Sir Trevor Phillips presents Sky TV’s Sunday Morning programme and is a columnist for The Times newspaper. He was previously a reporter on the Thames TV This Week, head of current affairs for London Weekend Television, Chair of the London Assembly, Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, and Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, as well as having run several businesses.

In the first episode of our seventh series we discuss why Trevor never became a BBC staffer, what the events over the summer revealed about the culture of the BBC, the BBC's approach to ethnic minorities, multiculturalism, his career, his friendship with the Chair of the BBC, Samir Shah, and the importance of public service media and local coverage.

"We're talking on the day that the Grenfell Inquiry Report is going to be published. There is no way in a million years that Grenfell, 30 years ago, would not have been a story before the fire, because, certainly, the programme that I presented, the ITV London programme, would have been all over it, year after year."

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Sir Peter Bazalgette was until recently part of the previous Government’s committee to review how the BBC was funded. In his distinguished career he has been responsible for shows such as Big Brother, Changing Rooms and Ready Steady Cook, he’s also a former chair of Arts Council England and in September 2023 he stepped down as chair of ITV. He is now co-chair of the Creative Council. On this week’s programme we discussed the Media Act (was anything left out), BBC funding and the future of public service broadcasters.

I see Freely, which has recently been launched as an online way of getting all the public service broadcasting in a streaming service, I see that is just the beginning. I think there needs to be further mergers. And it'll be interesting to see what happens to Channel Five. Now that it looks like the owners Paramount are selling out, because I don't think it's going to be a priority for the new American owners. And it may well change hands in the next six to nine months.

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Jamie Angus is the former director of the BBC World Service and the former editor of 'Today' and 'Newsnight' who now works in the Middle East. We discuss Ofcom's oversight of broadcasters, the consequences of previous World Service cuts, and the impact of new ones. We also explore long-term solutions to the issue of its funding, which is under review by a parliamentary committee.

“I think it's clear that GB News are operating under a slightly different model to public broadcasters.”

“Al Arabiya ourselves have launched our own FM radio services. And we've additionally picked up some of the BBC’s medium wave hours, which they no longer use, so our radio services are broadcast regionally. We've also hired a number of ex BBC Arabic radio staff.”

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Stewart Purvis, former content regulator at Ofcom and former Editor of Channel 4 News and ITN Chief Executive, discusses Ofcom’s guidance on general election coverage published last week. Stewart delves into the research on which Ofcom based its guidelines, spells out what the guidance means in practice, and reflects on Ofcom as an organisation.

“Ofcom was pretty much claiming that what the audience had told it justified the position it had taken. But then when you got down into the detail, it didn't really say that at all.”

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Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis took their bow from BBC Radio 4’s satirical news programme ‘The Now Show’ last Friday after 25 years. Steve Punt discusses the last programme, the development and success of this long-running radio comedy show, the impact of our changing news consumption, political bias, radio comedy’s evolution and the new podcast format and his plans for the future.

“There was a little BBC drinks do afterwards. And as Hugh pointed out, it was literally just crisps. Someone had gone to Marks and Spencers and they bought one of every flavour of crisps. So, he made a little speech thanking the BBC for the magnificent spread.”

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Max Cotton is a former BBC political reporter who has spent a year finding out if he can grow and produce 100% of his food on his smallholding near Glastonbury. We discuss his BBC Radio 4 documentary series on the experiment 'Growing Solo', as well as exploring food and farming literacy, food security and self sufficiency in the UK.

"As a group of people, BBC journalists, they could tell you everything you possibly want to know about Labour education policy, and they don't know what the difference between hay and straw is. And I think that's a sad reflection of where we are."

BBC Radio 4 'Growing Solo' starts on Monday 22 April at 1345. You will be able to find the series here:

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Rory Cellan-Jones, former BBC Technology and Business Correspondent examines Tim Davie’s, the BBC’s Director General speech on the BBC’s future priorities. He also explores life after the BBC, discussing his, ‘Movers and Shakers’ Parkinson’s podcast, his family memoir ‘Ruskin Park’ and his forthcoming book on #SophieFromRomania - his beloved rescue dog turned internet sensation.

“We are all being given a personalised experience and an experience that is personalised is not necessarily much of a communal one.”

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In the week that Ofcom finds GB News in breach of its code five times but will face no sanction, we talk to Chris Banatvala, Ofcom’s founding Director of Standards, and Content Board member, who was responsible for drafting and enforcing its codes. He is now an independent member of the Sky News Board, Channel 4’s online independent complaint reviewer and advises broadcasters and international regulators. We discuss GB News, Ofcom, impartiality and the chairing of public bodies.

