The Media Show

In 2011 the Prime Minister announced the two part Leveson inquiry into the role of the press and police in the phone-hacking scandal. Part 1 examined the culture, practices and ethics of the press. However, Part 2 could not commence until police investigations and criminal proceedings had been completed. This week, the CPS announced it would cease any ongoing criminal investigations. So, will Leve...

The first analysis of the 2015 TV leadership debates, carried out by the University of Leeds and funded by ITV, has been published. It claims to find that TV debates helped people engage with the campaigns, with almost half of people who claimed they were 'not interested' still tuning in. A further 30 per cent of the viewers to the first ITV debate said they had become more interested in the campa...

Lord David Puttnam, whose credits include the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire and The Killing Fields, is spearheading an inquiry into the future of public service broadcasting. It's aim is to look at the 'nature, purpose and role of public service television today and in the future'. The inquiry is being seen as a challenge to the eight-person advisory committee appointed by Culture Secretary John...

The president of AOL Content, which owns the Huffington Post, says the media industry is undergoing a 'revolutionary change'. In a speech at the Reuters Institute, Jimmy Maymann says it's because of a shift from 'destination' to 'distributed' media. This means that rather than actively visiting branded websites to choose content, users are consuming what's being offered to them, often via social m...

A series of co-ordinated attacks in Paris on Friday night have resulted in the deaths of at least 129 people. Media outlets quickly mobilized with blanket coverage across television, radio, newspapers and social media. How do the news media outlet co-ordinate and respond to such a breaking and dangerous situation? How do you decide what is a proportionate amount of coverage? And with so many uncon...

Trinity Mirror has taken full control of media network Local World, which has over 100 regional titles across England and Wales. Dubbed a 'good day for local media', by Chief Executive Simon Fox, the £187 million deal will create the UK's largest regional media group. In his first appearance on The Media Show, Steve Hewlett talks to Chief Executive Simon Fox about the purchase, what it means for a...

The Media Show's Steve Hewlett hosts a landmark discussion about the BBC's future as the corporation approaches the review of its Royal Charter. The main players from government, regulators, broadcasters and other media will come together to assess how the BBC should be funded, what it should and should not do, and how it should be regulated. Steve and his guests will challenge the evidence, expos...

Fleet Street's confidence has "worn thin", says the former editor of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger. In a wide ranging speech at the Society of Editors' annual conference, he also took a swipe at the rest of the UK media by criticising their lack of interest in the Snowden revelations and the subsequent debate about the issue of surveillance. Steve Hewlett talks to him about his legacy and asks whe...

The BBC's latest submission to the Government on the Charter Review consultation includes further detail on BBC Studios. The proposal removes the key guarantees and quotas for BBC in-house programmes but establishes BBC Studios as a separate entity, to maintain the BBC's tradition of programme making. To discuss the implications for the UK's independent TV production sector at large, Steve is join...

An investigation by BBC's Panorama into alleged VIP Paedophile rings has questioned whether there was in fact any reliable evidence to support claims. It questioned the methods of investigative website Exaro News - who have led the way in covering this story. Mark Watts, Editor in Chief of Exaro News, gives his response to Steve Hewlett. BBC journalist and presenter Robert Peston is to join rival...

Plans to privatise Channel 4 have been revealed after documents were photographed as they were carried into Downing Street. A sale would raise an estimated £1bn for the Treasury. Steve Hewlett talks to David Elstein, former chief executive of Channel 5, about the potential benefits of having Channel 4 in private hands. Also joining him is historian and journalist Maggie Brown who explains the chal...

The Metropolitan Police have issued a statement acknowledging that when they described allegations of historic child abuse and a VIP paedophile ring as 'credible and true', it suggested that they were pre-empting the outcome of their investigation. They say did not mean to give that impression and that they retain an open mind. The investigation has drawn criticism for appearing to rely too heavil...

