Ian Katz, Channel 4’s director of programmes, explains how the new series of The Great British Bake Off made it to air, and discusses the wider questions for public service broadcasters during the pandemic. Also in the programme, why the FinCEN Files are a landmark for investigative journalism, and official recognition of “charitable journalism” in the UK. Guests: Ian Katz, Director of Programmes at Channel 4, Azeen Ghorayshi, science editor at BuzzFeed News, and Jonathan Heawood, executive dire...
Sep 23, 2020•28 min
New research from Women in Journalism suggests that the UK's newsrooms are far from representative of society, with front page bylines and the airwaves dominated by white men. Amol Rajan looks at the data and how niche digital-only outlets are providing new job opportunities and attracting advertisers. Also in the programme, ten years of The i newspaper and a change in leadership at gal-dem. Guests: Eleanor Mills, chair of Women in Journalism, Oly Duff, editor of The i, and Liv Little, founder o...
Sep 16, 2020•28 min
Spotify is the UK's most popular digital music service, according to estimates. In this special edition of The Media Show, Amol Rajan looks at the company's strategy so far and meets Tom Connaughton, Spotify's managing director in the UK. Producer: Richard Hooper Assistant producer: Natalia Fernandez
Sep 09, 2020•28 min
Under the leadership of Mark Thompson, the fortunes of The New York Times have been transformed. With over 6 million paying subscribers, "the Gray Lady" has become one of the most successful brands in journalism, expanding into podcasts and TV production. In this extended interview as he steps down as CEO, Mark Thompson discusses his strategy for the newspaper, reveals how he dealt with the tech giants, and gives his views on the future of the BBC and Channel 4. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: R...
Sep 02, 2020•59 min
Tony Hall, the 16th Director-General of the BBC, on the crises and successes of his time in charge. In this extended interview, Hall considers editorial controversies, the rise of the tech giants in the UK television market, and government hostility towards the BBC. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Richard Hooper
Aug 26, 2020•1 hr 6 min
The tech giants receive a lot of bad press, have been accused of operating monopolies, and are even seen as security risks. So what attracts the billions of people who use TikTok, Facebook or Apple every day - often with huge enthusiasm? Plus Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, embarks on a public battle with Apple. And is Facebook too big to fail? Panel: Richard Waterworth, TikTok’s General Manager for the UK & Europe; Laura Edwards, TikTok star; Shona Ghosh, Senior Tech Editor for Business ...
Aug 19, 2020•39 min
In the wake of MeToo and the Black Lives Matter movement, the media world has been looking hard at who it portrays and how. The BBC created the position 'Director of Creative Diversity' to change minority representation. But how much change is needed - and who has to make way for these new, more diverse appointments? Panel: June Sarpong, BBC's Director of Creative Diversity; and Matthew Syed, Sunday Times columnist and author of Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking. Presenter: Amol Rajan S...
Aug 12, 2020•28 min
Intrigue and drama at two of the world’s most talked about media companies; James Murdoch has resigned from the family firm, and TikTok faces an ultimatum from President Trump. Also in the show, a new Ofcom report on media viewing trends during the lockdown, and how Condé Nast Traveller and Sunset + Vine have responded to the pandemic. Panel: Melinda Stevens, editor in chief at Condé Nast Traveller, Jeff Foulser, Executive Chairman of Sunset and Vine, Chris Williams, The Sunday Telegraph's busin...
Aug 05, 2020•28 min
Amol Rajan on the thorny questions of free speech, impartiality and truth in newsrooms. Guests: Tom Rosenstiel, Executive Director of the American Press Institute; Rachel Corp, Editor of ITV News; Andrew Neil, Chairman of The Spectator; Nesrine Malik, columnist at The Guardian. Studio engineer: Giles Aspden Producer: Hannah Sander (Photo: Jo Holland / BBC)
Jul 29, 2020•28 min
Amol Rajan on the TV channels and online services that have carved out a niche for themselves – away from the big broadcasters. Guests: Robert Llewellyn, CEO of Fully Charged, Sarah Cronin-Stanley, Managing Director of Talking Pictures TV, Nicky Ness, Director of Broadcasting & Entertainment at BFBS, and Andrew White, Senior Producer of Walks Around Britain. Studio engineer: Nigel Dix Producer: Hannah Sander (Image: Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in Country Girl, broadcast on Talking Pictures T...
