

The Media Show
BBC Radio 4
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 1, 2025 • 43min
TV rights and the Boat Race, conspiracy theories in the media ecosystem, Larry Ellison, Newspaper legal challenge to Reform UK
Ros Atkins on some of the biggest media stories this week.
As the BBC loses TV rights to the Boat Race – we talk to Siobhan Cassidy Chair of the Boat Race Company and Pete Andrews, Head of Sport at Channel 4 which will now broadcast the annual event. We profile the tech billionaire Larry Ellison – as he steps further into the media world - with Telegraph journalist James Warrington. We'll look at the routes that conspiracy theories take through the media ecosystem with Dr Robert Topinka from Birkbeck University and the broadcaster and author Dr Matthew Sweet.
We hear why online content creators teaming up with broadcasters can sometimes be a difficult working relationship with Ben Doyle, co-founder of After Party Studios
and Natalie Fahy Editor of the Nottinghamshire Post and its online arm Nottinghamshire Live tells us about their legal challenge to Reform UK after they stopped speaking to their reporters, sending them press releases and inviting them to events. Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai

Sep 24, 2025 • 43min
Reporting on migrant hotels, Jimmy Kimmel's return, The Hack
A new BBC investigation into the government's use of hotels to house migrants has led to the government ordering an urgent review into its findings. Journalist Sue Mitchell explains how she got access to record inside these hotels. As Jimmy Kimmel returns to the screen, Brian Stelter, CNN's chief media analyst, assesses what it means for relations between the US media and the Trump administration. Tara Copp, Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post, takes us through the Pentagon's new restrictions on reporters. Also on the programme, the executive producer of ITV's new drama The Hack, Patrick Spence, reveals how they made the series and the financial pressures facing the TV industry. Plus, creators Jade Beason, BrandonB and Shabaz Ali discuss the value of making niche content.

Sep 17, 2025 • 43min
Guto Harri, James O Brien, Isabel Oakeshott on the Unite the Kingdom rally and the Charlie Kirk Shooting, Tim Davie
Katie Razzall speaks to the Director General of the BBC Tim Davie at the Royal Television Society Festival. Ros Atkins discusses the language used by the media to discuss the Unite the Kingdom rally and the shooting of Charlie Kirk with studio guests Guto Harri, James O Brien and Isabel Oakeshott.Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai

Sep 10, 2025 • 43min
Super Mario is 40, Russia Whatsapp ban, Murdoch succession, The media v The Judiciary?
Ros Atkins and Katie Razzall on Super Mario at 40 with the Guardian's Video Games Editor Keza MacDonald, State crackdowns on social media in Russia and Nepal with Eva Hartog from Politico and Dr Nayana Prakash from Chatham House. Also resolution in the Murdoch family succession battle with Claire Atkinson from The Media Mix and the impact of media coverage on the judiciary with Sir Robert Buckland and legal journalist Frances Gibb.Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai

Sep 3, 2025 • 43min
Reform UK media strategy, French Bloquons Tout protestors, new Vogue editor & the British journalist who interviewed Hitler.
The Media Show with Katie Razzall and Ros Atkins:
The Nottingham Post and BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporters have been banned from speaking to Reform UK councillors. The dispute centres on a story about local government reorganisation. Nottinghamshire Live Senior Editor Natalie Fahy joins us to explain what happened, and Kitty Donaldson, Chief Political Commentator at the i paper, explores Reform UK’s broader media strategy.
France is facing political upheaval as Prime Minister François Bayrou submits his government to a confidence vote. BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield explains how Bayrou is using podcasts and YouTube to justify his unpopular budget cuts. Meanwhile, a new protest movement, Bloquons Touts (“Let’s block everything”), is gaining traction via Telegram. Paola Sedda, associate professor of communications at the University of Lille, joins us to discuss how the movement is using media to mobilise support.
Historian Richard Evans joins us live in the studio to discuss his new book on George Ward Price, the British journalist who interviewed Hitler in the run up to WWII. We explore the ethical compromises journalists make for access, and draw modern parallels with today’s media landscape.
And as Anna Wintour steps down, Vogue ushers in a new chapter with editor Chloe Malle. We look at what this means for the future of fashion journalism and the legacy Wintour leaves behind. Is this a generational shift or a strategic pivot?
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai

