The Media Show
Episodes
GB News: One Year On
08 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
GB News launched one year ago this week. It promised to disrupt - to hear people, places and issues that other media outlets weren’t paying attentio...
Dan Walker and Reporting on the Royals
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Walker has quit BBC Breakfast for a job presenting Channel 5’s flagship news show - what made him go? Also in the programme, as the media prepar...
Partygate - is the story over?
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Gray’s report into what went on in Downing Steet during lockdown has finally been published. We now know that staff broke covid rules with the ...
Wagatha Christie and celebrity journalism
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week we discuss the Wagatha Christie trial and what it told us about celebrity journalism. Simon Boyle, Executive Showbiz Editor at The Sun, tel...
What next for Channel 4?
11 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As Channel 4 approaches its 40th birthday it faces one of the most pivotal moments in its history. The broadcaster is funded by advertising but is pub...
Reporting on the abuse of power
04 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two stories about power – and how it can be abused. The first is the tale of an MP caught looking at porn in the House of Commons and what it might ...
Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Three major stories could change the way we get our news. The multi-million-dollar streaming service CNN+, once billed as the broadcaster’s future, ...
Piers Morgan Returns
20 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Piers Morgan is the star signing for Rupert Murdoch's new TalkTV channel in the UK. His show, "Piers Morgan Uncensored", will also be streamed on Fox ...
Translating the French election
13 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The government’s plan to privatise Channel 4 has now been revealed. But who is lining up to buy the broadcaster and what could a change in ownership...
Ira Glass, Godfather of Sound
06 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ira Glass is the presenter and producer behind This American Life, the first ever radio programme to win a Pulitzer Prize. Its spin off podcast, Seria...
Ukraine's lessons for the media
30 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As peace talks between Ukraine and Russia get underway, the war on the ground continues. How is the war being reported differently by Ukrainian and in...
Netflix's Hollywood Ambition
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Media Show is in Hollywood this week, ahead of the 94th Academy awards. Netflix’s The Power of the Dog is nominated for 12 Oscars, including the...
Why are Russian oligarchs only now in the press spotlight?
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As governments around the world race to sanction associates of Vladimir Putin, the British media turns its attention to the role Russian oligarchs hav...
A News Cold War
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A media crackdown in Russia, including a new law against ‘fake news’, has led many independent news outlets to shut down. Some major western media...
The Information War in Ukraine
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alongside fighting in Ukraine, an "information war" is playing out. While Western media on the ground are describing a brutal war, Russian media offer...
The Tricky Question of Press Freedom
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What are the limits of free media? The Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries is calling on regulator Ofcom to consider action against Russian "propaganda" ...
John Witherow, Editor of The Times
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How much power do our newspapers really have? John Witherow has been at the heart of Fleet Street for decades, He is one of the longest-serving nation...
How digital sleuths changed journalism
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Open-source investigators forensically analyse digital evidence - social media posts, eyewitness videos, satellite imagery - to find the truth behind ...
Spotify's $100 million problem
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One of the world's most popular podcasters has given Spotify a headache. Some critics and musicians claim that Joe Rogan is promoting COVID misinforma...
Face to face with the ISIS "Beatles"
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A major trial will take place this year in the US. Elshafee El Sheikh is accused of being a member of the Islamic State group, and of being one of the...
"Operation Red Meat"
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Prime Minister is under intense scrutiny, with political journalists reporting on backbencher unrest and a fiery PMQs. But is there really a gover...
The Editor Planning to Shake Up News
12 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A bold new media start-up plans to create from scratch a news provider that will rival the likes of CNN, the New York Times and the BBC. The people be...
Did the storming of the Capitol damage US media?
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A year on from the storming of the US Capitol and the media is still coming to terms with what happened. Some US news outlets have been accused of "ob...
The Secret Life of the Continuity Announcer
29 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Their voices resound in living rooms across the country, but how much do we really know about the people who talk between the programmes? From impecca...
Meet the Covid Influencers
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Decisions about how we should behave at Christmas are heavily influenced by the media – from online Twitter threads and infographics to interviews w...
Jon Snow: A Lifetime in News
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jon Snow is the longest-running presenter of Channel 4 News and one of the most famous faces in broadcasting. Over the course of three decades, he has...
Inside the No 10 Christmas party scoops
08 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Was there a Christmas party in 10 Downing Street last year during lockdown? The Mirror received a tip-off from an anonymous source, alleging that a pa...
Don't Shoot the Messenger
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is the relationship between journalists and their audiences? Reporters covering the Omicron variant say they’ve received abuse from people angr...
How a Political Story Cuts Through
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A faltering speech by Boris Johnson has Westminster journalists in a spin. The government changed its stance on lobbying following attacks in the Dail...
Nadine Dorries
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nadine Dorries was made Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in September. In this interview, her first sit-down discussion with the BBC si...
The Ethics of Reporting Terrorism
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After Sunday’s attack in Liverpool, journalists are questioning the right way to report responsibly on these types of incident. When should the word...
How 'British' is British TV?
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The UK has become a production hub, with giant companies like Amazon and Netflix filming on our shores - and driving up the cost of shoots. But how ea...