“I think it’s the drip, drip, drip effect, which could ultimately spell the end for PSBs. And I think politicians, policymakers, the public have to stand up for public service broadcasting and what it means.”

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Magnus Brooke is Group Director of Strategy, Policy and Regulation at ITV where profits are down by 60%. The digital revolution is changing broadcasting fundamentally and destroying former business models. So does ITV have a future as a Public Service Broadcaster? We also discuss the Media Bill and the added responsibility on Ofcom's shoulders - and whether it's up to the job. And the funding of ITV's smash hit 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office'.

“You can't fund dramas on television now, just out of the receipts of broadcasting. And that does create pressure on dramas that are very UK specific. I don't know whether we'll recoup in international distribution what we paid out on ‘Mr. Bates’, we may not ultimately”.

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One of Britain’s finest reporters Peter Taylor, with numerous books, documentaries and awards spanning a career of over 50 years, on his latest BBC documentary 'Our Dirty War: The British State and the IRA’. We discuss the human cost of IRA informers, the role of Scappaticci codenamed “Stakeknife”, Operation Kenova and covering Northern Ireland.

“The curtain is still firmly down on this dreadful period. And I think people should know about it and what the cost of it was.” 

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One of Britain’s finest reporters Peter Taylor, with numerous books, documentaries and awards spanning a career of over 50 years, on his latest BBC documentary 'Our Dirty War: The British State and the IRA’. We discuss the human cost of IRA informers, the role of Scappaticci codenamed “Stakeknife”, Operation Kenova and covering Northern Ireland.

“The curtain is still firmly down on this dreadful period. And I think people should know about it and what the cost of it was.” 

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Baroness Kidron is one of the country's foremost drama and documentary directors. Her long list of credits includes ‘Storyville’, 'Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit', 'Victoria and Abdul' and 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason'. She now sits as a crossbench peer and is the founder of the Five Rights Foundation. For the past five years, she has been one of the most instrumental figures in ensuring better protection for children through the passage of measures such as the Online Safety Bill. On this week's programme we discuss Bridget Jones, controlling the tech giants, ad funded public service broadcasters and what can be done to protect children from online abuse.

“The tech companies go in and out of the White House, and in and out of Downing Street, like they've got a cat flap.When I started on this journey, 11 years ago, I was treated like a middle-aged woman who didn't understand the new rock and roll. I am actually quite pleased to say that a lot of people have joined me in saying, actually, this is bad for democracy.”

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Academics from Loughborough University’s Centre for Research in Communication and Culture have conducted news audits for every General Election since 1992, and their audit for this election is out now. We talked to one of its authors, Professor Dominic Wring, about whether the public was well served by the media, whether legacy media still has a role when against social digital media, populism, media bias, media scholarship and devolution.

"When we talk about people getting news from social media, when they're talking about that, often those are things that are recycled from legacy sources."

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Baroness Kidron is one of the country's foremost drama and documentary directors. Her long list of credits includes ‘Storyville’, 'Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit', 'Victoria and Abdul' and 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason'. She now sits as a crossbench peer and is the founder of the Five Rights Foundation. For the past five years, she has been one of the most instrumental figures in ensuring better protection for children through the passage of measures such as the Online Safety Bill. On this week's programme we discuss Bridget Jones, controlling the tech giants, ad funded public service broadcasters and what can be done to protect children from online abuse.

“The tech companies go in and out of the White House, and in and out of Downing Street, like they've got a cat flap.When I started on this journey, 11 years ago, I was treated like a middle-aged woman who didn't understand the new rock and roll. I am actually quite pleased to say that a lot of people have joined me in saying, actually, this is bad for democracy.”

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Anna McNamee, an award-winning Canadian journalist and writer with a background in BBC radio, is the Executive Director of the Sandford St Martin Trust, dedicated to promoting excellence in religious broadcasting. We discuss the new Media Bill, the importance of religious literacy, the decline in programming on religion and ethics, commissioning practices, and the critical need to ensure public access to broadcasting.

“This is legislation, which is made for commercial broadcasters, it has commerciality at its heart, it's about leaving enough, not even a little bit of wriggle room, but loads of space so that broadcasters can respond and do whatever they want.”

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Anna McNamee, an award-winning Canadian journalist and writer with a background in BBC radio, is the Executive Director of the Sandford St Martin Trust, dedicated to promoting excellence in religious broadcasting. We discuss the new Media Bill, the importance of religious literacy, the decline in programming on religion and ethics, commissioning practices, and the critical need to ensure public access to broadcasting.