The Royal Television Society Convention in Cambridge brings together senior figures from the TV industry to discuss the challenges of a shifting media landscape. This year's convention looks to television in 2020 and the challenges for content, creativity and business models. The Media Show is broadcasting live from the event. Sir Peter Bazalgette, President of the RTS and Chair of the Arts Counci...

The BBC outlined its vision this week for a more open and more distinctive BBC that would involve working more closely with arts and science institutions and local news services. Steve Hewlett hears from the BBC's Director of Strategy James Purnell about the plans. A year after the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) was set up, a survey for the pressure group Hacked Off found over six...

Rebekah Brooks is returning to News Corp as chief executive of its UK division, a year after she was cleared of all phone hacking charges. Her appointment has been condemned by Hacked Off and the shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant. What impact will her return have on a business that has tried to re-shape its image in light of the phone hacking scandal? Steve hears from Peter Preston, former edi...

The Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, says that the government has no desire to dismantle the BBC and that some defenders of the corporation are "tilting at windmills". We hear the first official response from the BBC's Director of Strategy James Purnell. Also in Edinburgh, Channel 5's Director of Programming Ben Frow, reveals how the channel is trying to...

Buckingham palace has appealed to the world's media not to publish unauthorised images of Prince George. It says some paparazzi have gone to, "extreme lengths" to take pictures and, "a line has been crossed". The palace said a small number of media organisations, mostly in Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand and the US, had published photos of Prince George in "unacceptable circumstances". How...

A prominent sportsman has been granted an injunction preventing The Sun newspaper from publishing a story about a relationship he had before he was married, based on the woman's account. The case has raised questions over how injunctions like this, relating to kiss-and-tells, impact on journalism, especially tabloids. Andrea Catherwood talks to The Sun's editor David Dinsmore, and discusses the ef...

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has called on the Football Association to act on a "worrying trend" among its member clubs of handing out media bans. It comes days after Scottish football columnist on The Times, Graham Spiers, along with a BBC journalist, was banned from Rangers. Andrea Catherwood talks to Graham Spiers, who explains how his journalism has impacted on relationships with fo...

The Japanese Nikkei group has bought the Financial Times from publisher Pearson for £844 million. Pearson has also confirmed it's now in talks to sell it's 50 per cent stake in the Economist. Steve Hewlett talks to Douglas McCabe from Enders Analysis about the sale and to David McNeill, the Independent's Japan correspondent and Economist writer about how east-meets-west cultural differences might...

The BBC Trust, the governing body of the BBC, has published its response to last week's government green paper on the BBC Charter Review. The review will look at, amongst other things, how the BBC should be governed and regulated - with many thinking the new charter will spell the end of the Trust. In her first interview for The Media Show, Trust Chair Rona Fairhead discusses her vision for the fu...

The BBC's Director-General Lord Hall has said it is up to licence fee payers to determine the size and shape of the BBC. It's Annual Report, out yesterday, shows how spending and staff numbers rose, despite cost cutting at the corporation. The Chairman of the BBC Rona Fairhead also said there are likely to be further cuts in "scope," prompting speculation that services would be cut. Steve Hewlett...

In today's budget, the Chancellor George Osborne announced that responsibility for the policy and delivery of free TV licences for the over 75s is to be shifted from the government to the BBC - at a cost of more than half a billion pounds. To balance that, says the BBC's Director General Tony Hall, the government has committed to let the licence fee increase by inflation; to close the so-called ca...

Tim Hincks, the President of Endemol Shine, on defining and nurturing creativity, tackling the middle class bias in TV, why we should embrace the mainstream and why UK television is best when it engages with the rest of the world. Richard Ayre from the BBC Trust explains why the Trust has given a provisional and conditional go-ahead to BBC proposals to close BBC3 as a broadcast channel and move it...

The BBC Trust says that the BBC's TV commissioning process is not sustainable. Currently, 50% is guaranteed for in house commissions, independent producers compete for 25% and the last 25% is open to all. However, the Trust says there is a strong case for reducing or even removing the 50% currently guaranteed for in house commissions. The decision opens the doors for Director General Tony Hall's B...