The Media Show

MTV’s legacy, the new Lucy Letby documentary on Netflix and the traditional ad agency in crisis.

11 snips
Feb 18, 2026
Tom Freston, co‑founder of MTV, recalls creating a youth‑driven music channel and its cultural rise. Josh Halliday, The Guardian’s North of England editor, discusses media coverage and public interest in the Lucy Letby case. Dr Bethany Usher, academic on crime journalism ethics, examines true‑crime storytelling choices. James Kirkham, founder of Iconic, explores the upheaval in the traditional ad agency model.
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INSIGHT

True Crime Needs Its Own Ethics

  • True crime lacks a dedicated ethical code despite unique harms and sudden visibility for non‑celebrity people.
  • Bethany Usher argues the genre needs its own public interest definition and victim‑centred practices.
INSIGHT

Remediatisation Can Be Ethical Or Exploitative

  • Remediatisation varies from commercial retellings to ethical reworkings that advance public interest.
  • Usher says ethical remediatisation should foreground victims' voices and consent in new retellings.
ANECDOTE

From Export Business To MTV

  • Tom Freston recounts leaving advertising, travelling to Asia and starting export businesses in the 1970s.
  • He says those ventures collapsed after geopolitical shocks, pushing him to pursue work in music television.
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