“This is legislation, which is made for commercial broadcasters, it has commerciality at its heart, it's about leaving enough, not even a little bit of wriggle room, but loads of space so that broadcasters can respond and do whatever they want.”

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Catherine Johnson, Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Leeds, author of the book ‘Online TV’, and a member of the Department of Culture, Media and Sports College of experts discusses the decline in PSB revenue, reliance on tech giants for distribution, the Media Bill, Ofcom and BBC funding.

“I think part of the problem is that Ofcom was set up primarily as a competition regulator and has increasingly taken on the roles of a public service regulator. I sometimes don't feel that as a as an organisation, it really has that sort of fundamental understanding of public service media as a system.”

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Catherine Johnson, Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Leeds, author of the book ‘Online TV’, and a member of the Department of Culture, Media and Sports College of experts discusses the decline in PSB revenue, reliance on tech giants for distribution, the Media Bill, Ofcom and BBC funding.

“I think part of the problem is that Ofcom was set up primarily as a competition regulator and has increasingly taken on the roles of a public service regulator. I sometimes don't feel that as a as an organisation, it really has that sort of fundamental understanding of public service media as a system.”

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In the week the BBC announced that it's preparing to launch new spin-off digital radio stations for Radios 1, 2, and 3 to provide more choice to audiences underserved by the BBC, we're talking to the co-founder of Boom Radio - a station that emerged to fill the gap left by Radio 2. David Lloyd, who has worked in radio for over 40 years, from LBC to Virgin to BBC local radio, and has regulatory experience from his years at the UK Radio Authority (now part of Ofcom), discusses changes in local radio and Ofcom’s oversight of them.

"The regulator, in changing the BBC’s operating licence, is required to seek the views of as many people as you can. ... if you look at the number of people who replied, it is paltry, the number of individuals is a handful, the number of people who mentioned BBC local radio is two or three."

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In the week the BBC has announced that it's preparing to launch new spin-off digital radio stations for Radios 1, 2, and 3 to provide more choice to audiences underserved by the BBC, we're talking to the co-founder of Boom Radio - a station that emerged to fill the gap left by Radio 2. David Lloyd, who has worked in radio for over 40 years, from LBC to Virgin to BBC Local Radio, and has regulatory experience from his years at the UK Radio Authority (now part of Ofcom), discusses changes in local radio and Ofcom’s oversight of them. 

"The regulator, in changing the BBC’s operating licence, is required to seek the views of as many people as you can. ... if you look at the number of people who replied, it is paltry, the number of individuals is a handful, the number of people who mentioned BBC local radio is two or three."

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Sir Craig Oliver is a former editor of BBC News at Six and Ten and was the Downing Street director of politics and communications under David Cameron. We discuss the release of the BBC Bashir emails, impartiality, Sir Robbie Gibb’s position on the BBC board, GB News and his career.

“I don’t think we need GB News ….. what we're realising increasingly, is we need sources of news that are at least trying to be impartial.”

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Sir Craig Oliver is a former editor of BBC News at Six and Ten and was the Downing Street director of politics and communications under David Cameron. We discuss the release of the BBC Bashir emails, impartiality, Sir Robbie Gibb’s position on the BBC board, GB News and his career.

“I don’t think we need GB News ….. what we're realising increasingly, is we need sources of news that are at least trying to be impartial.”

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Alan Rusbridger, former Guardian editor and now editor at Prospect magazine has written an article with the headline ‘How the government captured the BBC'. Has it? We discuss the concept of impartiality, the government appointed board member Sir Robbie Gibb’s attempt to interfere in the appointment of the chair of Ofcom, his influence on the corporation, the make-up of the BBC board and criticism from the Jewish Chronicle.

“Sir Robbie Gibb is the only person with editorial experience, who sits in ultimate judgement on BBC impartiality. That's a very strange state of affairs.”

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Dame Elan Closs Stephens was the acting chair of the BBC after the resignation of Richard Sharp in June last year until her retirement in March. She was a member of the BBC’s governing body since 2010, first serving as Member for Wales on the BBC Trust, until its dissolution in 2017, and then as the Welsh member of the BBC Board.

On this week's episode we discussed what Dame Elan would like from a new Culture Secretary, her tenure as chair, impartiality, budget cuts and the decision making process, BBC future funding and regulation, Ofcom, BBC election coverage and appointment of BBC chairs.

“I would like to go for some sort of cross party commission, I think it would give the chair more freedom to embrace, to be seen to be embracing different sides.”