Who's been listening?
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This has been a nervy week in the media world, as radio stations finally found out what happened to listening habits. Audience data was suspended duri...
What is the Metaverse?
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's been another tough week for Facebook, as the world's biggest news brands publish co-ordinated and critical stories, all based on whistle-blower F...
Climate change and the challenge for media
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Heat pumps, net zero, decarbonisation, the Paris agreement. With less than 2 weeks to go until Cop26, we’re being deluged with detail and jargon. Bu...
Saudi Arabia's media ambition
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Saudi Arabian purchase of Newcastle football club has been a huge news story. But football isn't the only area of British public life in which the...
Are the public interested in public interest news?
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A global investigation and the largest leak of offshore data in history has produced the Pandora Papers. Journalists around the world have had front-p...
Politicians and the press
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s party conference season. Political journalists are dashing around the country from fringe event to meeting room. Politicians beyond government ...
Gary Lineker: presenter, influencer, campaigner
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
His TV audience is in the millions. His new game show launches soon on ITV. He has over 8 million followers on Twitter. And he wasn’t too bad at foo...
Reporting Afghanistan
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The world is waiting nervously to see what kind of Afghanistan emerges. A power struggle has broken out among Taliban leaders. But much of the Western...
'TV has failed disabled people. Utterly and totally'
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jack Thorne is the acclaimed screenwriter behind episodes of His Dark Materials, Shameless and Skins. In this year's MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinbur...
Making the news "less London"
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To tell the story of the UK more fairly and more equitably there need to be more reporting voices outside London - that seems to be the journalistic m...
The Great British Nostalgia Trip
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the era of the reboot. Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen doing up people’s living rooms, Ruby Wax interviewing Hollywood stars. New versions of Ne...
How to earn a living on social media
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Social media platforms earn a fortune from our unpaid labour. Users share pictures on Instagram, tell stories on Twitter, and offer up their music on ...
Reporting on the ground in China
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How hard is it to report on the ground in China? Journalists covering the recent floods found their presence was not always welcome. Major titles - in...
Deborah Turness, boss of ITN
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
ITN News is part of the iconography of British television news. But who watches bulletins these days? Younger audiences are moving online for their fi...
Sports broadcasters fight for our attention
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a packed summer of sport, from the Olympics and the Euros, to a new cricket competition called The Hundred on primetime BBC. But in the age of...
Inside The Pegasus Project
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A group of news outlets from countries around the world have banded together to expose the alleged use of a phone hacking tool to spy on leading journ...
Why can't social media companies stop online abuse?
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Footballers are being racially abused on social media. Why can't social media companies stop this from happening? An investigation by two New York Tim...
The unstoppable rise of TikTok
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
TikTok had a fantastic pandemic, stacking up over 800 million users. Hollywood studios are casting TikTok stars. Record labels are snapping up TikTok ...
The tabloids claim a scalp
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A scoop in The Sun forced health secretary Matt Hancock to resign. But how did The Sun come to have this explosive story, and what did they do with it...
Channel 4 facing privatisation?
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The government has launched a consultation on the future of Channel 4 and privatisation is being considered. But what could that mean in practice? Wou...
Reporting when there's no journalist in the room
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s biggest leaders have been face-to-face in a series of meetings. But as always, nobody from the press was allowed in the room. So how eas...
Radio takes on the tech giants
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the UK’s commercial radio groups is launching ad-free versions of their stations for a monthly fee. Is this radio’s secret weapon to defeat...
A crisis for war reporting?
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The role of foreign reporter is one of the most glamourous in journalism. But with international correspondents stuck at home during the pandemic, and...
What next for the BBC after the Bashir scandal?
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The BBC is facing intense scrutiny. Last week’s Dyson Report revealed multiple lies and deception by Martin Bashir - to secure his famous interview ...
Israel-Gaza conflict rages online
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Israel-Gaza conflict is a local clash playing out on the global stage, with social media a weapon of war for both sides. But how did TikTok tutori...
Riding the news cycle
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The elections are over and the results are in - but a giant inflatable Boris Johnson has captured much of the press attention. So how does our new cyc...
Decline of the Editor
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In his final edition as presenter of The Media Show, Amol Rajan looks at the challenges ahead for journalism. With help from leading journalists, Amol...
Podcasts go premium
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon-owned Wondery are launching their first British podcast, while Apple and Spotify are moving some of their most popular podcasts behind a subscr...
Roula Khalaf, editor of The Financial Times
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The biggest political story of the year - David Cameron's involvement with the failed financial company Greensill - began as a scoop in The Financial ...
Threats to journalists in Northern Ireland
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A cameraman has been assaulted while covering scenes of violence in Northern Ireland. Other journalists have faced death threats. So what is the best ...
Reddit and the anti-establishment
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Huffman is co-founder and CEO of Reddit, the website that bills itself as "the front page of the internet". In this extended interview, Huffman ...
Fighting the Covid infodemic
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the UK marks one year since the start of the first lockdown, Amol joins the BBC World Service programme World Questions to take questions from list...
