Friday 23 October 2009

Quotes of the Week

Charlie Brooker on super-injunctions: "For the sake of all mankind, I sincerely hope that in future, any corporations trying to cover something up would do the decent thing and simply start strangling journalists and bombing their offices. Same results, less paperwork. Dead men tell no tales. And even if they try, Carter-Ruck can probably issue a gagging order that follows them into the afterlife and kicks their larynx off its hinges."

BBC director general Mark Thompson: "My point is simply that the drastic steps of proscription and censorship can only be taken by government and parliament … It is unreasonable and inconsistent to take the position that a party like the BNP is acceptable enough for the public to vote for, but not acceptable enough to appear on democratic platforms like Question Time. If there is a case for censorship, it should be debated and decided in parliament. Political censorship cannot be outsourced to the BBC or anyone else."

The Sun's Fergus Shanahan on Nick Griffin: "My bet is that after this week Griffin will wish he had never accepted the BBC invitation. Cockroaches only flourish in the dark. Shine a light on them and they scuttle away."

Nick Griffin on Question Time: "I am the most loathed man in Britain."

Emily Bell on Jan Moir and her Daily Mail article on death of Stephen Gately: "Moir, or her editors, or both, misjudged the speed and breadth of the real-time web and social media in their power to highlight and pressurise at speed and with force. To see the Daily Mail taught a lesson about public outrage in the electronic age would no doubt have raised a weak, battered smile at the BBC."

Chris Morley, NUJ Northern regional organiser on cuts by Trinity Mirror in Birmingham: “There is overwhelming disbelief and anger among our members in the Midlands at this announcement. It is the latest – and worst – betrayal in a long line by Trinity Mirror of its Midlands operations and is nothing less than the corporate equivalent of self-harm."

No comments: