Thursday 21 July 2016

Media Quotes of the Week: From how the Independent crossed over to the digital side to why the BBC newsroom was cheering cabinet moves



Independendent editor Christian Broughton in InPublishing on the move by the paper to digital only: “We’ve been through a painful experience. We had to close the Independent in print because we love the Independent and everything it stands for. Now we are not beholden to rolls of paper, printers and delivery times. We are far more agile. We do not have to compromise between digital and print. It was a massive decision to take. We are on the other side now while others still have that shockwave to come."


Kelvin MacKenzie in the Sun on watching Channel 4 News coverage of Nice: "The presenter was not one of the regulars — Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Matt Frei or Cathy Newman — but a young lady wearing a hijab. Her name is Fatima Manji and she has been with the station for four years. Was it appropriate for her to be on camera when there had been yet another shocking slaughter by a Muslim. Was it done to stick one in the eye of the ordinary viewer who looks at the hijab as a sign of the slavery of Muslim women by a male- dominated and clearly violent religion?"

Channel 4 News in a statement"The comments published in The Sun today by Mr MacKenzie are offensive, completely unacceptable, and arguably tantamount to inciting religious and even racial hatred. It is wrong to suggest that a qualified journalist should be barred from reporting on a particular story or present on a specific day because of their faith. Fatima Manji is an award-winning journalist. We are proud that she is part of our team and will receive, as ever, our full support in the wake of his comments."

Fatima Manji writing in the Liverpool Echo: "THE TRUTH? I confess. I pi**ed on Kelvin MacKenzie’s apparent ambitions to force anyone who looks a little different off our screens, and I’ll keep doing it."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, in a statement: “To suggest that a journalist is incapable of reporting on a terrorist outrage because of the colour of her skin, her religion or the clothes that she wears says all you need to know about the contemptible views of Kelvin MacKenzie. His feigned moral outrage is the language of racial hatred and bigotry, and sadly just the latest incoherent ramblings of a pundit who should have been put out to pasture a long time ago. Journalism in the UK needs more diversity, not less.”


Ian Katz ‏@iankatz1000 on Twitter: "Top fact about @OwenSmith_MP, man who cd be Lab leader: as young BBC producer asked to get police comment on story, he called 999 #newsnight"


Les Hinton ‏@leshinton on Twitter: "You know there’s a print ad crisis when Fleet St papers each have room for THREE pages pitching -- print advertising."


Nick Cohen in the Observer: "As the opposition collapsed last week, Paul Mason insisted that Labour must be transformed from a party that seeks to govern into a “social movement”. Mason, along with Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Milne, is part of a group of journalists who have poisoned public life by taking braggart swagger and cocksure certainties of newspaper punditry into politics."


Reporters Without Borders (RSF) secretary-general Christophe Deloire in a statement “Like the rest of Turkish society, the leading news media demonstrated their commitment to democratic principles. It is time for the authorities to take note and to stop treating critical journalists as traitors and terrorists. Reinforcing national cohesion requires respect for basic freedoms including media freedom.”
  • According to RSF: "While covering events, Selçuk Şamiloğlu, Hürriyet’s Istanbul correspondent, and Kenan Şener, a CNN Türk reporter in Ankara, were both physically attacked by government supporters suspicious of Kemalist media outlets. After being hospitalized, Şamiloglu told RSF he came close to being thrown from a bridge."

Guardian leader on Boris Johnson being made Foreign Secretary: "Celebrity and brash behaviour will not go far in the pursuit of strategic goals – and Britain right now has much to try to secure. Mr Johnson will no doubt continue to make headlines, because that is his special talent. But his appointment is, simply, very bad news."


Raymond Snoddy ‏@RaymondSnoddy on Twitter: "Spontaneous cheer went up in the BBC newsroom when word of Whittingdale sacking came through - surely the worst Culture Secretary."

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