sticking it to the man. But all they were doing is laughing at a dead teenager, whose last moments were no less painful or terrifying because of his cosseted childhood. It is socialism with the heart cut out, devoid of the humanity and compassion that must surely underpin it. That might be their socialism. It certainly isn't mine."

Matthew Parris in The Times [£]: "The enemies of internet freedom will advance in a series of individually minor incursions, each individually arguable — usually pleading “emergency”. The best hope for free speech is that a Western government will overstep the mark and some appalling miscarriage of justice will occur, turning the tide of public opinion. However, short of Clare Balding being shot by mistake as an Islamic extremist on the basis of an appalling IT muddle-up at the Home Office internet surveillance department, the outlook is bleak. Arguments in principle, like this column, will be lost in the wind."

The Grey Cardigan on TheSpinAlley: "I came across the following charming job advert [placed by Newsquest] on Holdthefrontpage: 'Our regional group editing services department, based in Newport, now has vacancies for Graduate Copy Editors. Working as part of a team, typical candidates will be qualified to the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism or have passed some of the modules associated to this qualification. Applications will also be considered from those who are educated to degree level. They must be highly motivated and be able to work to tight deadlines, spot mistakes and have a flair for creating great headlines.' So let me get this right. The legions of experienced, knowledgeable sub-editors who Newsquest have made redundant around the country – most of whom will have progressed to the job through the traditional route of trainee reporter, senior reporter and newsdesk duties – are being replaced by callow youths who may or may not have any actual journalistic training and have never actually done the job. I wonder what those angry hacks who insisted that the Newport hub was manned by talented, experienced subs have to say now?"

Roy Greenslade on his Guardian Media blog on plans by Archant to centralise subbing in Norwich: "The only winners out of this are the owners and their bean-counters. As the NUj points out, Archant's chief executive, Adrian Jeakings, was paid £284,000 plus a cash supplement of £82,000 last year. The same situation exists among the managements at all the major corporate publishers. They are growing wealthy by making others poor. Ain't capitalism wonderful?"

Express & Star editor Keith Harrison interviewed by Steve Dyson in InPublishing: “My personal view is that a metered paywall is likely to be the most successful model for newspaper websites.”

Mike Lowe ‏@cotslifeeditor on Twitter: " 'Hi Mike. Richard here from XXX. I hope you don't mind me reaching out.' Reach out all you want, pal. Just don't touch."

Alan Hansen in his farewell column in the Daily Telegraph: "Twitter has changed everything, to the point whereby you not only have to make sure that what you say is right, but also that you say nothing wrong. There has never been a hiding place in the media, but nowadays, you can find yourself being judged within 10 seconds of publication or broadcast."

Media Quotes of the Week: Tony Gallagher axed at Telegraph, BBC bashed over whistleblowers and Us Vs Them gets exclusive pics of concrete

Ben Bryant ‏@benbryant on Twitter: "Daily Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher has left. Newsroom in shock. Some in tears."

Tim Montgomerie @TimMontgomerie on Twitter: "Under @gallaghereditor The Telegraph was strikingly independent of the Tory Party- relentlessly reader-focused. CCHQ will hope that changes."

Dan Sabbagh ‏@dansabbagh on Twitter: "Word seems to be that Tony Gallagher was fired. Had no shortage of squabbles with him on twitter + email, but often impressed by his paper."

fleetstreetfox ‏@fleetstreetfox on Twitter: "Although kind of amazed the editor who masterminded the expenses scandal coverage for the Tel got the boot. Daft."

Peter Preston ‏@PJPrest on Twitter: "T Gallagher isn't some old-style print journo. He co-founded Mail Online. He walks the digital walk with aplomb. But he IS a journalist..."

Telegraph Media Group chief executive Murdoch MacLennan in a staement: “While continuing to produce brilliant newspapers in print and maintaining The Telegraph’s character and quality, the restructuring is designed to build on the Telegraph brand in order to attract customers with the very best, digital products possible. Unlike our rivals, The Telegraph remains profitable but we face increasing pressure on circulation and advertising revenue streams. To protect the company’s future we need rapidly to embrace and adapt to the new digital world in which our customers live.”

