The Media Show

Most of us will not play a role in electing the next Prime Minister. Leadership of the Conservative party will be decided by its members. So how is the media holding to account, on our behalf, the candidates? Andrea Catherwood is joined by Emily Maitlis, who will be hosting one of the BBC's candidate debates, Katy Balls, The Spectator's deputy political editor, and Katherine Forster of The Sunday...

How The New York Times grew one of the world's most popular podcasts

Chernobyl is the HBO and Sky mini-series that the Internet Movie Database currently ranks as the greatest ever TV show. Zai Bennett, Sky's Director of Programmes, explains how he commissioned the dramatisation of the 1986 nuclear disaster. Also, Claire Lewis on her show 63 Up, Trevor Birney, one of the Belfast investigative journalists arrested after a whistle-blower leaked secret documents that r...

Nancy Pelosi is a huge figure in US politics. She's Speaker of the House of Representatives - the first woman to hold the position - and as a Democrat, she's a frequent target for supporters of President Trump. Last week, a video of her which had been manipulated to make her sound drunk, was shared widely on social media. Does the video mark the start of a new era of fake news? Andrea Catherwood i...

German newspapers have published a secret recording of Heinz-Christian Strache, the Austrian vice-chancellor, offering government contracts to a woman he believed to be the niece of a Russian oligarch. But the source of the video is unknown and the journalists involved are accused of furthering the agenda of the leaker, ahead of the European Parliament elections. Bethany Bell, the BBC's Vienna cor...

Ted Sarandos is Chief Content Officer at Netflix, making him the man in charge of the reported $15 billion it has to spend on new shows in 2019 alone. In this extended interview, Sarandos talks about his childhood spent watching "a reckless amount of TV", and explains the strategy that turned Netflix from a DVD rental service into one of the world's most valuable companies. Presenter: Amol Rajan P...

News UK, owner of many British media outlets including The Times and talkSPORT, has formed a marketing agency that uses social media influencers. The Fifth will also offer advertisers access to some of News UK's own journalists. Also in the show, relaunching The Face and a history of YouTube. Amol Rajan is joined by Oliver Lewis, managing director of The Fifth, Emily Lavinia, influencer, Chris Sto...

Do you know your AC12 from your AC3 and your OCG from you UCO? If you do, you’ll be a fan of Line of Duty. It's one of the BBC's most popular dramas and Priscilla Parish is executive producer. Also in the show, as civil servants hunt for the Whitehall insider who gave top secret information to The Daily Telegraph, advice from two of the country's best investigative reporters on leaking to journali...

Lyra McKee was a 29 year old investigative journalist shot dead while observing rioting in Londonderry. Lyra's friend Peter Geoghegan, co-founder of The Ferret, talks about her work. Also on the show, Amol Rajan is joined by Jo Elvin, editor of You magazine, Cate Sevilla, former editor in chief of The Pool, and Olivia Crellin, co-founder of PressPad. Producer: Richard Hooper

When journalists and politicians go head-to-head it can be entertaining for the public, and sometimes career-ending for the interviewee. But what do political interviews actually teach us? To discuss the art of the political interview, Amol is joined by the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Rachel Sylvester of The Times and Iain Dale of LBC. Producer: Richard Hooper

Julie Etchingham presents ITV's Tonight programme and News at Ten. Alison Phillips is editor of The Daily Mirror. They discuss the state of journalism today and why social class might now be the biggest barrier for young reporters trying to emulate their careers. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Richard Hooper

Why are so many states funding a news channel? China, Russia and Turkey are just some of the countries spending huge amounts of money on global news channels that broadcast in English. What sort of content are they producing, who is watching and should we be concerned? Amol Rajan discusses the relationship between soft power and broadcasting with: Jamie Angus, director of BBC World Service Group,...

Alastair Fothergill is one of the most respected producers in natural history television. At the BBC he was the brains behind hits like The Blue Planet and Planet Earth. Now, as co-founder of Silverback Films, he's taken Sir David Attenborough to Netflix for new series Our Planet. Also in the show, will Apple's move into services like TV streaming and banking be a success? Reed Albergotti of The W...

HuffPost is the global news publisher owned by Verizon, the US media company. Lydia Polgreen, its editor-in-chief discusses business and editorial strategy. Also in the show, Madhav Chinnappa, Google's Director of News Ecosystem Development and David Austin, CEO of the British Board of Film Classification. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Richard Hooper

The leader column has long been a feature of newspapers. But the editor of The Herald, the Scottish broadsheet, has now ended daily leaders, believing that readers can make up their own mind on an issue. Could this set a precedent for other newspapers to follow? Also in the show, two editors discuss making a magazine for their very particular audiences. Amol is joined by Anna Bassi, editor in chie...

Leaving Neverland is a Channel 4 and HBO documentary which alleges Michael Jackson was a paedophile. The director, Dan Reed, explains how he made the film and persuaded men who, as children, had been befriended by Jackson to tell their story. Also in the show, reporting anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and producing a newspaper for the Jewish community. Amol Rajan is joined by Dan Reed, director...

Global, the UK's largest commercial radio company, has announced it will launch national breakfast shows on Capital, Heart and Smooth radio. The new programmes, produced in London, will replace local shows and lead to studio closures and job losses. Does the move mark the end of local commercial radio? Amol is joined by Phil Riley, former chief executive of Chrysalis Radio, and Gill Hind, COO of E...

The Culture Select Committee’s final report into fake news and disinformation has heavily criticised the practices of tech firms like Facebook. Amol Rajan discusses its findings with Labour MP and member of the the Select Committee, Ian Lucas, Dex Torricke-Barton, former executive at both Google and Facebook and Stephen Lepitak, Editor of the tech and marketing website The Drum. Plus several senio...

Demand for news is higher than ever but fewer people are prepared to pay for it. The government asked former journalist Dame Frances Cairncross to conduct a review into the sustainability of high-quality journalism. Amol Rajan is joined by Dame Frances Cairncross, Wolfgang Blau, president of Condé Nast International, Professor Jane Martinson, Daniel Ionescu, managing editor of The Lincolnite and L...

Spotify has announced that it plans to spend $500m this year buying podcast companies. Daniel Ek, the founder and CEO of Spotify, says that "audio - not just music" will be its future and is looking to entice radio listeners to the platform. Also in the show, a new strategy for BBC local radio and "the podcast for older people". Amol is joined by Nick Quah, creator of the Hot Pod newsletter, Peter...

Saudi Arabia is accused of operating the BeoutQ satellite TV channel which illegally broadcasts sporting events, the rights of which are actually owned by the Qatari company beIN. David Sugden is a director of the beIN Media Group and says the operation is now an "industrial scale theft". Abdirahim Saeed from BBC Monitoring explains how the media has been drawn into the wider dispute between Saudi...

An extended interview with the producer of some of TV's most popular dramas. Photo credit: James Gourley / BAFTA

Bauer Media's Steve Parkinson explains the strategy behind Scala Radio

The father of a teenager who took her own life says Instagram "helped kill my daughter"

Dame Pippa Harris is Chair of BAFTA and the co-founder of Neal Street Productions, the team behind Call The Midwife. Also in the programme, the launch of a new classical music radio station and Freeview goes mobile. Amol Rajan is joined by Dame Pippa Harris, Jonathan Thompson, CEO of Digital UK, Gillian Reynolds, radio critic and Steve Parkinson, Group Managing Director for Bauer Media's national...