Jon Slattery

Academy of Acting and Directing...but not spelling

5 February 2012 - 6:35pm

Is this a typo I see before me?

Unfortunate misspelling of science in this ad in the Islington Tribune.

Times' cycling safety campaign backed by 11,000

4 February 2012 - 8:05am

The Times reports that the 11,000th person has signed up to support the paper's Cities Fit For Cycling campaign following its launch on Thursday.

The campaign promotes safer cycling in cities and was partly inspired by the plight of Times news reporter Mary Bowers who is still not conscious after an accident involving a lorry while she was cycling to work last November.

The Times has launched a public campaign and 8-point manifesto calling for cities to be made fit for cyclists:

1. Trucks entering a city centre should be required by law to fit sensors, audible truck-turning alarms, extra mirrors and safety bars to stop cyclists being thrown under the wheels.
2. The 500 most dangerous road junctions must be identified, redesigned or fitted with priority traffic lights for cyclists and Trixi mirrors that allow lorry drivers to see cyclists on their near-side.
3. A national audit of cycling to find out how many people cycle in Britain and how cyclists are killed or injured should be held to underpin effective cycle safety.
4. Two per cent of the Highways Agency budget should be earmarked for next generation cycle routes, providing £100 million a year towards world-class cycling infrastructure. Each year cities should be graded on the quality of cycling provision.
5. The training of cyclists and drivers must improve and cycle safety should become a core part of the driving test.
6. 20mph should become the default speed limit in residential areas where there are no cycle lanes.
7. Businesses should be invited to sponsor cycleways and cycling super-highways, mirroring the Barclays-backed bicycle hire scheme in London.
8. Every city, even those without an elected mayor, should appoint a cycling commissioner to push home reforms. Jon Snow has backed the manifesto and says cycling has made him a better journalist.
   

Quotes of the Week: From News Corp to the Hoff

3 February 2012 - 12:01am

News Corporation statement on the arrest of four senior Sun journalists: "News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated. It commissioned the Management and Standards Committee (MSC) to undertake a review of all News International titles, regardless of cost, and to proactively co-operate with law enforcement and other authorities if potentially relevant information arose at those titles. As a result of that review, which is ongoing, the MSC provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to today's arrests." Neville Thurlbeck on his blog: "It's sad News International had to describe the arrests of Sun men Chris Pharo, Graham Dudman, Fergus Shanahan and the legendary crime editor Mike Sullivan as, ‘draining the swamp’. Notwithstanding the allegations, this is a deeply offensive comment on nearly 100 years of journalistic excellence and dedication to News International."

Rupert Murdoch on Twitter disputes an FT report that plans for a Sun on Sunday have been put on hold because of the arrests of some of the paper's journalists: "F.T. Financial Times or Fawlty Towers? Sun on Sunday story today 100 per cent wrong."

Janet Street Porter in the Independent on Sunday: "Local television current affairs should be culled. Leave it to newspapers and online coverage. As for local radio – just because bands of people complain, it doesn't mean these stations have a meaningful audience."

NUJ organiser Chris Morley: “Stephen Hester has shown the way that most decent people in this country expect directors to act in companies that are failing to deliver growth. We need those at the top of companies such as Trinity Mirror, Newsquest and Johnston Press to show a real example and instead of thinking about their own wallets, to think instead about protecting their workforce and the overall business."

Sir Christopher Meyer defending the Press Complaints Commission at Leveson: “It’s as if you would say to the police, you’re a useless organisation because there is still crime. Or to the bishops that there is still sin. These are ridiculous arguments."

Financial Times report on Trinity Mirror chief exec Sly Bailey's pay: "Shareholders believe Ms Bailey’s pay is above her peers and that she must rebase her remuneration to recognise Trinity Mirror was now a much smaller business than when she joined nine years ago."

Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail: "I don’t suppose we’ll ever know the full truth about Gary Speed’s tragic death. That’s a pity for everyone involved. It’s not in the interests of justice or an open society. And I would suggest that, if the media and coroners’ courts get into the habit of not thoroughly examining the reasons behind the deaths of public figures, that will be a tragedy of another sort."