Nick Cohen in The Observer on Liz MacKean, the BBC journalist who helped expose the Jimmy Savile scandal: "The BBC has not treated its whistleblowers honourably or encouraged others to speak out in the future. Liz MacKean has had enough. Her managers did not fire her. They would not have dared and in any case the British establishment does not work like that. Instead, they cold-shouldered her. MacKean was miserable. The atmosphere at work was dreadful. The BBC wouldn't put her on air. She could have stayed, but she did not want to waste her time and talent and end up a bitter old hack. She chose the life of a free journalist instead and went off to work in independent – in all sense of that word – television."

Edward Malnick in the Sunday Telegraph: "The Government is suppressing official advice over the legality of new rules to regulate the press, The Telegraph can disclose. Ministers are refusing to disclose the contents of a key document on the Royal Charter, a new system of regulation which critics say risks granting politicians control over the press for the first time in 300 years."

Andrew Miller, chief executive of Guardian Media Group, on the planned sale of its £600million stake in AutoTrader, as reported by the Telegraph: “This proposed transaction makes strategic sense as we focus GMG’s activities on award-winning digital and print journalism. On completion, the sale-proceeds will strengthen our balance sheet and position us for further investment and growth in our core business.”

Richard Simcox ‏@richsimcox on Twitter: "The most surprising thing about #gaystormsgate (?) is the Henley Standard only ran David Silvester's claims as a letter, not a story. #UKIP"

Charlie Beckett on The Conservation about a meeting of international journalists in the UK hosted by Polis: "What was clear from what the international delegation said was that the damage to Britain’s reputation as a beacon of free expression has already been done. They are convinced that Leveson (along with events such as the government attacks on The Guardian over Edward Snowden) has made the state of British news media a cause for serious concern."

Guardian readers' editor Chris Elliott in his Open Door column on why the paper took down an article by freelance Emma Keller on Lisa Bonchek Adams who has breast cancer: "I don't think it is wrong to frame a question about how those with incurable illnesses use social media, but the Guardian was wrong in the way it went about it."

 

Mike Lowe ‏@cotslifeeditor on Twitter: "For the first time I can ever remember, I haven't bought a newspaper this week. As a print junkie, that can't be good news for the industry."

alan rusbridger ‏@arusbridger on Twitter: "Guardian website blocked in China after revealing leadership's offshore tax secrets."

Us Vs Them ‏@UsVsTh3m : "Want to know why the Victoria Line is suspended? We've got exclusive photos. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONCRETE."

Simon Rogers on data journalism, on this blog from new book Data Journalism: Mapping the Future: "Of course, for some people, this will never be journalism. But then, who cares? While they are worrying about the definitions, the rest of us can just get on with it. Punk eventually turned into new wave, new wave into everyday pop and bands that just aren’t as exciting. But what it did do is change the climate and the daily weather. Data journalism is doing that too. In the words of Joe Strummer: People can do anything."

Quotes of the Week: From confesssions of a spin doctor to Stephen Fry ashamed of British press

Damian McBride, Gordon Brown's spin doctor, in the Daily Mail: "Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat; ministers, MPs or advisers; if they'd ever shared their secrets with colleagues in Westminster, the chances were that I ended up being told about them, too. Drug use; spousal abuse; secret alcoholism; extramarital affairs. I estimate I did nothing with 95% of the stories I was told. But, yes, some of them ended up on the front pages of Sunday newspapers.”

Martin Bright, who says the Brownites cost him his job as political ed of the New Statesman, in The Times [£]: "My story is a mere footnote of the Brown premiership but it is symptomatic of precisely the poison Damian McBride has identified in his confessional memoir. Imagine a country in Eastern Europe or Africa where the prime minister’s friend, an MP and millionaire owner of a prominent weekly magazine, removed the editor and political editor after they refused to print the government line. You would be rightly outraged. Well, it happened here."

Alastair Campbell in the Guardian: "When I first published The Blair Years I got offered over a million quid from News International. I am not saying I wasn't interested because we did have an unspoken agreement. But I had three sleepless nights and in the end I woke up and I said to Fiona [Millar, his partner]: 'I can't do this.' Once you take that sort of money for a book you have no right whatsoever to stop them taking whatever they want, what headline they want. My gut reaction when I heard that he [McBride] had sold it to the Daily Mail was I thought it was sickening but unsurprising."

