

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

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

Jan 23, 2019 • 6min
BONUS Do we need another classical music radio station?
Bauer Media's Steve Parkinson explains the strategy behind Scala Radio

Jan 23, 2019 • 11min
BONUS Facebook's Steve Hatch apologises for distressing content about suicide on Instagram
The father of a teenager who took her own life says Instagram "helped kill my daughter"

Jan 23, 2019 • 28min
How Call The Midwife became a global hit
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 of a new classical music radio station and Freeview goes mobile.Amol Rajan is joined by Dame Pippa Harris, Jonathan Thompson, CEO of Digital UK, Gillian Reynolds, radio critic and Steve Parkinson, Group Managing Director for Bauer Media's national radio stations.Presenter: Amol Rajan
Producer: Richard Hooper

Jan 16, 2019 • 17min
BONUS Matthew Chance, CNN Senior International Correspondent
CNN's man in Moscow on the world news events that have shaped his career

Jan 16, 2019 • 28min
Who needs fact-checkers?
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 show, how foreign media are reporting Brexit.Amol is joined by Will Moy, director of Full Fact, Diana Zimmermann, ZDF’s UK and Ireland correspondent, Joy Reid, TVNZ 1 News Europe correspondent, and Matthew Chance, CNN's Senior International Correspondent.Presenter: Amol Rajan
Producer: Richard Hooper