David Hasselhoff in the Observer: "I have fun with Twitter. When I see something in the press I think, 'Now I can respond to that garbage.' But the press isn't really that bad. My kids say: 'Dad, forget about it, it's bird paper. It doesn't mean anything.' And they're right. The time to worry is when there's no paparazzi."

Thomson Reuters' journalists plan 48-hour strike

2 February 2012 - 3:54pm

Journalists at Thomson Reuters are to stage a 48-hour strike – the first in more than 25 years – after being awarded a below the rate of inflation pay rise of 1.75 per cent.

The strike action, supported by 83 per cent of the NUJ members, will start at one minute past midnight on Thursday, February 9th and end at midnight on Friday, Feb 10th.

This action coincides with the release of Thomson Reuters earnings.

NUJ chapel officers, Mike Roddy and Helen Long said: “We tried very hard to reach a settlement with management but the company's refusal to improve its below-inflation offer of 1.75 per cent, which follows years of effective pay cuts, has compelled Thomson Reuters journalists to vote overwhelmingly for strike action for the first time in more than 25 years.

"Thomson Reuters must shoulder the responsibility for this dispute. The company ignored repeated warnings that members had reached a tipping point, after years of below inflation pay rises, combined with rising costs, that are pricing many members out of their jobs.

"Those with families who cannot afford to live in London are especially feeling the pain as they are forced to commute into the capital on the most expensive train lines in Europe. We hope management will now listen to its journalists and return to the table with a sensible offer to avert a costly strike.”

Barry Fitzpatrick, NUJ deputy general secretary, added: “This strike is about fairness. The management is proposing a below-inflation pay deal, while holding back money for a merit scheme. This is just not on. While our members struggle to make ends meet on their wages, the management should be putting all the money into an across the board pay increase.”

NUJ charities boost from Irish MoS 'grave robbing'

2 February 2012 - 2:20pm

A marketing stunt by the Irish Mail on Sunday which led readers into believing it was a special edition of the defunct Sunday Tribune has led to its publisher, Associated Newspapers, agreeing to pay €15,000 to charities nominated by the NUJ.

Associated also faces a legal bill following a court case taken by National Consumer Agency, the Irish consumer watchdog, after it published a wraparound (top) last February bearing the title Sunday Tribune when the struggling paper was in receivership.

Noirin Hegarty, the editor of the Sunday Tribune at the time, accused the Irish Mail on Sunday of being "shameless" and "grave robbing".

Judge Conal Gibbon, in a reserved judgment at Dublin district court, found that the Irish Mail on Sunday had deceived or misled customers. However, he found the company not guilty of having intended to deceive or mislead under the Consumer Protection Act 2007. He said it was “clear how a person could believe it was the Sunday Tribune”.

The National Consumer Agency alleged that the Mail on Sunday had breached the Consumer Protection Act with the four-page wraparound covering its issue of February 6th last year. It alleged that that the paper had broken the Act by deliberately deceiving or misleading the consumer and by promoting its own product in a way that would deceive or mislead the consumer.

The Mail on Sunday argued it was a legitimate marketing tactic.

The company was prosecuted by the National Consumer Agency following a series of complaints from members of the public, including Séamus Dooley, Irish Secretary of the NUJ. Five consumers gave evidence of buying the special editions thinking they were the Tribune.
Judge Gibbons accepted a plea by counsel for Associated Newspapers that the Probation Act should be applied. The court ruled that the Mail on Sunday should pay €15,000 to charities chosen by the NUJ and applied the Probation of Offenders Act. This means that a conviction will not now be recorded. Associated Newspapers has also been ordered to meet the prosecution’s costs and the expenses of witnesses – totalling €25,000 – within four weeks.