Jul 22, 2020•28 min
As job cuts are announced by Reach, the UK’s largest regional newspaper publisher, Amol Rajan looks at initiatives to fund local journalism. Also in the programme, is TikTok the new Huawei? Guests: Karin Goodwin, co-editor of The Ferret, Ian Carter, editorial director of the Illife Media Group, Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Hugh Schofield, BBC correspondent in Paris, and Dr Tim Stevens, lecturer in global security at King's College London. Sound en...
Jul 15, 2020•28 min
The Daily Beast has published an investigation into a network of fake journalists that placed opinion pieces in dozens of real news outlets. All the articles were sympathetic to the foreign policy objectives of the United Arab Emirates and the "journalists" who wrote them were backed up by fictitious online personas. Amol Rajan is joined by Marc Owen Jones, an assistant professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, and Marianna Spring, BBC reporter covering disinformation and social media....
Jul 08, 2020•28 min
One of the oldest media brands in the world, The Times, is now running a radio station. Meanwhile, one of the world’s newest - Twitch, the video game streaming platform owned by Amazon - is facing a crisis caused by old-fashioned misogyny. Amol Rajan is joined by Tim Levell, Programme Director of Times Radio, Miranda Sawyer, radio critic of The Observer, Frankie Ward, esports host and Twitch streamer, Cecilia D'Anastasio, journalist at Wired, and Chris Stokel-Walker, freelance journalist. Studio...
Jul 01, 2020•28 min
How a global pandemic is changing the advertising industry. Amol Rajan is joined by Johnny Hornby, The&Partnership, Christopher Kenna, Brand Advance, Dino Myers-Lamptey, The Barber Shop and Lindsey Clay, Thinkbox. Sound engineer: Giles Aspen Producer: Richard Hooper
Jun 24, 2020•28 min
What role does opinion play in journalism? The editor of The Sunday Times claimed this week that some generations are far less tolerant of opinions they don’t agree with on the comment pages. Meanwhile the editor of a regional newspaper says the opinions of some readers have become so offensive during the pandemic, that the police have been called to investigate. Guests: Helen Dalby, editor in chief of The Chronicle and The Journal in Newcastle, Mark Walton, editor of The News in Portsmouth, Mic...
Jun 17, 2020•28 min
Last week newspaper front pages were dominated by images from Black Lives Matter protests, until Thursday, when the Madeleine McCann case displaced them. Campaigners said it was evidence of systemic racism in the British media, that editors judged an update on a white child, who went missing 13 years ago, to be more important than millions of black people protesting around the world. Is that true? Guests: Clive Myrie, BBC presenter, Moya Lothian-McLean, freelance journalist, Adam Cantwell-Corn, ...
Jun 10, 2020•28 min
Katharine Viner is editor in chief of The Guardian. In this extended interview with Amol Rajan she talks about her mission to build one of the world's leading "progressive news organisations", why The Guardian is "not a Labour paper" and reveals the backstory to their Dominic Cummings exclusive. Studio engineer: Gayl Gordon Producer: Richard Hooper
Jun 03, 2020•36 min
On 1 June 1980, the TV news industry was revolutionised by the launch of CNN, the world's first rolling news channel. Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international anchor, looks back on her own career and the reporting which has won her 11 Emmys, 4 Peabodys, and a slew of other awards. Presenter: Andrea Catherwood Studio Engineer: Tim Heffer Producer: Richard Hooper
May 27, 2020•28 min
British TV companies produce some of the most popular shows in the world. But the lockdown has put a halt to it all. Andrea Catherwood asks how the industry restarts and what post coronavirus TV might look like. Guests: Andy Harries CEO Left Bank Pictures, Jonathan Hewes, CEO Pioneer Productions, and Manori Ravindran, International Editor of Variety Producer: Richard Hooper Studio engineer: Nigel Dix Image credit: Scene from Netflix’s new series White Lines
May 20, 2020•28 min
Data journalists were until recently a niche part of the news industry, but the spread of coronavirus has meant their work is now regularly on the front page. How objective is data journalism and is it open to the same biases as any other type of reporting? Also, do journalists have a duty to lift the mood of the nation and look for good news stories? Or is that incompatible with journalism’s job of speaking truth to power? Guests: Beth Rigby, Sky News Political Editor, Jack Blanchard, editor Po...