The truth about investigations
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amol Rajan on the mechanics of investigative journalism: the nuts, bolts, fear, loathing and legal letters of being a proper investigative hack. But h...
"There's no democracy without a strong, free press"
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As he steps down as editor of the Washington Post, Marty Baron reflects on his tenure. When he joined the paper in 2012, it was a moderately profitabl...
Andrew Neil: a 50-year media career
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The chairman of GB News, which launches later this year, tells Amol Rajan about editing The Sunday Times, launching Sky TV and publishing The Spectato...
Meghan and Harry on Oprah: the media fallout
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's interview with Oprah Winfrey delivered record ratings for ITV: at its peak, 12.4m viewers were watching, the broadcas...
Is the UK media obsessed with Westminster?
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There’s an almighty ruckus going on in Holyrood, but London-based media seem to be finding the story difficult to follow. Is the UK media too focuse...
Squaring up to the tech giants
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A spat between the Australian government and Facebook resulted in the Silicon Valley giant blocking every news organisation from their platform in Aus...
Andrea Coscelli, the watchdog taking on the tech giants
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Andrea Coscelli, the chief executive of the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, tells the BBC that tech giants Google and Facebook have too great ...
How ITV News reported first-hand on the storming of Congress
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The second impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump has dominated the news. Much of the trial focused on events at the Capitol buildings on ...
Carolyn McCall, boss of ITV
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dame Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of ITV, on the crucial role played by public service broadcasters and the "urgent" need for government protec...
Discovery on their shift to streaming
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
American streaming services dominate our viewing, even though many of their programmes are British-made. Discovery International's CEO tells Amol Raja...
"We're never doing an anti-immigrant story again"
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Daily Express editor Gary Jones is Labour-voting, backed Remain, and wants his paper to reflect multicultural Britain. He tells Amol Rajan how he effe...
Reporting the war on coronavirus
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If we are "at war" with coronavirus, where do journalists find the frontline? Or are more distanced, factual pieces better at keeping people informed?...
Free Speech vs the Internet
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the past week, President Trump has been deleted from Twitter, and suspended from Facebook - and now YouTube. Parler, a free speech network, has bee...
How video games became the lockdown playground
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Schools are shut across the UK and screens are the only route children have to teachers. So which bits of the media are stepping up to keep kids infor...
Jane Tranter, super-producer
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jane Tranter is the super-producer behind shows like His Dark Materials, Succession, and the Emmy Award winning The Night Of. As co-founder of Bad Wol...
Johnny Depp and the libel trial of the century
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a big year for media lawyers. There's been the Johnny Depp libel trial, Harry and Meghan suing The Mail on Sunday, and the newsroom drama ...
Who's winning in sports media?
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is a bumper week for sports media. New rights deals are up for grabs, while a packed football calendar means logistical headaches for broadcaster...
British TV and the threat from tech
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week Ofcom, the media regulator, warned that traditional broadcasting is "at risk" without "radical shake-up". But at risk of what, and what kind...
Reporting the vaccine
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The UK has approved a coronavirus vaccine and will start rolling it out. But what role does the media play in reporting the science, and perhaps even ...
A Queen of Advertising
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This has been an exceptionally difficult year for advertisers. With shops closed and holidays cancelled, many advertisers saw their revenues drop. Amo...
A new era for media
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Are we witnessing a shift in the balance of media power? The Labour party says emergency laws are needed to make social networks "criminally responsib...
John Whittingdale's media agenda
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As Minister for Media and Data, John Whittingdale has the power to significantly change the media landscape in the UK over the next few years.Should C...
Diana, Panorama and a BBC apology
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Princess Diana's brother has called for an inquiry into the circumstances of his sister's historic Panorama interview. Charles Spencer alleges BBC rep...
'If you're not breaking stories, you're nothing'
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Alison Phillips is editor-in-chief of The Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. In this extended interview, Phillips discusses her strategy f...
As America decides, Big Tech weighs in
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Facebook and Twitter have been accused of censorship after they suppressed a story by the New York Post about Joe Biden's son, Hunter. The social medi...
The economics of outrage
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A global pandemic, the US election, Brexit negotiations, climate change - the news has never been busier, but how good a job are journalists doing at ...
YouTube and the reinvention of television
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this wide-ranging and exclusive interview, Ben McOwen Wilson, Managing Director of YouTube in the UK, reveals new trends seen during lockdown, how ...
How conspiracy theories hijacked the news
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ahead of the first US presidential debate, right-wing commentators and Donald Trump's own campaign team, speculated that Joe Biden was using a hidden ...
Bake Off rises out of lockdown
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ques...
The demographics of news
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
New research from Women in Journalism suggests that the UK's newsrooms are far from representative of society, with front page bylines and the airwave...
How Spotify reached No. 1
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 com...
Charming the old Gray Lady
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Under the leadership of Mark Thompson, the fortunes of The New York Times have been transformed. With over 6 million paying subscribers, "the Gray Lad...
Tony Hall's Exit Interview
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 editori...
Our love-hate relationship with the tech giants
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 billi...
June Sarpong: What is diversity?
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 positi...
Succession and shakedown for Murdoch and TikTok
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ult...