

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

Mar 27, 2019 • 28min
Attenborough's Netflix adventure
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 Washington Post and Madhumita Murgia of the FT discuss.Presenter: Amol Rajan
Producer: Richard Hooper

Mar 20, 2019 • 27min
HuffPost's Lydia Polgreen
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

Mar 13, 2019 • 28min
Who cares what the papers say?
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 chief of The Week Junior, Hattie Brett, editor of Grazia, Katherine Rushton, the Daily Mail's media and technology editor, and Sonia Sodha of The Observer.Presenter: Amol Rajan
Producer: Richard Hooper

Mar 6, 2019 • 28min
Investigating Michael Jackson
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 of Leaving Neverland; Liz Bates, Yorkshire Post Westminster correspondent; and Richard Ferrer, editor of Jewish News.Presenter: Amol Rajan
Producer: Richard Hooper

Feb 27, 2019 • 28min
Commercial radio tunes out of local
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 Enders Analysis.Also in the programme, the BBC launches a new channel just for Scotland. Steve Carson, head of the BBC Scotland channel, Bobby Hain, STV Managing Director of Broadcast and journalist Lesley Riddoch discuss.Presenter: Amol Rajan
Producer: Richard Hooper

Feb 20, 2019 • 28min
How to combat fake news?
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 senior French journalists have been suspended for allegedly coordinating online harassment of female journalists through a private Facebook group. We talk to the editor of La Liberation and French journalist Agnes Poirier. Producer - Steven Williams
Editor - Maire Devine

Feb 13, 2019 • 28min
The Cairncross Conundrum
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 Lincolnshire Reporter, and Paul Staines, publisher of Guido Fawkes.Presenter: Amol Rajan
Producer: Richard Hooper

Feb 6, 2019 • 28min
Spotify's big move on radio
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 Kafka, executive editor Recode, Chris Burns, BBC head of local radio, Judith Holder, co-host of Older and Wider, and Pippa Sawyer, Wycombe Sound.Presenter: Amol Rajan
Producer: Richard Hooper

Jan 30, 2019 • 28min
The great TV piracy scandal
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 Arabia and Qatar.Also in the show, Amol is joined by Shona Ghosh, senior tech reporter at Business Insider, and David Flynn, co-founder of Youngest Media which is producing the new ITV game show, Small Fortune.Presenter: Amol Rajan
Producer: Richard Hooper

Jan 23, 2019 • 16min
BONUS Dame Pippa Harris on Call The Midwife and the TV industry
An extended interview with the producer of some of TV's most popular dramas.Photo credit: James Gourley / BAFTA