The Media Show

The Rehabilitation of Channel 5

15 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 an...

Keeping faith in the media

07 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With places of worship closed because of coronavirus, some people of faith are turning to religious broadcasters. Amol Rajan asks what the role of rel...

Keep Calm and Put Radio On

01 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 nat...

World locks down, media steps up

25 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 prov...

Return of the expert

19 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Panic and the truth

11 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the number of people infected with coronavirus rises rapidly in Europe and the US, can journalists ever report the situation without causing panic?...

The Barclay Brothers, bugs, and The Telegraph

04 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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, relati...

The new wave of political magazines

26 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Magazine sales are up for some titles, with a resurgence of those that deal with news and current affairs. What's their secret? Also in the programme,...

Fake news, strong views, Yorkshire and me

19 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Yorkshire Post is one of the oldest titles in the country and styles itself as “Yorkshire’s National Newspaper”. During the 2019 general ele...

The big money bet on podcasting

12 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As Spotify buys The Ringer for a reported $250m, Amol Rajan asks if the podcasting gold rush will ever end.Guests: Steve Ackerman, Managing Director o...

Has No 10 called time on media scrutiny?

05 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Broadcasters have complained after Boris Johnson's "address to the nation" on the eve of Brexit was made by Downing Street's PR team and not recorded ...

Brexit's "done" - so what will the media talk about now?!

29 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Brexit will be done on Friday, says Boris Johnson – and large parts of the media will need to find something else to talk about. Amol Rajan asks whe...

Reinventing TV Documentaries

22 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Documentary making is undergoing a renaissance, with box set factual shows among the most popular on streaming services. Amol Rajan charts the evoluti...

A right Royal PR disaster

15 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced that they are stepping down as senior members of the Royal family, a decision that is thought to have be...

The man driving Jeremy Clarkson

08 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Andy Wilman is executive producer of The Grand Tour, the Amazon Prime Video show featuring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Previously ...

The British drama boom

01 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The UK's traditional TV channels might be losing viewers to Netflix and Amazon, but when it comes to the actual shows we're all streaming, British pro...

Ian Hislop's review of the year in media

22 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Private Eye editor on making jokes about Boris Johnson, Prince Andrew and Greta Thunberg

Delete the media?

18 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Most British journalists reporting on politics were shocked by the scale of the Conservative victory. Why did the result take them by surprise and wha...

Ronan Farrow's Battle to Report

11 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ronan Farrow is hailed as one of the greatest reporters of his generation. For his ground-breaking New Yorker investigation into Harvey Weinstein, he ...

Will Amazon deliver a revolution in sports media?

04 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Amazon has the rights to broadcast the Premier League in December, the first time matches have not been "televised" on a traditional TV channel. Is th...

The media's criminal obsession

27 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A new Channel 4 show What Makes a Murderer has been made with the assistance of a convicted criminal. Tony Sales co-founded the production company Und...

Trust me, I'm a journalist

20 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dorothy Byrne, Head of News and Current Affairs for Channel 4 and author of Trust Me, I'm Not A Politician, on the role journalism can play in restori...

Facebook's Steve Hatch on paying tax and political ads

20 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Exclusive interview with Facebook's boss in Northern Europe

The NYT and The FT

13 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Amol Rajan is joined by Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times and Lionel Barber, editor of The Financial Times. Mr Barber announced this...

Making The Mouse Roar: Disney CEO Bob Iger

01 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As CEO of Disney since 2005, Bob Iger has transformed the company with the acquisition of entertainment brands like Marvel, Lucasfilm and 20th Century...

The journalists who took down Harvey Weinstein

30 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In January, in a court in Manhattan, Harvey Weinstein will stand trial for the rape and sexual assault of two women. The movie producer denies the cha...

Kay Burley does breakfast

23 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kay Burley has worked for Sky News since it launched in 1989. Now she has a new role as presenter of its breakfast show.Also in the programme, Clive T...

How do you report from a repressive regime?

16 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

China and Russia are featuring prominently in the two biggest international news stories at the moment in Hong Kong and Syria. We have two top journal...

Do machines make the rights choices for children?

09 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Algorithms are increasingly making choices for young people, from recommending new TV shows to the friends they meet. But when machines are so intelli...

The BBC's Impartiality Crisis

02 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The BBC is engulfed in a row about its handling of a complaint against Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty. Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Channel 4 News and...

Who Wants to Be a Peaky Blinder?

