Media Masters

Alan Rusbridger is former editor-in-chief of the Guardian. During his two decades at the helm, he masterminded the newspaper’s transformation into a global digital brand with a reach of over 150 million, and played a central role in coverage of major events including the phone hacking scandal, Wikileaks, and the Pulitzer prize-winning revelations involving whistleblower Edward Snowden. In this in-depth interview, he argues why President Trump’s anti-media crusade has “done us all a favour”, and how introducing media literacy lessons in schools will help young people distinguish fact from fiction.

Carl Swanson is editor-at-large of New York magazine, Vulture and The Cut. Carl was pivotal in the company’s expansion into digital, and its branded websites now attract around 50 million unique users per month. In this in-depth interview, he looks back on 14 years at one of New York’s most prestigious publications, and remembers the magazine’s relationship with the then ‘New York micro-celebrity’ and frequent cover star Donald Trump.

John Ridding is chief executive of the Financial Times. Since starting his career on the newspaper’s international desk, he has reported from South Korea, Indonesia and China. After he introduced a paywall in 2008, the FT is now celebrating the highest paid-for readership in its 130-year history. In this in-depth interview, he talks fondly about the ‘serendipity factor’ that print brings, and warns how the world risks missing the ‘tectonic shift’ happening in China while we’re distracted by Trump and Brexit.

Sarah Baxter is deputy editor at the Sunday Times. After a successful career in publishing, Sarah started her journalism career at Time Out, before tackling roles at the New Statesman and the Observer, where she became senior associate editor. She has reported on the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of Hamas in Gaza and, while living in New York in 2001, the 9/11 terror attack on the Twin Towers. In this in-depth interview, she pays tribute to departed colleagues AA Gill and Marie Colvin, discusses the changing face of foreign news reporting and gives her unique insight into Pestminster and the political elite.

Jeff Smith is head of music at BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music. A 25-year veteran of the industry, he has been head of music at Radio 1, director of music programming at Napster and controller of Capital Radio. He is responsible for what makes it onto the stations’ playlists, heard by more than 15 million listeners every day. In this in-depth interview, he looks back at the highlights of his career, explains why he thinks the BBC is uniquely placed to break new music, and reveals how he came up with the idea for Radio 1’s popular Live Lounge.

Emma Tucker is deputy editor of the Times, the UK’s longest-running daily national newspaper. Previously a reporter for the FT and editor of FT Weekend, she joined the Times in 2007 as associate features editor and became editor of T2 within a year. After the controversial decision to introduce an “impermeable” paywall in 2010, she explains how they evolved the model to give non-subscribers partial access, which led to an increase in paid subscriptions. In this in-depth interview, Emma reveals why she believes there has never been a better time to be a journalist – and addresses the question of whether the Times could soon have its first female editor.

Lisa Smosarski is Editor-in-Chief at Stylist, a free weekly women’s magazine distributed to commuters across seven major UK cities with a circulation of over 400,000. Launching the magazine from scratch in 2009, Lisa aimed to develop an intelligent magazine that represented different kinds of women through ethnic, body and age diversity. Stylist’s goal was to change the dynamic of magazines by providing a title which portrayed life through a feminist lens. In this in-depth interview Lisa talks about the magazine’s growth on digital platforms, the role social media has played in evolving the brand, and seeking out new opportunities to diversify Stylist for an even wider audience.

Katherine Bell is Editor-in-Chief at Barron’s, a US newspaper founded in 1921, providing weekly analysis and market commentary. Starting her career in academic publishing - followed by an usual segue launching chef Delia Smith’s online business - Katherine spent ten years as the editor of Harvard Business Review’s digital site. Appointed Editor-in-Chief at Barron’s with a brief to lead their digital transformation, Katherine’s strategy has broadened its audience and extended its influence. In this in-depth interview she discusses emerging trends in finance, increasing momentum toward sustainable investment, and Wall Street’s response to the uncertain political climate.

