Friday 8 March 2013

Quotes of the Week: From St. Bride's congregation of 'utter bastards' to journalist on toast for dinner

St Bride's Fleet Street

Fleet Street Fox in her diary: "The vicar at St. Bride's is the only one I've ever met that looks down  from the pulpit in the certain knowledge that most of his congregation  can be categorized as under the heading 'utter bastards', and doesn't seem to mind." 

US business magnate Warren Buffett, as reported by Romenesko: “I love newspapers and, if their economics make sense, will buy them even when they fall far short of the size threshold we would require for the purchase of, say, a widget company. We do not believe that success will come from cutting either the news content or frequency of publication. Indeed, skimpy news coverage will almost certainly lead to skimpy readership. And the less-than-daily publication that is now being tried in some large towns or cities – while it may improve profits in the short term – seems certain to diminish the papers’ relevance over time.”

The Sun in a leader: "A very senior policeman has been arrested by detectives on suspicion not of taking bribes but of simply talking — yes, TALKING — to a journalist. But hold on. This isn’t China or Russia or Zimbabwe. This is Britain. If you are running the country, Mr Cameron — and we have to assume you still are — was this on your instructions?"

A "conflicted colleague" quoted by Guardian readers' editor Chris Elliott in his Open Door column: "There have been occasions recently where stories have been commissioned by editors who have talked about how they hope it will 'play well' online – this appears to have been at the very forefront of their mind when commissioning. Certainly this is the prime driver of many online picture galleries. Obviously … we want to be well-read and popular, but it is a slippery slope, and it now appears that in a few cases we are creating stories purely to attract clicks."

Fleet Street Fox in her diary: "There's something strangey fitting about the fact that cabbies all hate driving, doctors can't stand illness and journalists dislike people."

New BBC director general Lord Hall in an interview with the Guardian: "You need to take risks but you don't take them willy-nilly or recklessly, you think them through. You give people the confidence to be bold and run with what they want to do. If things do go wrong then you have to have the confidence to say OK, we got that wrong, let's learn from it and move on."

Peter Preston in the Observer: "Welcome to Head-scratching Corner. In January, Mail Online broke all previous records (with a daily 7,977,039 unique browsers as measured: a 13% rise on December); Guardian online triumphed similarly (4,319,370 uniques, a 17% rise); and the Telegraph, third in the championship league, added 11% to record 3,129,599. Golly! That must have meant some walloping print circulation drops? Transition incarnate. But no: Mail print sales were up 1.01%, Telegraph sales up 1.53%, and the Guardian – up 0.11% – recorded newsprint gains for the third month in a row. Two halves of the same glass, both full."

on Twitter: "Screw you Sunday Times iPad 'app' developers. You've driven me back to print."

David Banks in the Guardian: "If the defamation bill fails because of the "Leveson clauses" added by the Lords it will be a criminal waste of years of campaigning for reform. It will damage the cause of public interest journalism in the UK and this country will maintain its status as the destination of choice for those who want to shut down their critics through the use of libel law."

Nadia Sawalha asked by the Sunday Times Magazine [£] "What's your dinner-island dinner?"replies: "Journalist on toast...with mayo."

[£]= paywall

* I love newspapers and, if their economics make sense, will buy them even when they fall far short of the size threshold we would require for the purchase of, say, a widget company. …At appropriate prices – and that means at a very low multiple of current earnings – we will purchase more papers of the type we like.
cup
* We do not believe that success will come from cutting either the news content or frequency of publication. Indeed, skimpy news coverage will almost certainly lead to skimpy readership. And the less-than-daily publication that is now being tried in some large towns or cities – while it may improve profits in the short term – seems certain to diminish the papers’ relevance over time. - See more at: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/03/01/i-love-newspapers-warren-buffett-tells-shareholders/#sthash.xc8z4aVW.dpuf
* I love newspapers and, if their economics make sense, will buy them even when they fall far short of the size threshold we would require for the purchase of, say, a widget company. …At appropriate prices – and that means at a very low multiple of current earnings – we will purchase more papers of the type we like.
cup
* We do not believe that success will come from cutting either the news content or frequency of publication. Indeed, skimpy news coverage will almost certainly lead to skimpy readership. And the less-than-daily publication that is now being tried in some large towns or cities – while it may improve profits in the short term – seems certain to diminish the papers’ relevance over time. - See more at: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/03/01/i-love-newspapers-warren-buffett-tells-shareholders/#sthash.xc8z4aVW.dpuf
* I love newspapers and, if their economics make sense, will buy them even when they fall far short of the size threshold we would require for the purchase of, say, a widget company. …At appropriate prices – and that means at a very low multiple of current earnings – we will purchase more papers of the type we like.
cup
* We do not believe that success will come from cutting either the news content or frequency of publication. Indeed, skimpy news coverage will almost certainly lead to skimpy readership. And the less-than-daily publication that is now being tried in some large towns or cities – while it may improve profits in the short term – seems certain to diminish the papers’ relevance over time. - See more at: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/03/01/i-love-newspapers-warren-buffett-tells-shareholders/#sthash.xc8z4aVW.dpuf
* I love newspapers and, if their economics make sense, will buy them even when they fall far short of the size threshold we would require for the purchase of, say, a widget company. …At appropriate prices – and that means at a very low multiple of current earnings – we will purchase more papers of the type we like.
cup
* We do not believe that success will come from cutting either the news content or frequency of publication. Indeed, skimpy news coverage will almost certainly lead to skimpy readership. And the less-than-daily publication that is now being tried in some large towns or cities – while it may improve profits in the short term – seems certain to diminish the papers’ relevance over time. - See more at: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/03/01/i-love-newspapers-warren-buffett-tells-shareholders/#sthash.xc8z4aVW.dpuf
* I love newspapers and, if their economics make sense, will buy them even when they fall far short of the size threshold we would require for the purchase of, say, a widget company. …At appropriate prices – and that means at a very low multiple of current earnings – we will purchase more papers of the type we like.
cup
* We do not believe that success will come from cutting either the news content or frequency of publication. Indeed, skimpy news coverage will almost certainly lead to skimpy readership. And the less-than-daily publication that is now being tried in some large towns or cities – while it may improve profits in the short term – seems certain to diminish the papers’ relevance over time. - See more at: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/03/01/i-love-newspapers-warren-buffett-tells-shareholders/#sthash.xc8z4aVW.dpuf
* I love newspapers and, if their economics make sense, will buy them even when they fall far short of the size threshold we would require for the purchase of, say, a widget company. - See more at: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/03/01/i-love-newspapers-warren-buffett-tells-shareholders/#sthash.IuZFLTvT.dpuf
* I love newspapers and, if their economics make sense, will buy them even when they fall far short of the size threshold we would require for the purchase of, say, a widget company. - See more at: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/03/01/i-love-newspapers-warren-buffett-tells-shareholders/#sthash.IuZFLTvT.dpuf

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