Abstract
‘I will fight to the death against the abuse of the freedom of speech, what the BBC did was an abuse because it seems to ignore anything that was ever stated - Magna Carta, Leveson, the police and they took it upon themselves to be judge, jury and executioner…Freedom without responsibility is anarchy. To me this was an anarchic thing to do.’
Cliff Richard, talking to ITV after a court ruled that the BBC should pay him damages for naming him as the subject of a police investigation
‘I don't want to live in a country in which it is permissible for the police to raid a person's house at 4am on suspicion of a crime having been committed and the media are forbidden to report this fact… The principle that justice must be open and transparent is precious. And that applies not only to the judicial process, but to those who enforce the law — namely the police.’
Stephen Glover, writing on the Cliff Richard verdict in the Daily Mail
‘I see a slightly lonely figure – one who was all too acutely aware that an editor, who operates without fear or favour, can't really have friends…good editors need to be outsiders because, let's be honest, most people only befriend journalists to get something into a paper or – more pertinently – keep it out.’
Paul Dacre, at the service of thanksgiving for Peter Preston
‘Do we sit in our self-affirming Twitter pods, muting and blocking opinions counter to our own; vilify those such as the brave Labour MP Sarah Champion, who take on issues the right feasts upon like grooming gangs; and rail against the BBC and its excellent reporters when it tries, in its hand-wringing, liberal way to address a significant strain of public opinion without causing offence.’
Janice Turner, in The Times, on reporting all strands of opinion