Sari Botton is Essays Editor at Longreads. Founded in 2009, emerging from the success of a hashtag campaign on Twitter, the site popularised the concept of the ‘long read’, initially aggregating content from around the web. Since then the site has grown its scope to host original journalism, personal essays, local news and blog posts. A long-time advocate and participant of the slow news movement, Longreads supports longform journalism through investigative pieces, profiles, interviews and personal essays. In this in-depth interview Sari passionately argues that storytelling itself has been lost amidst the 24-hour news cycle, and outlines their plans to address this.

Melissa Kirsch is Editor-in-Chief of Lifehacker. Established in 2005, with an initial focus on tech and productivity, the site has grown to a record readership of 7 million and has expanded its scope to food, health, parenting and personal finance. A published poet and author, Melissa released “The Girl’s Guide” in 2015, a book aimed at younger women detailing the benefits of a social media detox. She is also a co-host of ‘The Upgrade’, a weekly podcast where listeners are offered tips on health, careers and relationships. In this in-depth interview Melissa talks about how she established and implemented her editorial vision and reveals the best life hack she has ever learned.

Carla Buzasi is Managing Director of WGSN, the trend forecasting company. With over 250 trend forecasters and data scientists, and 75,000 active users globally, they help 6,500 businesses in twenty different industries across 100 countries. Carla spent 15 years in journalism, and was founding Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post UK - taking it from a static mock-up up on her iPad to a major brand with 8m UK users, winning ‘Editor of the Year’ twice in a row along the way. In this in-depth interview, Carla talks about her career journey in journalism, and her work with her team of global specialists helping companies literally predict the future - giving examples of the big changes we’ll see in how we live and work.

Simon Cole is Co-Founder and CEO of 7digital Group PLC. The company powers a huge amount of streaming and radio brands behind the scenes, providing both content and technology, serving 85 countries from four global offices with 150 employees, and a catalogue of 60 million songs. A self-confessed “radio industry lifer” he started out as an ambitious teenager working at BBC Radio Blackburn, and in 1989 he started the Unique Broadcasting Company, which became the market leader in network commercial radio production, creating iconic brands such as ‘The Pepsi Chart Show’ among the way. In this in-depth interview, Simon predicts how the next generation of digital music will combine both streamed and curated services, discusses the implications of the UK government’s plans to switch off the analogue signal altogether, and passionately makes the case for radio’s long-term future.

Les Hinton worked for Rupert Murdoch for over fifty years, starting out as a copy boy at the Adelaide News, ultimately spending decades as his most trusted lieutenant, running his global media empire. His memoir “The Bootle Boy: an untidy life in news” has recently been published to positive reviews. In this in-depth interview, he talks through the highs and lows of those five decades, taking in periods at the helm of Fox TV, News International, The Wall Street Journal; and discusses his resignation in 2011 following the News of the World hacking scandal. He shares memories of a decades-long working relationship with Rupert, their current friendship - and his analysis of what’s next for Murdoch, now they are poised to sell a large part of the empire Les helped him build.

Tim Shipman is Political Editor of the Sunday Times. A national newspaper journalist for nearly twenty years, he was previously the Deputy Political Editor of the Daily Mail, and Washington Correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph. In this in-depth interview, he shares his front-row seat at the ongoing battle for Brexit and the recent bungled general election, with daily life dealing with all the major players - both on and off the record; observes that during the days of Blair and Brown people at least knew what the rules of the game were, and nowadays no one does; reveals what it was like to work for the likes of Paul Dacre and Richard Desmond; discusses how social media has irrevocably altered not only how politics is done, but how its covered too; and stares into his crystal ball to answer the biggest questions of the moment - how long can Theresa May stay as Prime Minister, and could Corbyn actually win?

Henry Faure Walker is CEO of Newsquest, one of the largest publishers of regional news in the UK. It owns 165 newspapers and 40 magazines; with a combined reach of 6.5 million print readers and 30 million online; and employs 5,500 people across the country. In this in-depth interview, Henry discusses the challenge of making local news commercially sustainable, amidst a litany of challenges: the decline of classified advertising, reducing headcount, and the ‘frenemy’ relationship with the likes of Facebook and Google - who drive significant traffic, but also poach revenue. Amidst the challenges, Newsquest launched ten new papers last year - and Henry outlines his vision of a “much brighter future” for local journalism to maintain its vital role as a community voice: a pivot to digital marketing partnerships with neighbourhood businesses; and a new initiative with the BBC building the number of local democracy reporters, with nearly fifty of them already hired.

