Quotes of the Week - Huffington Post, BBC Salford, Google and more

The Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington reveals the launch date for the new UK version of her eponymous US news website.

"Let me say this to those commentators, celebrities and BBC staff who have railed against the BBC move to Salford and the investment in MediaCity – shame on you for your outdated prejudices, one-dimensional view of Britain and negativity about the north.”

Shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis hits out at the (numerous) critics of the BBC's move to Salford.

"I understand how individuals may not want to risk their domestic equilibrium, interrupt their children’s education, disrupt a spouse’s career or take any gamble in the property market right now. But that does not mean the policy is wrong."

Former senior BBC executive Atholl Duncan echoes Lewis's sentiments about the Salford move in a comment piece for The Drum.

"I am worried about high-end journalism. The disaster that happened to newspapers was that they didn't value their own content. They gave it away for free online."

The Wire writer and former journalist David Simon argues that newspapers have engineered their own downfall.

“The intensity is incredible. I've read things in the paper before even I know they were happening. Somebody can tell you something and within a couple of hours it's on the internet. Nothing I've ever been involved in compares to this. Weird. Very weird.

.. We'll be looking carefully about who is to talk. We've all got to be on-message. There are far too many leaks coming out of Ibrox."


The new owner of Rangers, Craig Whyte, suggests the football club will be more careful in its dealings with the media under his watch.

"Google needs to move beyond the current search format of you entering a query and getting 10 results. The ideal would be us knowing what you want before you search for it."

Google the mind reader? The search giant's chairman Eric Schmidt reveals bound to be controversial plans for preemptive searching.

"Might I suggest that any journalist you find to write an article which says 'tomorrow the Government will announce that ...' has their pass withdrawn so they can't work in this House any longer."

Labour MP Chris Bryant calls for journalists who report government announcements before a minister has made a statement to the House of Commons to have their parliamentary passes confiscated.

"We can only hope that the new regime being put in place will never forget that the campaigns the COI, their clients in Government and their agencies produced have saved many lives and saved millions in taxpayers’ money."

Hamish Pringle, director-general of the of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, responds to the scrapping of the Central Office of Information, which controls government marketing campaigns.

"I love ads. I wish I could write a 30 second spot."

The West Wing and Social Network screenwriter Aaron Sorkin reveals a surprising admiration for the advertising industry at the Cannes Lions festival.

"The people who are successful in my profession are those with no commitments, who can… just give themselves over to the job. It’s no surprise that the group who tend to prosper in London are young gay men.”

Presenter and broadcaster Kaye Adams sparks a controversial debate over discrimination in the media after claiming that it is easier for gay men to get ahead in her profession.

"Putting up a Facebook posting of photographs on a beach to 300-400 ‘friends’ is like leaving an advert on your door to a burglar telling him when you will be out.”

Gary Jackson, director of security firm, Precreate Solutions offers to update Facebook users' profiles for them while they are on holiday so they don't get burgled. Arguably the cheaper solution would be to be a bit more, y'know, discreet.