Peter Preston in the Observer on Damian McBride's book: "It's a tawdry collation of muck and threat. Who wants to put politicians and their propaganda squads in charge of press regulation, you may well ask as the autumn leaves of Leveson begin to fall anew? But any news organisation, concerned about journalism's ethical standards, has one or two grisly questions to grapple with too. Such as: when you're a reporter fed a tale about carousings past or present by a press secretary serving a minister in Labour's house of cards, what exactly is the story? That someone may have drunk too much? Or that this stuff is being leaked from on high? The facts of the McBride connection are a heavy duty commentary on the morality of power. Wasn't that true then, when the sewage flowed? Wasn't that the much bigger story?"

GingerElvis ‏@GingerElvis on Twitter: "Can't believe the public sometimes. They keep phoning up expecting to talk to reporters. We're a newspaper FFS. We don't have any reporters."

Lloyds List editor Richard Meade on the decision for the newspaper to go digital only: “Lloyd’s List first started in 1734 as a notice pinned to the wall of a coffee shop in London offering customers trusted shipping news and information. That aim has not changed, but the technology has and our customers are now accessing the industry’s most sophisticated intelligence source in any coffee shop, anywhere in the world 24 hours a day.”

Peter Oborne in the Spectator: "As any newspaperman will recognise,  Daniel Finkelstein has never in truth been a journalist at all. At the Times he was an ebullient and cheerful manifestation of what all of us can now recognise as a disastrous collaboration between Britain’s most powerful media empire and a morally bankrupt political class. He is, however, a powerful manifestation of the post-modern collapse of boundaries between politics and journalism."

Ian Burrell in the Independent:  "The truth is that neither the Mirror nor The Sun can look to a new dawn. Irrespective of the merits of either of their different digital strategies, and whether their refreshes and relaunches please the eyes of their readers, Britain’s two biggest tabloids face a turbulent future. The storm clouds heading from the direction of New Scotland Yard will see to that."

Mike Lowe ‏@cotslifeeditor on Twitter: "Those blank pages in the Mirror made me think of all the times I've had to fight to get extra space. Self-indulgent tossers."

Martin Regan publisher of newly launched Macclesfield Today on ProlificNorth: “We are creating a paper for ‘clever’ people. There will be no cats up f*****g trees coverage in our titles."

'Kendo Nagasaki' posts on HoldTheFrontPage about the Bristol Post highlighting positive news: "Ignore the focus groups, people love bad news. Nobody is going to sit down in a focus group and say 'actually, I would like to read about more rapes and murders'. But the truth is people revel in the depravity of mankind. Look in your local bookshop – shelves and shelves of books devoted to the doings of killers and criminals. Not many books about people helping the elderly across the road. That is human nature. Ignore it at your peril."

“We are creating a paper for ‘clever’ people.
“There will be no cats up f*****g trees coverage in our titles.
- See more at: http://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/2013/09/macclesfield-today-to-launch-monday-16-september/#sthash.sPmOAeDt.dpuf

Regan would be that: “We are creating a paper for ‘clever’ people.
“There will be no cats up f*****g trees coverage in our titles.
- See more at: http://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/2013/09/macclesfield-today-to-launch-monday-16-september/#sthash.b8dTO0ax.dpuf

Regan would be that: “We are creating a paper for ‘clever’ people.
“There will be no cats up f*****g trees coverage in our titles.
- See more at: http://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/2013/09/macclesfield-today-to-launch-monday-16-september/#sthash.b8dTO0ax.dpuf

Regan would be that: “We are creating a paper for ‘clever’ people.
“There will be no cats up f*****g trees coverage in our titles.
- See more at: http://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/2013/09/macclesfield-today-to-launch-monday-16-september/#sthash.b8dTO0ax.dpuf

Stephen Fry:  "I spent this morning doing an hour’s filmed interview for a foreign news crew who are doing a ten part series about England and what it means to be English. 'Is there anything that makes you ashamed to be English?' I was asked. 'Yes,' I said. 'Our printed press.' 'Oh,' he said, resignedly. 'That’s the answer everyone gives.' I wonder why."

[£] = paywall

Media Quotes of the Week: From tweeting about the Royal baby to what's the difference between a tabloid journalist and a posh lawyer?

 Royal baby on Twitter:

Alison B ‏@akbea: "Breaking: Nicholas Witchell is now fully dilated."

peterwalker99 ‏@peterwalker99 :  "Royalty is essentially quite a medieval notion, and this huge, overheated, overexcited press pen does have a medieval town fair feel to it."

polly curtis ‏@pollycurtis : "Ok Kate, you have 12 hours before 1st editions go to press. No pressure."