Emma Gormley is Managing Director of Daytime at ITV Studios. She is responsible for 6.5 hours of live TV every day, a team of over 400 people, and is Editor-in-Chief of ITV’s flagship brands Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women. In this in-depth interview, Emma takes us behind the scenes on all the shows, talks in detail about how they are put together, her work modernising the brands and their future direction, innovations such as ‘This Morning Live’ which attracted 30,000 people to Birmingham’s NEC, the importance of social media to connect directly with the audience, the recent move of their entire operation from London’s South Bank to the recently-revamped BBC Television Centre in Shepherd’s Bush - and shares pride in her team, noting the shows are increasingly setting the news agenda itself.

Matt Kelly is Chief Content Officer at Archant, and Editor of The New European - launched as a four edition ‘pop-up’ national “newspaper for the 48%” who voted to remain in the EU. Its first edition sold 40k copies, is now on a permanent footing with a weekly distribution of 75k, and earning the prestigious ‘Chairman’s Award’ at the National Press Awards along the way - with Matt himself winning ‘Pioneer of the Year’ by the Society of Editors. In this in-depth interview, Matt talks through the lightning-speed launch - from a “crazy idea” email to his bosses at Archant to publishing the first edition just nine days after the 2016 referendum result; discusses whether his paper can ultimately help block Brexit or secure a second referendum – and whether it can even survive March 2019 if Brexit stays on track; his career to date including 18 years in senior roles at The Daily Mirror; and his evolving style of campaigning journalism – arguing the whole existence of his paper is “to give people hope” - and explain

Stephen Bayley is a critic, columnist, and best-selling author - the original ‘design guru’ and the recipient of “Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” - France's top artistic honour. His work has transformed popular perceptions of design; he writes regularly for major publications including Vanity Fair, The Times and The Observer; is Contributing Editor of GQ, and has appeared on many TV shows such as ‘Have I Got News for You’ and ‘Grumpy Old Men’. In this in-depth interview; he talks through his career, including his relationship with Terence Conran, his work at the V&A and founding London’s Design Museum; his time as Creative Director of the Millennium Dome - and his famous falling-out with the “dictator” Peter Mandelson.

Sam Taylor is Executive Editor of the BBC News Channel and BBC News at One. Starting his career as a news trainee in 1997, Sam oversees the coverage of huge breaking stories to an audience of 8 million; and combines both editorial and managerial responsibility, while also leading the channel’s future direction. In this in-depth interview, Sam talks about tackling cries of ‘BBC bias’ from passionate voices on either side of issues like Brexit, Trump, and Scottish independence; the right tone and mix of stories for the lunchtime bulletin; salaries of his presenters - and the furore over equal pay for women; keeping the channel relevant in the digital age to serve audiences old and new; the future of rolling news itself... and the perennial challenge of increasing quality with an ever-reducing budget.

Emma Gannon is an author, consultant, broadcaster and podcast presenter. Her first book ‘Ctrl, Alt, Delete: How I Grew Up Online’ came out in 2016, and the eponymous podcast has featured guests such as Lena Dunham, Gillian Anderson, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Zoella. Her imminent second book ‘The Multi-Hyphen Method: work less, create more, and design a career that works for you’ has led to her starring in a national advertising campaign for Microsoft which showcases her career, and the ‘Method’. In this in-depth interview, she talks through how she left the world of stable, regular employment to pursue and monetise her “side hustles” - including growing her now hugely popular and acclaimed podcast; shares tips on how to self-promote online “without feeling icky”; and argues that changes in the workplace means increasingly more people will balance a regular job (“to pay the rent”) alongside creatively-fulfilling freelance work too.