Séamus Dooley, who passed on the cheques from Associated Newspaper to the NUJ, said he was tricked into buying the Mail on Sunday twice, after buying it and the fake Sunday Tribune, which turned out to be a copy of the Mail. He described the Irish Mail on Sunday’s edition as “crass” and said it was as if the paper was “dancing on the graves of my members facing redundancies”.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “This ruling is of little consolation to the Sunday Tribune workers but it is nevertheless welcome. The Mail showed total disregard for the Sunday Tribune workers and acted in an insensitive manner.”
Two NUJ charities, NUJ Extra and the George Viner Memorial Fund, have each received €7,500, following the judge’s ruling.

Times' cycling safety campaign highlights plight of paper's reporter still not conscious after accident

2 February 2012 - 8:51am

The Times' impressive front page campaign to make cities safe for cyclists highlights the case of one of its own news reporters - Mary Bowers - who was injured in a cycling accident on the way to work last November and is still not conscious.

Kaya Burgess, a friend and colleague of Bowers, writes in The Times today: "The reality with any major issue is that it only truly touches you when it comes close to home. However regularly you may cycle on Britain’s city streets and however aware you are of the risks of doing so, it is not until you have seen one of your closest friends and colleagues stretchered off the tarmac from beneath the wheels of a lorry only yards from the office that the vulnerability of cyclists hits home.

"Mary Bowers is a news reporter at The Times. She joined the paper as a graduate trainee in September 2009, though her beaming smile and effusive personality were common sights around the office from previous roles as a researcher on the comment and foreign desks.

"With a passion for social affairs investigations and witty features, she has a writing style that is as distinctive as her sharp, quirky dress sense. She also has a remarkable singing voice, and it is an honour to have been one of those lucky enough to perform with her on several occasions in the folk clubs of London.

"Yet it is only by a hair’s breadth that we are still able to talk about Mary in the present tense. Her survival to this point, now almost three months since her accident in London at 9.30am on Friday, November 4, is down to the passers-by who stopped and called the emergency services.

"It is down to the paramedics who arrived on the scene within three minutes, to the fire crews who cut Mary and her mangled bike from beneath the wheels of the lorry, and to the doctors and nurses in the intensive care unit of one of the city’s busiest hospitals. But Mary cannot thank them herself. Not yet. Not for a long time. Possibly never. Because, though she is stable, Mary is still not conscious and remains in a trauma unit. Her broken legs, arm and pelvis are slowly healing, but other damage sustained during complications in her treatment, almost inevitable after so traumatic an injury, will be far harder to overcome, though she is making slow progress.

"There are also people Mary would not want to thank. There are the authorities who have neglected to ensure that junctions like those on The Highway in Wapping — or countless others where cyclists have been maimed and killed in Britain — are made safe for cars, lorries and cyclists to co-exist safely.

"Mary, a news reporter, would be first to ask why it is not mandatory for lorries driving on city streets to be fitted with sensors and mirrors to pick up cyclists in their blind spots. Or why training for cyclists and drivers on how to share the road responsibly is so poor. Or why some junctions are so dangerous that jumping a red light can actually be a safer option than lining up alongside HGVs at the lights like a racetrack starting grid. Or why London trails so far behind cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen in terms of the infrastructure and legislation to protect vulnerable cyclists and to help the drivers who are trying to avoid them."

• Readers are urged to pledge their support for The Times' make cities safe for cyclists campaign; show their support on Twitter with #cyclesafe; and write to their MPs.
• The campaign is outside The Times' paywall.
  

It's not just the NUJ unhappy at Sly Bailey's pay

1 February 2012 - 10:25pm

The Financial Times reports that Trinity Mirror is facing renewed pressure to rein in the pay of its chief executive Sly Bailey (pictured) from some of the biggest shareholders in the media group.
It says the shareholders will set out their mounting unhappiness over the pay of one of the UK’s highest-profile media executives when Trinity Mirror’s incoming chairman David Grigson holds a series of meetings with key investors.
The FT says: "Shareholders believe Ms Bailey’s pay is above her peers and that she must rebase her remuneration to recognise Trinity Mirror was now a much smaller business than when she joined nine years ago."
One top 10 shareholder said the size of Ms Bailey’s pay was “just not tenable," reports the FT. “It is out of kilter with the group’s performance and current size. It is premature to say we are demanding her head but we are looking at it all very keenly,” the shareholder said.