May 13, 2020•28 min
Participation in video gaming is at record levels as the world remains locked down. The sector was already worth more than the music and video industries combined - so where does video gaming go next and why do some analysts believe it is the future of not just entertainment, but the internet itself? Guests: Jason Kingsley, Rebellion CEO, Vic Hood, games journalist at TechRadar, Aoife Wilson, journalist at Eurogamer and presenter This Game Changed My Life on BBC Sounds, and Robin McCammon, Excel...
May 06, 2020•28 min
The set-piece interview with a famous face is a type of journalism that newspapers do uniquely well. Andrea Catherwood meets three masters of the art and asks how they get their interviewees to say things they often wish they hadn't. Guests: Charlotte Edwardes, columnist and feature writer for The Sunday Times, Hadley Freeman, columnist and feature writer for The Guardian, and Ginny Dougary, award-winning interviewer for newspapers all over the world. Producer: Richard Hooper Studio Engineer: Ti...
Apr 29, 2020•28 min
As the world faces an economic downturn worse than the Great Depression, there’s perhaps never been a better time to be running a magazine about global affairs called The Economist. The trouble is, many of the ideas that the newspaper - as it still calls itself - has championed since 1843 are now under attack. In this extended interview, Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist, talks about making the case for liberalism, her strategy for the publication and a previous career as an...
Apr 22, 2020•48 min
When Channel 5 launched in 1997, it promised to be "modern and mainstream". But it wasn't long before the schedule was filled with tacky game shows and even soft porn movies. The bad reputation stuck for years. Under the leadership of Ben Frow, Channel 5 has been transformed into RTS Channel of the Year, attracting upmarket viewers with documentaries about the National Trust and a Michael Palin travelogue. In this extended edition of The Media Show, Ben Frow tells Amol Rajan more about his strat...
Apr 15, 2020•42 min
With places of worship closed because of coronavirus, some people of faith are turning to religious broadcasters. Amol Rajan asks what the role of religious media is and whether the pandemic now threatens their business model. Guests: Charmaine Noble-Mclean, executive director at Premier Christian Radio, Joseph Hayat, editor-in-chief British Muslim TV, Richard Ferrer, editor Jewish News, and Martin Bashir, BBC Religion Editor Producer: Richard Hooper
Apr 07, 2020•28 min
Radio stations have reported a huge surge in listeners since the start of the lock-down. Amol Rajan meets three presenters now helping to calm the nation. Guests: Simon Mayo of Scala Radio, Linda McDermott of BBC Radio Merseyside, and Iain Lee of talkRADIO. Producer: Richard Hooper
Apr 01, 2020•28 min
A global lock down means demand for media has never been higher - but making it has never been harder. Amol Rajan hears how TV producers and news providers are adapting. Also in the show, can esports fill the void left by the cancellation of live sport? Guests: Carrie Brown, Chair of the Football Writers' Association, John McVay, chief executive Pact, Paul McNamee, editor The Big Issue, Luke Lambourne, creator of Ultimate QuaranTeam and Leyton Orient FC media manager, and Shona Ghosh, UK tech ed...
Mar 25, 2020•28 min
How good a job is the media doing at explaining the science behind what's going on with coronavirus? Are we hearing enough from the experts? The right experts? Or is the Westminster lobby still setting the news agenda? Amol Rajan is joined by Emily Wilson, editor of New Scientist, Gareth Mitchell, presenter and lecturer in Science Communication at Imperial College London, and Dr Ellie Cannon, GP and Mail on Sunday columnist. Also in the show, how the BBC is responding with Dan McGolpin, BBC Cont...
Mar 19, 2020•28 min
As the number of people infected with coronavirus rises rapidly in Europe and the US, can journalists ever report the situation without causing panic? In Italy the newspaper Corriere della Sera has been accused of endangering public health after it published a leak of a government order to lock down the north of the country, resulting in people fleeing the region before it was implemented. Should journalists ever withhold the truth? Also in the programme, how Good Housekeeping has become the big...
Mar 11, 2020•28 min
The Daily Telegraph has reportedly been put up for sale by its owners, Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay. But according to a High Court case, relatives of the brothers are now feuding. One side even alleges the other has been bugging their conversations in the Ritz Hotel in London. How might the dispute complicate the future direction of the newspaper? Also in the programme, as the BBC Local News Partnership scheme expands into BAME publications, is the news industry now dependent on subsidies...
Mar 04, 2020•28 min
