BBC Radio 4

The Media Show

Society EN ↓ 838 episodes

Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.

Author

BBC Radio 4

Category

Society

Podcast website

www.bbc.co.uk

Latest episode

Jul 8, 2026

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Episodes

Outrage in the age of Twitter 05.09.2018

The New Yorker has cancelled an interview with Steve Bannon, President Trump's former strategist, after an online backlash. Meanwhile, The Economist says its own invitation for Bannon to participate in a festival still stands, arguing that "the future of open societies will not be secured by like-minded people speaking to each other in an echo chamber". At a time of enormous commercial pressure fo...

The secrets of Social success 29.08.2018

Louise Pentland has built an audience of millions via social platforms like YouTube and Instagram. What does her success tell us about the future of television and advertising? Also in the show, Kathryn Jacob OBE, CEO of Pearl and Dean, Simon Walker, CEO of Marquee TV and Shona Ghosh, senior technology reporter at Business Insider UK. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Richard Hooper.

Print is dead. Long live print 22.08.2018

The Metro is only UK national paper to increase its circulation and the TLS has also seen a significant rise in its readers this year. How are they bucking the trend? Also - the new sports streaming service to launch in the UK. Amol Rajan is joined by Ted Young, editor of Metro, Stig Abell, editor of the TLS, Matthew Moore from the Times,Marc Watson CEO of Eleven Sports and Rebecca Penty from Bloo...

The BBC will not appeal Cliff Richard case 15.08.2018

The BBC has announced it will not appeal the judgement of the High Court that its coverage of a police raid on Sir Cliff Richard violated his privacy. Where does this leave journalism - and the senior figures at the BBC whose errors led to this expensive failure? Amol Rajan is joined by the BBC's Director of Editorial Policy David Jordan and Angela Haggerty, columnist from The Sunday Herald. Also...

Big tech deletes Alex Jones 08.08.2018

YouTube, Facebook and Apple are among the tech platforms to have deleted content from InfoWars, the media company owned by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The platforms cite hate speech as a reason for their action. Jones accuses them of collusion and unfair censorship. Amol Rajan is joined by Emily Bell, Director at The Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia and Brendan O'Neill, editor...

Is campaigner-funded journalism really journalism? 02.08.2018

Who can afford investigative journalism? And should we care about who pays for it? This week Unearthed, the journalism team of Greenpeace, revealed a sting operation against The Institute for Economic Affairs, the right wing think tank. An undercover reporter recorded the IEA's director suggesting that it could help potential donors meet British government ministers. The Guardian ran the story on...

Plotting the future of history on TV 25.07.2018

The historian Dan Snow claims that traditional TV channels have neglected history programmes and has launched HistoryHit. TV, a new subscription service. Also in the show, Virgin Media in a dispute over how much to pay for UKTV channels and what the rise of closed social networks means for journalists. Amol Rajan is joined by Dan Snow, Manori Ravindran, Broadcast magazine, David Bouchier, Chief Di...

Privacy, liberty and Cliff Richard 18.07.2018

Sir Cliff Richard has won an initial £210,000 in damages from the BBC after a judge ruled that coverage of a police raid on his home in 2014 was a "very serious invasion" of his privacy. The BBC says that "in retrospect, there are things we would have done differently" but claim the case marks a "significant shift" against press freedom. Amol Rajan is joined by Susan Aslan, partner at ACK Media La...

Will the BBC ever solve its pay problem? 11.07.2018

The BBC has published its Annual Report which includes a list of its highest paid stars. The top 12 earners are all men despite the outcry that followed last year's list which showed a wide pay gap between men and women. Amol Rajan is joined by Ken MacQuarrie, BBC Director of Nations and Regions. Also, in the show Kay Madati, Twitter Vice President and Global Head of Content Partnerships, Cait Fit...

How to win in sports journalism 04.07.2018

England's World Cup success is a boon for the media but where's the line between journalist and fan? Amol Rajan is joined by Jess Brammar, Head of News at Huff Post UK, Nick Harris, The Mail on Sunday's Chief Sports Correspondent, Daniel Storey, Deputy Editor at Football 365, and Shona Ghosh, Senior Tech Reporter at Business Insider. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Richard Hooper.

Seymour Hersh - extended interview 27.06.2018

Seymour Hersh is considered to be one of America's greatest investigative journalists

What makes a reporter? 27.06.2018

What does it take to be a reporter - and how should editors get the best out of them? Amol Rajan is joined by Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of "Reporter: A Memoir", Emma Tucker is Deputy Editor of The Times, and Alex Bilmes is Editor-in-Chief of Esquire. Please note, an additional interview with Seymour Hersh will be found in The Media Show podcast. Presenter: Amol Ra...