A second top ten shareholder said: “Sly hasn’t got a great many supporters now – not when she has lost so much and is so well paid.” A third added they planned to raise the issue of pay when meeting Mr Grigson, a former finance director at Reuters.

• Yesterday, the NUJ criticised Bailey's pay after it was announced 75 jobs are to go at the Mirror and People. (See post below)

NUJ anger at axing of 75 jobs at Mirror and People

1 February 2012 - 5:29pm

The NUJ has condemned the axing of 75 jobs at Trinity Mirror’s national newspaper titles – the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the People.

In a shock announcement this afternoon staff across all three titles were summoned to a meeting to be told of the cuts, which will see the centralisation of subbing and production across all titles and the pooling of features and news.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “These cuts represent a depressingly familiar tale at Trinity Mirror. Rather than invest in quality products – and continue to build on recent growth in circulation on the Sunday titles – the strategy is to cut jobs and compromise quality journalism. Where is the strategy for growth and the future? Journalists are paying with their jobs for the corporate mismanagement and incompetence of Sly Bailey and her senior executives – yet still they continue to award themselves lavish pay.”

The NUJ says the cuts comes after the total directors’ pay and pensions bill for Trinity Mirror last year was £3.9million - £1.3million of which was cash bonuses. Of that, Sly Bailey's package of pay and pensions was a staggering £1.7m, including a cash bonus of £660k.

It also points out the share price for Trinity Mirror today is 48p whereas 12 months ago it was 90p.

The NUJ says it will be organising meetings of members to discuss the union’s response.

FT story on Sunday Sun was Fawlty, says Murdoch

1 February 2012 - 7:56am

Rupert Murdoch was not impressed by the Financial Times' story that the launch of a Sunday version of the Sun has been put on hold following the arrests of some of the paper's journalists - and tweeted his displeasure, comparing The Pink 'Un to a well known comedy.

Speculation is that a Sun on Sunday is planned for a launch at the end of April.

World Economic Forum dominates news agenda

1 February 2012 - 12:01am

The World Economic Forum in Davos dominated the news for the week ending Sunday 29 January, according to journalisted.
The Forum in Davos, addressed by David Cameron and other global leaders, generated 441 articles; Spurs manager Harry Redknapp on trial accused of cheating the public revenue, 198 articles; RBS chief executive Stephen Hester under pressure to give up his bonus, 192 articles; the government loses a vote on a benefits cap, 138 articles; the Leveson Inquiry continues, with witnesses from the BBC, ITN, social networks and pressure groups, 130 articles; and Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich campaign for the Republican presidential nomination ahead of the Florida primary, 113 articles.
Covered Little, according to journalisted, Tibetans are shot dead in clashes with Chinese forces, 14 articles; four stand for Plaid Cymru leadership, 6 articles; former Scottish Socialist leader, Tommy Sheridan, is released from prison amid claims of a 'gagging order', 5 articles; and Khaled Meshaal, exiled Hamas political leader, opts not to seek re-election, 3 articles.

Murdoch biographer Wolff joins Guardian in US

31 January 2012 - 9:12pm

Michael Wolff, the outspoken biographer of Rupert Murdoch, is joining the Guardian in the US to cover media, tech, publishing and politics.

Wolff is a columnist for Vanity Fair, wrote the biography of Rupert Murdoch The Man Who Owns the News, and was editorial director of Adweek.

Wolff tweeted: "Yup. Hanging my hat at the Guardian."

Wolff has predicted: "Leveson reform could well produce US-style newspapers in UK. Of course US-style newspapers have all gone (or will shortly go) bankrupt."

Pic: Jon Slattery

When the NUJ lorded it - and Snowdon had to join

31 January 2012 - 12:45pm

One of the interesting exhibits on show at the Saatchi Gallery's celebration of 50 years of The Sunday Times Magazine (see post below) is an application by Lord Snowdon to join the NUJ (top).