25 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Knight is best known as the creator of Peaky Blinders, the BBC gangster drama. But his career hits also include Who Wants To Be A Millionaire -...

Is opinion the future of journalism?

18 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

LBC is gaining listeners thanks to a strategy of employing highly opinionated presenters. What can other news outlets learn from its success? And is t...

Why we're all watching Britain's nerdiest channel

11 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

BBC Parliament is enjoying record ratings as viewers tune in for the latest episode of British political drama. Meanwhile, some MPs have been defying ...

How to cover chaos

04 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The rules of politics have gone out the window and momentous political events are happening, it seems, every hour. So how do journalists and TV produ...

"Hey Media Show, tell me about smart speakers"

28 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Around 20% of UK households now own a smart speaker manufactured by the likes of Google and Amazon. But have we really thought through the consequence...

Why advertisers are blacklisting news

21 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Digital advertisers are maintaining blacklists of news topics they disapprove of. Some brands have even added keywords associated with President Trump...

Taking care of reality TV guests

14 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The broadcasting watchdog Ofcom is proposing new safeguarding rules for reality or unscripted television and radio shows. It says that “due care mus...

Hunting spies and exposing lies

07 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Eliot Higgins is the founder of Bellingcat, the team of open-source investigators behind a series of extraordinary scoops. Their investigations into M...

Changing the game of sports journalism

31 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Athletic is a subscription website without adverts, known for its highly detailed coverage of US sports teams. It is now launching in the UK in Au...

The power of the columnist

24 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As Boris Johnson swaps his newspaper column for Downing Street, how much power do columnists really have? We convene a master class with three big nam...

Tommy Robinson and the rules of journalism

17 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, has been jailed for contempt of court for his coverage of a sex abuse trial. Separately, journali...

Inside Wimbledon

10 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Wimbledon claims to reach over a billion viewers globally. With up to 18 matches taking place simultaneously, televising the tournament is the world's...

Who's watching the BBC?

03 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The BBC has published its Annual Report and it raises some very big questions for the corporation. Is it still independent? Some of the BBC's biggest ...

The lure of the obvious

26 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

From Brexit to Trump, why do so many journalists keep getting it wrong? Helen Lewis, staff writer at The Atlantic, believes political journalism has b...

How the media sells us gender equality

19 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Advertising Standards Authority has introduced new rules that ban "harmful gender stereotypes" from adverts. Meanwhile, ITV has announced that it ...

Sex, drugs and TV debates

12 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 th...

The Daily's Michael Barbaro

12 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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

Chernobyl: the story of TV's highest rated show

05 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Why seeing isn't believing

29 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Spies, lies and videotape

22 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

German newspapers have published a secret recording of Heinz-Christian Strache, the Austrian vice-chancellor, offering government contracts to a woman...

The Story of Netflix with Ted Sarandos

15 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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....

How to win followers and influence people

08 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

News UK, owner of many British media outlets including The Times and talkSPORT, has formed a marketing agency that uses social media influencers. The ...

Interrogating the producer of Line of Duty

01 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Remembering Lyra McKee

24 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Lyra McKee was a 29 year old investigative journalist shot dead while observing rioting in Londonderry. Lyra's friend Peter Geoghegan, co-founder of T...

The Political Interview

17 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 p...

Journalism's class ceiling

10 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Why everyone wants a news channel

03 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 c...

Attenborough's Netflix adventure

27 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 Plane...

HuffPost's Lydia Polgreen

20 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

HuffPost is the global news publisher owned by Verizon, the US media company. Lydia Polgreen, its editor-in-chief discusses business and editorial str...

Who cares what the papers say?

13 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Investigating Michael Jackson

06 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Commercial radio tunes out of local

27 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Global, the UK's largest commercial radio company, has announced it will launch national breakfast shows on Capital, Heart and Smooth radio. The new p...

How to combat fake news?

20 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Culture Select Committee’s final report into fake news and disinformation has heavily criticised the practices of tech firms like Facebook. Amol...

The Cairncross Conundrum

13 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 con...

Spotify's big move on radio

06 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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 - n...

The great TV piracy scandal

30 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Saudi Arabia is accused of operating the BeoutQ satellite TV channel which illegally broadcasts sporting events, the rights of which are actually owne...

BONUS Dame Pippa Harris on Call The Midwife and the TV industry

23 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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

BONUS Do we need another classical music radio station?

23 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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

BONUS Facebook's Steve Hatch apologises for distressing content about suicide on Instagram

23 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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

How Call The Midwife became a global hit

23 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

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...