Aug 27, 2025 • 43min
Noel Clarke libel case, AI articles, filming wildlife
Actor Noel Clarke has lost his libel case against The Guardian. The paper had run a series of stories containing allegations of sexual misconduct. The judgment found that the meaning of each of the newspaper’s articles was ‘substantially true’. We speak to The Guardian's Sirin Kale, one of the reporters behind the original reporting. Plus, legal commentator Clive Coleman explains how libel cases work.A number of online news outlets have withdrawn articles by what they thought was a freelance journalist called 'Margaux Blanchard'. But now, it seems the stories may have been written by AI. Press Gazette broke the story last week – they were tipped off to the story by Jacob Furedi, editor of Dispatch, whose suspicions were raised by one of her pitches. Jacob joins us alongside Dr Glenda Cooper, Head of Journalism at City St George's, University of London.A new football season is upon us, and with it, fresh innovations in how we watch. In the UK, for the first time, some of the live TV rights to the German Bundesliga have been awarded to YouTube channels. Minal Modha from Ampere Analysis analyses the changes to football broadcasting. Telegraph sport columnist Graham Scott also joins us to discuss pivoting from Premier League refereeing to journalism. As the BBC's natural history series Parenthood approaches its finale this weekend, series director and producer Jeff Wilson from Silverback Films, takes us behind the scenes.

Aug 20, 2025 • 43min
Trading off the news, Edinburgh TV Festival, how the global media covered White House peace talks
Ros Atkins talks to Hollywood insider and founder of the digital media company Puck Matt Belloni and Camilla Lewis from Curve Media at the Edinburgh TV Festival. Sam Koppelman from Hunterbrook Media on his new business model to trade off the news and how has the global media covered the Ukraine peace talks at the White House. It was the first day in her new role as US Editor for Channel 4 News for Anushka Asthana for the summit which included a unprecendented delegation of European leaders. We also talk to Ekaterina Kotrikadze news director and anchor at TV Rain about Russian media coverage.Producer: Lisa Jenkinson

Aug 13, 2025 • 43min
Journalists in Gaza, AI Avatar, Housing Journalism, True Crime
After an Israeli attack in Gaza City killed four Al Jazeera journalists, including correspondent Anas al-Sharif, we examine the situation for journalists in Gaza with Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Oren Persico from Israeli news website Seventh Eye discusses how Israeli media is covering the war.A journalist's exchange with an AI avatar of Joaquin Oliver, who was killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, has raised questions about posthumous “interviews.” We hear from Joaquin’s father Manuel and Claire Leibowicz of the Partnership on AI.A scoop by The i’s housing correspondent Vicky Spratt prompted the resignation last week of homelessness minister Rushanara Ali. Vicky joins us to explain how the story came about.Plus: Simon Ford, executive producer of Channel 4’s Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text, on gaining access to a landmark investigation into Encrochat and the long-running 24 Hours in Police Custody.Producer: Dan Hardoon
Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai

Aug 6, 2025 • 43min
Return of MasterChef, No. 10's TikTok Strategy, Bluey on YouTube, Investigating Tesla
MasterChef has returned to our screens. We hear from the BBC journalist who first broke the story about allegations of misconduct and ask what the future holds for one of the BBC’s biggest brands.As Downing Street holds its first ever influencer reception, we speak to one of the TikTok creators who attended and the journalist who first reported on the event. We lift the lid on the relationship between influencers and the government.Children’s cartoon Bluey is riding high in the YouTube charts. We hear from the BBC executive behind Bluey's YouTube strategy.Plus, New York Times reporter Chris Buckley on the Taiwanese TV drama imagining a Chinese invasion and the political controversy it's sparked. And the German journalist who gained access to an extraordinary data leak from Tesla discusses what he found about the company and its boss, Elon Musk.Producer: Dan Hardoon

Jul 30, 2025 • 43min
Christiane Amanpour, Dead Internet Theory, Food journalism
What is the ‘dead internet theory’ and what does it tell us about our anxieties about AI? The Economist’s Alex Hern explains. We also hear from Newsguard’s Isis Blachez about a network of fake news sites built not for people – but to manipulate what answers we get from AI chat bots. Plus, Mark Graham from the Internet Archive discusses how the organisation is approaching its task in the age of AI.Christiane Amanpour is CNN's Chief International Anchor and host of Amanpour on CNN and PBS. She's interviewed presidents, prime ministers, and popes, and is one of the best-known journalists covering international news. She reflects on her career and tells us why she’s turning to podcasting.How can food journalism and content drive news subscriptions? We discuss with Emily Weinstein, Editor in Chief of Cooking and Food at The New York Times; and get an insight into the art of restaurant criticism with The Sunday Times’ Charlotte Ivers.