As the Defamation Bill passes through the House of Lords and is signed off by the Commons, we speak to the science writer and campaigner Simon Singh. Should people who are arrested be named in the media or should their identify remain a secret until charged? A question for Susan Aslan a Media Lawyer, Trevor Kavanagh Associate Editor of The Sun and Frances Crook Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform. Plus Susanna Dinnage general manager of Discovery Networks UK on the launch of a ...
Apr 24, 2013•28 min
The row between the LSE and the BBC continues, following Monday's Panorama on North Korea. In today's programme, Sue Lloyd-Roberts, special correspondent for the BBC, describes how she went about reporting from North Korea and what precautions she takes when working undercover. Aidan Foster Carter, who analyses both Koreas, gives his view on the value of this week's Panorama and the risks faced both by journalists working there and the local people who come into contact with them. Before that, t...
Apr 17, 2013•28 min
Baroness Thatcher, Rupert Murdoch and media changes in the Thatcher years. With guests Baroness Dean of Thornton Le Fylde, former president of the print union SOGAT during the Wapping dispute, Andrew Neil, former Editor of the Sunday Times, Michael Green who ran Carlton TV and Professor Paddy Barwise who advised the BBC on how to handle proposals to scrap the licence fee. Producer Simon Tilotson Presenter Steve Hewlett.
Apr 10, 2013•28 min
Melvyn Bragg talks to Steve Hewlett about coverage of the Arts on TV . How important is the coverage to BBC, ITV and other broadcasters like Sky? Where's its place in the schedule and does it deserve to be given a higher profile? Questions for Alan Yentob Creative Director for the BBC and the Daily Telegraph's Gillian Reynolds. Presented by Steve Hewlett Produced by Beverley Purcell.
Apr 03, 2013•28 min
Britain's biggest selling daily newspaper, The Sun, has announced it will start charging for its website later this year. It's the latest paper to announce it's to put content behind a pay wall - the Telegraph made its plans known yesterday afternoon. Presenter Steve Hewlett discusses how The Sun is hoping to make money, what it's likely to be offering, and whether competitors like Mail Online could ever follow suit. As separate types of media - print, broadcast, online - increasingly merge toge...
Mar 27, 2013•28 min
Baroness Helena Kennedy Acting Chair of the Media Standards Trust talks to Steve Hewlett about the latest twists and turns in implementing Lord Justice Leveson's press reforms. Plus Phil Collins Chief Leader writer of The Times, Professor Natalie Fenton a board member of the campaign group Hacked Off and Chris Blackhurst Editor of The Independent join Steve Hewlett to discuss whether the Royal Charter throws up as many problems as it solves. Producer Beverley Purcell.
Mar 20, 2013•28 min
In today's programme with Steve Hewlett: Steve interviews Ed Richards, Chief Executive of Ofcom, on some of the key areas in his brief. What, if anything, needs to be done to support public service broadcasting? Is Ofcom willing and able to be part of system regulating the press? How far can Ofcom protect internet users from inappropriate content? What happens to the "watershed" when so many programmes are watched on demand? And does he regret having to disclose that he wanted the BBC director g...
Mar 13, 2013•28 min
After years of campaigning for reform could the Defamation Bill be derailed by "Leveson clauses"? Could BBC Worldwide be about to sell a controlling stake in travel guidebooks publisher Lonely Planet to the US billionaire Brad Kelley. And how much does the new ITV drama Broadchurch owe to the Danish Drama The Killing? Presented by Steve Hewlett. Producer Beverley Purcell.
Mar 06, 2013•29 min
In today's programme with Steve Hewlett: The executive producer of BBC3's "People Like Us" responds to calls for the programme to be dropped tonight, following allegations of faking (all of them denied). It's set in Harpurhey, Manchester and the local MP Graham Stringer sums up the case against while Simon Dickson, who is also MD of Dragonfly which made the series, speaks up for the programme. What issues did he have to bear in mind from the outset, when discussing his plans with the community? ...
Feb 27, 2013•28 min
Does advertising junk food make children fat? Yes say doctors - so ban it before 9pm. No say advertisers - no evidence. They accuse the medics of "grandstanding". So who's right? New Labour cabinet minister James Purnell is one of the new DG's first appointments and will become the new director of strategy and digital. How's his appointment been received and what will he bring to the Corporation. And what's going on behind the scenes as the BBC prepares to publish the transcripts of the Pollard ...