BONUS Matthew Chance, CNN Senior International Correspondent

16 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

CNN's man in Moscow on the world news events that have shaped his career

Who needs fact-checkers?

16 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Facebook has contracted a UK charity to help stop fake news. But does the growth of professional fact-checkers undermine real journalists? Also in the...

Making a show for Netflix

09 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jamie Campbell is co-founder of the production company Eleven, creators of the new Netflix show Sex Education. He describes his experience working wit...

The Art of Public Relations

02 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How do you organise a publicity stunt, how do you deal with being doorstepped and what do you do if you think your reputation has been trampled on by ...

The Great British Radio Breakfast

26 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this special edition of The Media Show, Amol Rajan charts the history of breakfast radio and finds out how it became one of the most competitive ma...

Fast and slow journalism

19 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Amol Rajan is joined by Tom Kerr, editor of the Racing Post, Rob Orchard, founder of Delayed Gratification, and Ranj Begley, managing director of Read...

Football, racism and the media

12 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Will a new EU copyright law prevent Youtubers from broadcasting? Amol talks to technology reporter Kate Russell and media lawyer Christina Michelos. ...

The Media Show Revolutions: Radio

05 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

As part of our series of audience events exploring the media revolution, how the radio industry is being disrupted by new technology. From podcasts to...

Can Canada save journalism?

28 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Canadian government has unveiled a £350 million package of tax breaks for the news industry. One of the initiatives will see consumers being able...

Sir Harold Evans

28 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A legend of Fleet Street on his career and the art of concise writing

How Brexit became a media pantomime

21 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Has the UK media's obsession with certain colourful politicians distorted how it reports Brexit? Also in the show, Facebook's Community News Project, ...

BONUS News Xchange 2018 debate

16 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Amol is joined in Edinburgh by CNN, the FT, CBS News, Deutsche Welle, and Facebook

Global perspectives on the news business

14 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In a special edition of the show recorded in Edinburgh at the 2018 News Xchange conference, Amol is joined by Nahlah Ayed, CBC foreign correspondent, ...

Why Channel 4 is on the move

07 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Channel 4 has announced that it will open a new headquarters in Leeds. Alex Mahon, Channel 4 CEO, discusses this and her wider strategy. Also in the s...

Who'd be a journalist?

31 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Despite a popular perception that journalism is an industry in decline, The National Council for the Training of Journalists has published research th...

The Evolution of Sports Broadcasting

24 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Is streaming changing the way we watch sport? Amol Rajan is joined by Simon Denyer, Chief Executive of DAZN Group and Richard Broughton an expert in s...

BONUS James Harding, Tortoise Media

17 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Former editor of The Times and director of BBC News on his new "slow news" venture

Dark ads and slow news

17 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Facebook has announced new rules on political advertising in the UK; you'll need to prove your identity and location, and each ad will carry a message...

Dangers of speaking truth to power

10 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is missing after a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His criticism of the Saudi monarchy is alleged...

BONUS Bob Bakish, Viacom CEO

10 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Boss of the US conglomerate on dealing with Netflix - and his favourite Channel 5 shows

May's Media Strategy

03 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A group of UK broadcasters claim Theresa May is avoiding doing interviews with them, an allegation her press chief denies. What is the Prime Minister'...

BONUS Rob Stringer, Sony Music CEO

03 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A giant of the record industry talks about music's shift to digital and his own career

How journalism exposed an atrocity

26 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2018 a horrifying video began to circulate on social media. It showed two women and two young children being led away at gunpoint and then exe...

The marriage of tech and TV

19 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Lambert, CEO of Studio Lambert, the production company behind Channel 4's The Circle, and David Abraham, CEO Wonderhood Studios, discuss chang...

The battle for teatime

13 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Austin, the former ITN journalist, discusses his new role as anchor of The News Hour, Sky News' attempt to win the battle for teatime news audien...

Outrage in the age of Twitter

05 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The New Yorker has cancelled an interview with Steve Bannon, President Trump's former strategist, after an online backlash. Meanwhile, The Economist s...

The secrets of Social success

29 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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 t...

Print is dead. Long live print

22 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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 bu...

The BBC will not appeal Cliff Richard case

15 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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....

Big tech deletes Alex Jones

08 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

YouTube, Facebook and Apple are among the tech platforms to have deleted content from InfoWars, the media company owned by the conspiracy theorist Ale...