When Snowdon was appointed artistic adviser to the magazine in February 1962 he had to join a union because the Sunday Times was a closed shop.

Initially he applied to join the NUJ as a full member but this would have given him voting rights which might have proved awkward as he was married to Princess Margaret at the time.

A compromise was reached and he became a non-voting associate member of the NUJ.

Marking 50 years of The Sunday Times Magazine

31 January 2012 - 12:21pm

An exhibition celebrating 50 years of The Sunday Times Magazine has opened at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

It features work by many of the great photographers published in the magazine since its launch in February 1962. They include Don McCullin, David Bailey, Eve Arnold, Snowdon, Richard Avedon, Eugene Richards and Sam Taylor-Wood.

The exhibition also highlights contributors such as Ian Fleming, VS Naipaul, Bruce Chatwin, Jilly Cooper, Nicholas Tomalin, James Fox and Zoe Heller.

When the first issue of The Sunday Times Magazine was published, the then owner of the paper, Roy Thomson, remarked: "My God, this is going to be a disaster."

But the readers liked it, and the magazine is said to have added 250,000 sales to the Sunday Times.

A special isasue of the magazine will be published by the Sunday Times next Sunday. (Feb 5)

The exhibition runs until February 19.

'Nevermind RBS, what about the media fat cats?'

31 January 2012 - 9:54am

Following the row over RBS chief executive Stephen Hester's bonus payments, the NUJ is turning its guns on the bumper rewards paid to executives in large media companies.

The NUJ today declared that public outrage directed at RBS should now be aimed at directors of the Trinity Mirror media group, who it says are pocketing more than £1.3 million a year - equivalent to 50 journalist jobs - at a time when editorial staff are facing another pay freeze and 700 job have gone in a year.

The NUJ says there can be no excuses for excessive bonus payments in the media industry and the money should be used to save jobs.

It claims the total directors’ pay and pensions bill for Trinity Mirror last year was £3.9million - £1.3million of which was cash bonuses - and chief executive Sly Bailey's package of pay and pensions was £1.7m, including a cash bonus of £660k.

Chris Morley, NUJ organiser said: “Stephen Hester has shown the way that most decent people in this country expect directors to act in companies that are failing to deliver growth. We need those at the top of companies such as Trinity Mirror, Newsquest and Johnston Press to show a real example and instead of thinking about their own wallets, to think instead about protecting their workforce and the overall business.

“Bonuses need to be earned and where that is in doubt the money should go to keeping up the resources of editorial departments across each business - not a race to the trough where rewards are showered on those who have done little to earn them.”

Press Gazette declares Feb 8 'Journalism Day'

31 January 2012 - 8:12am

In a bid to restore journalism's battered image, Press Gazette is urging journalists to send in a snapshot of their work - in newspapers and magazines, TV and radio, and online - to record a 24-hour news cycle, from 6am Wednesday 8 February, to 6am the next day.

The idea is to declare 'News-Day'and record a day in the life of British journalism over a 24-hour period.

Journalists are asked to send in a summary - 100 to 500 words - describing what they did during the 24 hours: news jobs, stories, features, photos, mishaps, interviews, events, meetings, humour, even an office party.

Overseas journalists supplying British news media are also asked to contribute.

Press Gazette contributing editor John Dale, ex-editor of Take a Break, says PG will publish its News-Day special report in the March issue, with coverage also appearing online.

He says: "It will give an unprecedented insight into the role and the dimensions of the news industry across Britain and Ireland, how we really work, how we enrich our society and culture, and how we make a huge difference to the lives of every man, woman and child, on an hour-by-hour basis.

"It will be entertaining, enlightening and intriguing and, at this time when journalism is under profound scrutiny, point to answers to the questions being raised at Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry. But we are not doing it for him. We are doing it for ourselves out of the pride we take in doing the greatest job in the world."

• Contributions (as soon as possible after Feb 8) should be emailed to johnkdale@msn.com.

• To follow the action on the day on Twitter, use the hashtag #news_day.

'Scrap local tv news and leave it to newspapers and online coverage': says Janet Street Porter

30 January 2012 - 9:28am

Janet Street Porter has called for local television news to be scrapped and for local coverage to be left to newspapers and online.