The Media Show Revolutions: News 20.06.2018

In the first of a series of programmes exploring the media revolution, how the news industry is changing. Amol Rajan is joined by Fran Unsworth, the BBC's Director of News and Current Affairs, Peter Heneghan from social media company LADBible and Madhumita Murgia, European Tech Correspondent of the FT, and a live audience in the BBC Radio Theatre. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Richard Hooper.

How to keep your exclusive, exclusive 13.06.2018

The Observer and The Sunday Times both ran front pages alleging Russian links to Arron Banks, the businessman who helped fund the Leave. EU campaign. The scoops were based on emails belonging to Mr Banks and his colleague Andy Wigmore. Mr Banks has called claims of a conspiracy with Russian officials "absurd". The journalist behind The Observer's version of the story explains to The Media Show how...

Why isn't all TV like Love Island? 06.06.2018

Amol Rajan is joined by Sarah Tyekiff, Head of Non-Scripted Programming at Lime Pictures and a former ITV producer of Love Island, Lord Puttnam, Richard Halton, CEO of YouView, Margi Murphy, Tech Reporter at The Daily Telegraph, and Cynthia O'Murchu of the FT. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Richard Hooper.

The staged death of a Russian journalist 01.06.2018

Amol Rajan is joined by Ben Smith, BuzzFeed editor in chief, Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News International Editor, and Les Hinton, former publisher of the Wall Street Journal and author of The Bootle Boy. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Richard Hooper.

The Evolution of Radio 23.05.2018

Digital radio has become more popular than listening over FM and AM in the UK for the first time. Meanwhile, technology companies like Amazon and Spotify are increasing their investment in original podcasts and music programming. What does the drift to digital mean for traditional radio broadcasters? Also, as the Grenfell Tower inquiry begins taking public evidence, did the tragedy also represent...

Rise of the media robots 16.05.2018

Why media companies are investing in artificial intelligence. Also in the programme, reporting the Royal wedding and Killing Eve, the BBC drama that is screening in the US before the UK. Anne McElvoy is joined by Ellen Barry, New York Times Chief International Correspondent, Nathaniel Barling, CEO Knowhere News, Sally Woodward Gentle, co-founder of Sid Gentle Films, and Tabatha Goldstaub, co-found...

Journalism fights back! 10.05.2018

The publishers finding new markets for news. Andrea Catherwood is joined by Tim Dixon, editor of The Paper for Honiton, Jasper Jackson, digital editor for the New Statesman, Nick Petche, Yahoo's UK editor in chief, and Jane Martinson, media journalist. Presenter: Andrea Catherwood Producer: Richard Hooper.

Silicon Valley v Westminster 02.05.2018

Mark Zuckerberg has been threatened with a summons by Parliament if he fails to accept an invitation to answer questions from the DCMS select committee. Also on the show, The Book of Man, a new publisher that aims to "redefine masculinity", why ITV is rebooting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and a new arbitration scheme for people wronged by newspapers. Amol Rajan is joined by Damian Collins MP, Ma...

When a story becomes big news 25.04.2018

The Guardian had been reporting on residency problems faced by some Caribbean-born UK residents for 6 months before the story was picked up by other media outlets, triggering a crisis for the government. Also, The Daphne Project, a new initiative to continue the work of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese journalist murdered last year in a car bomb, and Sky News' Cristina Nicolotti Squires on runn...

The ethics of reporting from Syria 18.04.2018

How journalists work in a war-zone. Amol Rajan is joined by Robert Fisk, The Independent's Middle East correspondent, and Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East Editor. Also on the programme, Jane Featherstone founder of Sister Pictures discusses her new BBC One drama The Split and her career in television, Elizabeth Ammon, cricket reporter at The Times, on the BBC's loss of radio rights to some test match...

The Age of Zuckerberg 11.04.2018

How the media lives in the shadow of big tech: Amol Rajan is joined by Farrah Storr, Cosmopolitan editor, Terri White, editor in chief Empire and Pilot TV magazine, Madhumita Murgia, FT European Tech correspondent and Melanie Stokes, managing director of Kindle Entertainment. Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Richard Hooper.

How Porno conquered podcasts 04.04.2018

Once synonymous with the kitchen table, podcasts are now big business. The likes of Spotify and Amazon all produce their own podcasts and some advertisers see popular podcasts as a better investment than traditional radio. Andrea Catherwood is joined by Jamie Morton and James Cooper from My Dad Wrote A Porno, Caroline Crampton of the New Statesman, Imriel Morgan presenter of the Wanna Be podcast,...

BONUS Richard Gingras of Google News and Mark Thompson of The New York Times 29.03.2018

Google has launched a new feature called Subscribe with Google that will allow users to buy subscriptions from participating news sites. Could this appease publishers who blame Google and other tech companies for a huge loss in advertising revenue? Amol meets Richard Gingras, Vice President of Google News and Mark Thompson, CEO of The New York Times Company.

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