TV News

How Safe Is Our News? | RTS London Convention 2024

With the relationship between news providers and tech platforms coming under increasing scrutiny from governments and regulators worldwide, is carefully produced news potentially being buried? With audiences increasingly online, does the right news reach them or could it be lost in a sea of misinformation, or not carried at all? Can we learn from global examples where policy has polarised the two groups – or can big tech and traditional news providers learn to work together?

Speakers:

Iain Bundred – Head of Public Policy for UK and Northern Europe, YouTube

Channel 4 News’ Matt Frei on Donald Trump, walls of opinion and the poetry of TV news

Matt Frei stands to camera wearing a bulletproof vest presenting Channel 4 News from Israel from

As the BBC's Washington, DC correspondent from 2002, and Channel 4 News’s from 2011-2013, Frei lived in America for 11 years, and there, he says, the people make the job “incredibly easy,” simply because “everyone wants to talk to you.”

“They love being on camera, they deliver beautiful sound bites. They’re very articulate—despite the fact that their presidents are often known for the opposite.”

It appears the country may have rubbed off on him. There’s a streak of showmanship about Frei, and he’s certainly given to a soundbite or three.

Does TV news exploit TikTok?

TikTok is the new social media kid on the block, but it’s also stirring things up among broadcasters – and not simply because of its controversial Chinese ownership.

Fears that TikTok is mining our data and sending it to Beijing has created a tricky dilemma for media companies. The app has been banned from work devices by a number of governments, international bodies and companies and is under fire from the US Congress.

Disruptive Innovation in 21st Century News | RTS Thames Valley

Glen Mulcahy, Guy Pelham and RTS Thames Valley’s Simon Morice explore the story of disruptive innovation in news, often driven by constantly changing and emerging technologies, and how this change is substantially challenging the business models of the traditional new media industry and creating opportunities for emerging players who are creating an alternative to the traditional broadcasters.

Teaser released for new Apple TV+ series The Morning Show

Jennifer Anniston (Credit: Apple)

One of the first original series, comedy-drama The Morning show, has pulled in big names Jennifer Anniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell in starring roles.

Anniston and Witherspoon will play two of the biggest names in US breakfast telly, helping to wake up the people of America every day. 

A teaser for the upcoming series has been released featuring the voices of Carell, Witherspoon and Anniston.

During the video, each give their own unique take on what makes good TV news, while the camera pans around an empty newsroom.

Our Friend in Scotland: Steven Ladurantaye on his move to Glasgow

Steven Ladurantaye

I was sweltering in the heat of a classroom inside the fortress that serves as the headquarters of Vietnam’s state news broadcaster when my phone vibrated with a call from Scotland. I’d been flirting with STV News regarding a move for a few months.

Aside from my translator, none of the 20 journalists I was teaching (digital skills for broadcast journalists, since you ask) could speak English. I didn’t have to step out of the room when I fibbed and said, of course, it would be easy for me to visit Glasgow in a few days’ time for an interview for the head of news job.

Fran Unsworth: Facing the challenges for BBC News head on

Fran Unsworth (Credit: BBC)

When I ask the BBC’s director of news, Fran Unsworth, if the first year in her new role has lived up to her expectations, she gives a hollow laugh.

“I always knew it was going to be a challenging job, let’s put it like that,” she admits. “But quite how challenging it turned out to be – pretty quickly into it – I possibly hadn’t anticipated.

A passion for truth in a post-truth world

Mornings in the De Pear household are like many across the country. The family chomp down breakfast, dash around to get the three children ready for school on time and Ben and wife Leila listen with one ear to Radio 4’s Today programme on in the background.

But, during the US election, Ben de Pear, who is editor of Channel 4 News, started to turn down the radio when Donald Trump was discussed.