Writing in the Independent on Sunday, the former BBC television executive argues: "Local television current affairs should be culled. Leave it to newspapers and online coverage. As for local radio – just because bands of people complain, it doesn't mean these stations have a meaningful audience.

"The BBC is still guilty of massive over-staffing in news and current affairs. Why do we have to have a completely different hourly news bulletin on Radio 3 from Radio 4? News is news. Local bulletins are necessary only twice a day in drivetime.

"The current local regions are so large as to be pointless. Community radio and television broadcast online and staffed by special interest groups is the only way forward. That way I can watch my council meetings on my laptop."

Street-Porter is scathing about her experience of local tv news: "Look North, in Yorkshire? It is appalling, presented by a weird-looking bunch of people with zero charisma. At 10.15 it regularly features just three items covering a huge part of the UK. In Kent, South East Today has an equally random pick-and-mix agenda that tries and fails to cover a region ranging from wealthy bits of East Sussex to poverty-stricken Sheppey."

Guardian reveals latest 'open journalism' phase

30 January 2012 - 9:08am

The Guardian has today unveiled the next phase in its experiment in "open journalism" - following its move last October to publish its daily news list - by launching a new live blogging platform Newsdesk Live.

Newsdesk Live is hosted by Polly Curtis, the Guardian journalist who has been running the paper's Reality Check blog.

It will incorporate the open news list, but will also feature a live comment thread allowing readers to discuss what's going on directly rather than having to do so via Twitter.

For the period of the experiment, Polly Curtis is joining the national newdesk to work alongside other UK editors to help feed ideas from readers back into the newsgathering process.

Blossom water vs cheap cuts: In hard times what does a Guardian reader have left in the cupboard?

30 January 2012 - 8:35am

In this new age of austerity the readers' editor of the Guardian has taken up complaints about the paper featuring luxury fashion goods and expensive food.

Chris Elliott in his Open Door column today highlights a letter from a Guardian reader who asked: "What is blossom water and pistachio halva?" (which were both listed as ingredients for a salad scheherazade featured in some free recipe cards offered by the Guardian).

The reader suggested: "In these straitened times we need recipe cards for cheap cuts of meat like ox cheek, brawn and breast of lamb, recipes that our parents might have used, not those that need a trip to a big city to gather their ingredients … none of which, I suggest, would be found in an average reader's cupboard."

Elliott writes that readers have been making "irritable noises" in these difficult economic times about the Guardian's coverage of food, fashion, gadgets and cars.

He adds: "Last September, after the price of the Saturday Guardian rose to £2.10, one reader said she felt the paper was good value 'compared with £2.99 for a card from WH Smith … But then you go and fill the Weekend magazine with pictures of expensive tat, culminating in four pages entitled Vital Extras. Personally, I have never considered kitten heels or a handbag vital, let alone those costing £425 and £1,700 respectively.'

"One interesting division between readers and journalists is that the former, when they complain, tend to feel that coverage means a recommendation. The latter strongly disagree."

Various section editors tell Elliott that just because they write about expensive items doesn't mean they are instructing readers to go out and buy them.

Jess Cartner-Morley, the Guardian's fashion editor, says: "There are a variety of factors influencing what product we feature. Price is one. But newness, originality, desirability, usefulness, availability, suitability for different ages and ethical production credentials are others. Fashion pages are not merely shopping lists."

Elliott concludes: "These are all good and valid reasons for covering subjects that represent major industries or major areas of interest for readers, and Guardian coverage of them has been appreciated by the overwhelming majority of readers hitherto. But a further prolonged period of austerity may bring a change in outlook."

How the Mail become biggest newspaper on web

27 January 2012 - 9:19am

Ex-Guardian technology correspondent Bobbie Johnson has written an article on GigaOM on the reasons why the Daily Mail has become the biggest newspaper on the web.