Feb 20, 2013•28 min
In today's programme with Steve Hewlett: On the paper's 125th anniversary, the Financial Times editor Lionel Barber discusses the paper's recently announced Digital First strategy, whether it's up for sale and what he makes of yesterday's plans for a royal charter to set up a new body to oversee a press regulator. Brian Cathcart of Hacked Off and Lord Fowler raise their concerns about the new regulator and the royal charter, respectively. And, after Delia Smith said she's turning from TV to onli...
Feb 13, 2013•28 min
In today's programme with Steve Hewlett: The former BBC DG Mark Thompson said the arrival of YouView would bring an intense "battle for the living room". Just a few months after its delayed launch, though, how big an impact is it really making? Steve talks to Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC's technology correspondent, about the early sales and then to Dido Harding, CEO of TalkTalk, one of the main providers of YouView along with BT. The biggest local TV contract was awarded this week, for London. The...
Feb 06, 2013•28 min
Former Editor of The Sunday Times Sir Harold Evans on how the press have reacted to Leveson. Plus David Dinsmore, Director of Operations at News International on their plans to show Premiership League football highlights on mobile and internet versions of The Sun, Times and Sunday Times. Presenter Steve Hewlett Producer Beverley Purcell.
Jan 30, 2013•28 min
Why aren't there more women on radio and tv as experts, commentators and presenters? Steve Hewlett explores the issues on The Media Show this week with a range of insiders: Anne Morrison, Director of the BBC Academy, who ran a day of training for women experts last week with more planned; Fiona Fox, Director of the Science Media Centre which links news programmes up with expert scientists; Lis Howell, Director of Broadcasting at City University, who has been monitoring the number of women on new...
Jan 23, 2013•28 min
Lord Hunt the Chair of the Press Complaints Commission talks to Steve Hewlett about his plans for press self-regulation. Plus as the Observer Editor says the paper "got it wrong" and withdraws a column by Julie Burchill described as a "disgusting rant" against transsexual, from the Online site, we look at the role of a columnist, free speech and the difficulties faced by Editors in dealing with instant reaction to articles via Twitter and other social media. With Columnist Toby Young, Roz Kavene...
Jan 16, 2013•28 min
There are more developments in the Leveson story this week. As Oliver Letwin works on a draft Royal Charter, newspaper publishers meet to agree their own new road map and the Lords discuss regulation, Hacked Off's put out its own draft bill and the Information Commissioner's released his response to Leveson. Steve Hewlett hears from Hugh Tomlinson QC who's behind the Hacked Off bill and from Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner. Newspapers this week have reported the commissioner war...
Jan 09, 2013•29 min
The Christmas TV ratings - who's really come out on top? What are going to be the most pressing issues for the BBC's new DG ? Plus as a film about veteran war photographer Don McCullin is released, we examine the role of photojournalists with Sarah Baxter Editor of the Sunday Times Magazine and photojournalist Sean Smith. And following the death of cricket commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins the Telegraph's radio critic Gillian Reynolds talks about the art of sports commentary. Presented by S...
Jan 02, 2013•29 min
From the Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise to the Royle Family and the battle of the soaps, Steve Hewlett unpicks the dark arts of festive TV scheduling. From the executives who make up programme titles to fool their rivals to the search for the perfect sitcom to suit all the family on Christmas night, he asks industry experts to reveal the tricks of the trade. His guests include David Liddiment, independent producer, former director of ITV Programmes and now a BBC Trustee; former scheduler Ste...
Dec 26, 2012•28 min
Analysis and reaction to the Pollard Review in to the management of the Newsnight investigation into Jimmy Savile and the subsequent Editor's Blog. Steve Hewlett is joined by; JOHN LLOYD Director of Journalism at Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and contributing Editor of the Financial Times. TIM SUTER Founding Managing Director at Perspective Associates provide regulatory and policy advice to some of the leading media and telecommunications clients in the UK and abroad and former P...
Dec 19, 2012•29 min
In today's programme with Steve Hewlett: The BBC's Robert Peston and Roy Greenslade of The Guardian on James Harding's resignation from The Times; Adam Smith of Group M media buyers on sharp declines in print circulation and falling advertising revenue; Carla Buzasi of Huffington Post UK and Emily Bell of Columbia University on regulating the internet, the big issue avoided in the Leveson report; and Prof John Horgan, Ireland's press ombudsman, on the direction the Leveson process is now taking....