Mike Lowe ‏@cotslifeeditor: "The BBC informs us that there will be no further news of the Royal baby for several hours. And will now spend several hours telling us that."

fleetstreetfox ‏@fleetstreetfox: "Sunday newspapers everywhere start their working week knowing they need to find a Royal Baby line people will still want to know in 5 days."

Miles Barter ‏@MilesBarter: "Celebrate the royal birth. Storm a palace."

Louise Jack ‏@xloubellxx : “@BBCBreakfast: Has there been too much coverage about the arrival of the #RoyalBabyBoy ? We'll discuss whether there has at 0740.” Hahaha

Nicky Campbell ‏@NickyAACampbell: "21 pages of Royal baby coverage in the Mail today including an article headed "Was the BBC over the top?".

Simon Jenkins in the Guardian: "The media's job is to mediate reality. It is to say why the dead body in the road matters. Journalism has long struggled with the paradox that good news is unsurprising and therefore not news. Fifty planes landing safely at Heathrow is as boring as 50 celebrities sleeping soundly in their own beds."

Guardian report on YouGov poll commissioned by Media Standards Trust on press regulation: "Trust remains high in Lord Justice Leveson, with 61% saying they trust the judge a great deal or a fair amount, compared with 17% who trust the major newspaper publishers...Asked who else they trust in the debate on newspaper regulation, 34% of those polled trust David Cameron; 7% trust Rupert Murdoch; 17% the major newspaper publishers; 33% Ed Miliband; 61% BBC News; 44% Hugh Grant, the actor who campaigns for stricter press regulations; 27% Nick Clegg; and 41% the campaigning group Hacked Off."

Harriet Harman in a letter to Fleet Street editors: "How many of the staff journalists you employ are over the age of 50? How many of these are women?"

Daily Mail in a leader: "The Serious Organised Crime Agency admits having details of numerous blue-chip companies, insurers, legal firms, and wealthy individuals who routinely used the services of corrupt private detectives to hack phones and otherwise illegally acquire private information on rivals. Yet instead of hammering on doors at 5am and dragging senior executives to the police station for questioning, SOCA is actively defending them."

The Sun in a leader:  "We now know that the police have had evidence for years that lawyers, accountants and other blue-chip companies also hired investigators. Lord Leveson also knew. But he chose to ignore it all. So has David Cameron called for a similar inquiry? There’s not been a peep from him.  And none of them has ever been charged. As if that wasn’t hypocrisy enough, the Serious Organised Crime Agency has now rejected demands that it release the companies’ names. It says that would damage their “financial viability”. No one is falling for that one. A free Press holds people in power to account. That often includes lawyers, accountants and the others who are now being protected. Double standards? That’s the least of it."

The Independent on Sunday in a leader:  "The companies concerned should have nothing to fear from fair reporting of the facts. If they have been investigated by Soca, it is up to them to explain that they have not knowingly employed private investigators to engage in criminal activity on their behalf.In October, the unloved Soca will be merged into a new National Crime Agency. Let us hope this change of name will signify a change in the organisation’s culture, so that it sees openness as a means of fighting crime and not a distraction from it."

Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail: "Although some of the response to the antics of the News of the World has been overblown, I’m not going to complain if its former executives are found guilty after a fair trial, and led away. But it would be an outrage if people who have done far worse were let off scot-free — an outrage which showed what the powers that be really think about a free Press." 

Neil Wallis, former deputy editor of the News of the World, in the Independent: "When I was arrested and questioned over alleged phone hacking, none of the evidence produced was anything remotely other than circumstantial at the very strongest. I spent 19 nightmare months unemployable on bail before being cleared. So why is it that executives on the Soca list are not being treated in the same way? Because I can’t see the difference between me and a posh lawyer who worked for companies who allegedly paid private investigators to break the law. Except, of course, I’m a tabloid journalist and apparently not a respectable businessman.”

New high for Mike Lowe's Cotswold Life

Good to see on HoldtheFrontPage that Cotswold Life magazine edited by Mike Lowe has picked up a top international award.

Cotswold Life was named best consumer magazine of the year at the Niche Magazine conference in Arizona, USA. Lowe was editor of the Bristol Evening Post and a legend within Northcliffe before his shock exit in a management shake-up.

Cotswold Life is owned by Archant and Lowe is group editor of all its Life titles in the Midlands and West.

Lowe, who joined Archant four years ago,  told HTFP: "It's a completely different world. Much more fun. I'm still getting used to the idea of year-on-year sales increases for a start."