Johnson writes: "There is no secret formula, just a lot of hustle and plenty of shamelessness. Anyone who thinks the Mail can show them how to succeed in online news must understand its increasing prominence has been the result of editorial choices that not everybody will be prepared to emulate."

He argues: "The core of the Mail’s success is down to its planet-sized ambition and incredibly aggressive approach to the news...the paper is entirely unashamed by its desire to win at all costs. That tone is set right from the top with rapacious editor-in-chief Paul Dacre, who retains an iron grip over the paper’s output and is regarded as one of the shrewdest — and most vindictive — editors around."

Johnson praises MailOnline's broad approach, saying: "Headlines and stories are often written in such a way that the stories transcend location, class and gender."

He adds its editorial trademark is jaw-dropping, salacious headlines (“Swinging couple in drug-fuelled orgy with sex partner sprayed him with bear repellent after he refused to let them take explicit photos”); paparazzi shots of attractive women and fame-hungry celebrities, often in various states of undress; and a constant stream of stories about personal health.

Johnson says the other big factors in MailOnline's success is that it is free and has the financial support from its corporate parent.

He concludes: "While upmarket audiences and rivals sniff at it, the rest of the world, it seems, couldn’t care less. and in a media industry that is struggling, it is not hard to imagine some who are looking at what the Daily Mail has achieved and thinking they can do the same."

• Judy Shields post on Johnson's article: "The writer of this article goes in for the same kind of over-the-top, selective BS which he complains about…in the end the Daily Mail is successful because it’s put together by proper news journalists – ones who are extremely professional, well motivated, and well paid. No amount of ranting by jealous bloggers will change this. There’s no substitute for professional, mainstream, quality journalism."

Media Quotes of the Week: From the Sun to rise on Sunday to should Leveson ban page 3 girls?

27 January 2012 - 12:01am

Tom Watson MP in a tweet: "A News Corp source tells me Rupert Murdoch has seen the draft designs of the Sunday Sun with a launch in April at a discounted price."

Guardian readers' editor Chris Elliott on reader reaction to the new slimmed down paper: "Among those who feel the changes most keenly are the readers who have taken the paper for 40, 50 or even 60 years, who are more likely to be subscribers; they feel they are either being pushed towards reading online or subsidising the digital Guardian."

Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger on the changes to the newspaper: "We are not disguising the fact that we have brought the paper down in size. But in fact the total universe of what we are doing is expanding, not shrinking. We publish much more but decisions about limited resources are difficult; there is a fine balance between the production and expense of print versus digital."

Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield interviewed in InPublishing: “The fundamental aspect of the business is that every newspaper in the group has a healthy margin over 20 per cent and all up the business is very profitable. The challenge is, can you migrate that business into the digital realm quickly enough before profits decline.”

Johann Hari on his decision not to return to the Independent: "I’d like to thank the Independent for the privilege of working for them over the past nine years, and for offering me my job back, starting in a few weeks. But after nearly six months living in New York City, and plenty of time to reflect, I’ve decided to not take them up on their kind offer."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, on the BBC cuts: “Local radio is for some sections of the population, particularly the elderly, a lifeline. I am pleased that the BBC Trust has made this small concession, but it has obviously not listened to the concerns of the many others who took part in the consultation. These cuts, which will result in the loss of 2,000 jobs, on top of the 7,000 jobs lost since 2004, will severely damage the quality of the service provided by the BBC. It will damage its ability to produce quality creative programming and investigative journalism. It will damage its function as a public service broadcaster."

Reporters Without Borders press freedom index: "Despite universal condemnation, the UK clings to a surreal law that allows the entire world to come and sue news media before its courts."

Jon Snow in his Hugh Cudlipp lecture at the London College of Communication: "We journalists are not a breed apart – we must be of the world we report. The hacking scandal reveals an echelon of hacks who removed themselves from the world in which the rest of us live – they took some weird pleasure in urinating on our world."

Clare Short in the Independent: "Tabloid vilification helped kill off a debate that would have forced Page 3 images out of British newspapers and perhaps obliged the media to behave and report in a less sexist way. Twenty-six years on, Lord Leveson should seriously consider the case that has been made."