IS POPULISM DESTROYING THE MEDIA

This talk will be live from 6pm via our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uplXrYLLplQ

What impact is populism having on the media? Is it affecting how and what journalists write? How can we ensure reporters don’t self censor in an age where accurate information is vital? Emily Maitlis is an RTS award-winning journalist and broadcaster – and was, until recently, Newsnight’s lead presenter. Over the years she has conducted many in-depth interviews with leading figures, including, most memorably, Prince Andrew.

Emily spent six years reporting from the Far East, based in Hong Kong and is the author of a book about her years as a Newsnight presenter. She is now co-host of the popular daily news podcast The News Agents. She gave the 2022 James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival in which she spoke critically about the BBC's approach to impartiality in populist times and cited research by Ayala Panievsky.

Ayala Panievsky is a PhD Gates-Cambridge scholar at the Sociology Department at the University of Cambridge, a research associate at the Centre for Science and Policy and a fellow at the Centre for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy. She researches political communication and particularly the intersection of populism, media and technology in Israel and beyond. She is interested in media at times of democratic backsliding and the potential futures of journalism.

The event will be chaired by Dorothy Byrne, President of Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. She was previously Editor-at-Large at Channel Four Television and, prior to that, Head of News and Current Affairs for 15 years, during which time programmes for which she was responsible won numerous Royal Television Society, BAFTA and Emmy awards as well as an Oscar Nomination. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society for her Outstanding Contribution to Television and has won several major personal awards in television, including the Royal Television Society Journalism Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television, the BBC Grierson Trustees Award for Contribution to Documentary at the British Documentary Awards, the BAFTA Scotland Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television and the Women in Film and Television Award for Contribution to Television. This event will live stream on the Cambridge Festival YouTube. Please register and a link will be sent before the event.