Thursday 10 May 2018

Media Quotes of the Week: From make killing journalists in conflict zones a war crime to football reporters pay tribute to 'class act' Arsene Wenger



The Times [£] in a leader: "The United Nations should explicitly spell out that the deliberate killing of a journalist in a conflict zone amounts to a war crime. Evidence should be gathered and the case should be presented as evidence for the prosecution at the international criminal court. This may seem like a naive attempt to impose and enforce rules on regimes and groups that have shown brazen disregard for international law. The alternative is unthinkable: to allow brutal regimes to celebrate their own impunity. The Afghan killings exposed the vulnerabilities of Isis and the Taliban as much as the press. The terrorist groups are anxious that a free and independent press will counter their gross exaggeration of battlefield successes."


Culture and Media Secretary Matt Hancock on Twitter after MPS rejected calls for Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry: "A great day for a free and fair press. We will work with closely IPSO to make sure their important work continues."


Ed Miliband on Twitter: "Very disappointed for the victims of phone-hacking and press abuse that we did not win the vote for Leveson 2. The battle goes on to keep our promise to them to get the truth they deserve and protection for victims in the future."


Guardian News & Media, publisher of the Guardian and the Observer,  in a statement to MPs over a proposed amendment to the data protection bill that would have favoured the company over other publishers: “This clause was not discussed with Guardian News & Media and we disagree with attempts to impose a selective sanction on the media. We do not believe that singling out one model of ownership for news organisations in this way is a constructive approach. This amendment implies that just one ownership model can result in the production of high quality journalism, which is simply not correct.”


The Independent Press Standards Organisation in a statement: "The UK’s seven best-selling national daily newspapers and eight best-selling Sunday newspapers have agreed to sign up to the IPSO compulsory arbitration scheme. The scheme will cover national newspapers published by News UK, Trinity Mirror, Associated, Telegraph and the former Northern and Shell.This will mean that members of the public can get low-cost access to justice without having to go to court for legal claims including libel, invasion of privacy, data protection or harassment. The participating newspapers cannot refuse to arbitrate on any valid claim. It costs a maximum in fees of £100 for the claimant."




The New York Times, via Associated Press:  On World Press Freedom Day a U.N. panel discussion on international media freedom and fake news was suddenly postponed, sparking accusations of censorship. Robert Mahoney, deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists thanked organizers of the official event for shining a light on the work of journalists — but said unfortunately "as we battle censorship around the world ... the panel was cancelled because one of the presenters was going to mention by name countries that jail journalists. So we have a discussion in the U.N. about battling censorship, being censored, that's quite ironic. I would call on us all here present to resist the politicization — the increasing politicization of U.N. agencies whose mission is to defend press freedom."


Report of the International Press Freedom Mission to the US: "The rhetoric that Trump and his administration have used to disparage and discredit the media, before and after the 2016 election, is of grave concern. Political leaders’ words have ramifications beyond the immediate news cycle. It appears that members of the public and other local authority or political figures have felt emboldened by the media strategy of the current administration and journalists have found themselves subject to increasing abuse, harassment, and threats, particularly online...By openly and aggressively targeting journalists and media outlets, the current US administration risks undermining media freedom and creates a culture where journalists find themselves unprotected."


Sarah Churchwell in The Observer on Donald Trump: "There is a clear bias among the media towards normality. We see this every time a journalist announces that Trump became “presidential” when he read a few words written by someone else. Trump is not “presidential”. He is ignorant, impulsive, undisciplined, undignified, uncouth. This makes him popular with some of his electorate but it does not make him presidential. We see the bias towards normality every time a journalist asks about a given aspect of his “policy”. Trump doesn’t have policies. He is an opportunistic chancer who changes his story with the wind and listens to whoever last spoke to him. We see it when newspapers refuse to say the president lied, hiding behind euphemisms such as “misrepresented”, “reversed his position”, “told an untruth”."



Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump on Twitter: "The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake). Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?"


Jon Sopel @BBCJonSopel on Twitter: "Dear President  @realDonaldTrump, I’m going on holiday today with my family and I’d really like it if things stayed quiet for next 10 days in D.C., that you play nicely with colleagues and don’t get into fights - that way the BBC won’t call me.
Thanks Jon" #DreamOn



Daily Mirror's John Cross in a farewell tribute to Arsene Wenger, on behalf of football reporters: "We in English football owe you a huge debt of gratitude and I hope you appreciate within the tributes in the last couple of weeks there has been a genuine and very heartfelt affection towards you. There is no escaping there has been some criticism along the way but the fact you never hold a grudge or never dodge a question and are always respectful shows what a class act you are as both a human being and a football manager. You have touched lives way beyond football."

 [£]=paywall

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