Dec 12, 2012•27 min
In today's programme with Steve Hewlett: Professor Brian Cathcart of Hacked Off argues for implementing the Leveson recommendations in full - an argument backed by the group's online petition that now has more than 140,000 signatures. What does he make of the industry and government response so far? Independent editor Chris Blackhurst reports from the latest meeting of editors, convened this morning to discuss the industry's progress on plans for self-regulation. Have they agreed on something th...
Dec 05, 2012•28 min
First, last year, David Cameron called on Lord Justice Leveson to recommend a new regulatory system for the press. Then, yesterday, after he'd made his recommendations, Leveson LJ passed responsibility for the next steps back to the government - they, he said, must decide "who guards the guards". Where does that leave the industry, whose own plans for self-regulation were rejected by the inquiry? How much of the Leveson scheme can they accept and what can or should they now offer to meet the cal...
Nov 30, 2012•28 min
In today's programme with Steve Hewlett: The Leveson report is now on the desk of David Cameron ahead of its publication tomorrow. As lobbying continues behind the scenes, The Media Show hears from John Whittingdale MP who is one of those signing a letter against statutory regulation today. He chairs the Commons Media Select Committee which has been looking into issues relating to phone hacking since the first prosecutions. Jurgen Kronig, president of the Foreign Press Association in London and ...
Nov 28, 2012•28 min
As we prepare for the publication of the Leveson Inquiry into Culture, Practice and Ethics of the Press Lord Black the Executive Director of the Telegraph Media Group talks to Steve Hewlett about why he thinks his plan for self regulation of the press is the best way forward. But what do victim representatives and those connected to the tabloids think of it? Ann McElvoy, public policy editor at the Economist and Evening Standard columnist, newspaper veteran Professor Roy Greenslade and media law...
Nov 21, 2012•28 min
The BBC management was already in trouble over the way it struggled to handle revelations about Jimmy Savile. It was then thrown into chaos when Newsnight broadcast a child abuse survivor's story, pointing at a senior Conservative politician, that turned out to be completely false. It was a failure of the BBC's most prized possession - its journalism. The new Director General resigned and the Chairman of the BBC Trust Lord Patten is in danger of following him out of the door. So how did the BBC ...
Nov 14, 2012•57 min
As Lord Justice Leveson puts the finishing touches to his forthcoming report into the culture, practices and ethics of the press we speak to a former Editor of The Guardian Peter Preston and the academic Professor Natalie Fenton about why the FT and The Guardian - both previously open to the idea that legislation might be needed to tempt, or force, reluctant media owners to participate, have moderated their positions We celebrate thirty years of Channel 4 with the founding Chief Executive Sir Je...
Nov 07, 2012•29 min
The former Chief Executive of BBC Broadcasting and author of the BBC's enquiry into another recent crisis -Queengate - Will Wyatt - talks for the very first time about how the Corporation has handled the Savile scandal. Plus David Folkenflik from National Public Radio tells us why the New York Times is beginning to question if Mark Thompson is the right man to be their CEO. Could a new plan to save Britain's ailing local newspapers work? a question Lorna Tilbian of Numis Securities and Neil Fowl...
Oct 31, 2012•28 min
The Director of Editorial Policy and Standards David Jordan talks to Steve Hewlett and explains how the BBC appears to have got its wires so hopelessly crossed over the shelving of Newsnight's film on Jimmy Savile. And why do TV Political Editors insist on standing in front of iconic Westminster locations. Nick Robinson talks about his new book The Inside Story of Politics, Power and the Media. Producer Beverley Purcell.
Oct 24, 2012•28 min
As the BBC's Director General George Entwistle prepares to go before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to answer questions about Newsnight and the allegations of child abuse against Jimmy Savile Steve Hewlett talks to its Chair John Whittingdale. Plus he's joined by the Telegraph's Emma Barnett Editor of Wonder Women, journalist and broadcaster Janet Street Porter and Jane Martinson Woman's Editor at the Guardian to discuss "Seen but not heard; How women make front page news ...
Oct 17, 2012•29 min
BBC Trust Chairman Lord Patten talks to Steve Hewlett about the Jimmy Savile controversy. "Hacked-off" on their open letter to David Cameron from victims of phone hacking and press abuses. Producer Beverley Purcell.
Oct 10, 2012•28 min