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Alan Rusbridger, former Guardian editor and now editor at Prospect magazine has written an article with the headline ‘How the government captured the BBC'. Has it? We discuss the concept of impartiality, the government appointed board member Sir Robbie Gibb’s attempt to interfere in the appointment of the chair of Ofcom, his influence on the corporation, the make-up of the BBC board and criticism from the Jewish Chronicle.

“Sir Robbie Gibb is the only person with editorial experience, who sits in ultimate judgement on BBC impartiality. That's a very strange state of affairs.”

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Jim Naughtie has covered each US presidential election over the past five decades. He was a political correspondent on The Scotsman and then The Guardian, before becoming a presenter of Radio 4’s The World at One and then of The Today Programme – which he stood down from in 2016.  Currently, he is a Special Correspondent for BBC News and presents Radio 4’s Book Club. We discussed the implications of the Iowa caucus result, the challenges that public service broadcasters face covering an election when democracy is at stake, media integrity and comparing Fox News and GB News and the responsibilities of Ofcom. 

“I think it's extraordinarily difficult for them. But it's also extraordinarily important that they somehow get it right.”

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Jim Naughtie has covered each US presidential election over the past five decades. He was a political correspondent on The Scotsman and then The Guardian, before becoming a presenter of Radio 4’s The World at One and then of The Today Programme – which he stood down from in 2016.  Currently, he is a Special Correspondent for BBC News and presents Radio 4’s Book Club. We discussed the implications of the Iowa caucus result, the challenges that public service broadcasters face covering an election when democracy is at stake, media integrity and comparing Fox News and GB News and the responsibilities of Ofcom. 

“I think it's extraordinarily difficult for them. But it's also extraordinarily important that they somehow get it right.”

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The circumstances surrounding the securing of the Panorama interview with the late Princess of Wales have been one of the biggest controversies to beset the BBC. On this week’s programme we’re taking stock on the imminent release of emails by the BBC which concerns its handling of the Martin Bashir scandal. There has been quite a battle in the courts as the Corporation attempts to withhold and redact some of the emails requested under the Freedom of Information act by that very determined journalist and film maker Andy Webb. We talk to him about his fight, what he thinks he might learn from the emails and despite an apology from the director general Tim Davie to Lord Spencer why he thinks this matter is still worth pursuing. 

“I'm interested in what I alleged to be a cover up which was instituted in 2020. But more to the point, it is, if indeed, this cover up exists, it's a cover up that is being fostered very, very expensively at the public expense, in as much as the licence fee is public money, it is happening now. This is huge sums of money which are being spent now, in order to prevent, in my view, the disclosure of these particular emails.”

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The circumstances surrounding the securing of the Panorama interview with the late Princess of Wales have been one of the biggest controversies to beset the BBC. On this week’s programme we’re taking stock on the imminent release of emails by the BBC which concern its handling of the Martin Bashir scandal. There has been quite a battle in the courts as the Corporation attempts to withhold and redact some of the emails requested under the Freedom of Information act by that very determined journalist and film maker Andy Webb. We talk to him about his fight, what he thinks he might learn from the emails and why despite an apology from the director general Tim Davie to Lord Spencer why he thinks this matter is still worth pursuing. 

“I'm interested in what I alleged to be a cover up which was instituted in 2020. But more to the point, it is, if indeed, this cover up exists, it's a cover up that is being fostered very, very expensively at the public expense, in as much as the licence fee is public money, it is happening now. This is huge sums of money which are being spent now, in order to prevent, in my view, the disclosure of these particular emails.”

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Stewart Purvis, a former Editor of Channel 4 news and ITN Chief Executive was also one of the content regulators at Ofcom and oversaw standards cases involving the BBC between 2007 and 2010. In 2005 he was a member of a BBC commissioned independent panel assessing the impartiality of BBC news and current affairs coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2015 he was a member of the BBC Charter Review Advisory Group as well as many other roles including a non executive director of Channel 4. In our final programme of the year, we look at the issues that the BBC will be facing over the Martin Bashir controversy, Samir Shah’s appearance in front of the DCMS select committee, Robbie Gibb, BBC coverage of the Israeli/Gaza war, GB News and Ofcom's position ahead of an election year. We’ll also be announcing the top three downloaded programmes of the year.

“This is becoming a saga, that's becoming a soap opera. And I feel there is a real muddle going on inside Ofcom as to what to do about it. So much so that I'm in the unusual position of actually saying that when Ofcom earlier this week, found that GB news had breached the rules, I don't agree with them."

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Stewart Purvis, a former Editor of Channel 4 news and ITN Chief Executive was also one of the content regulators at Ofcom and oversaw standards cases involving the BBC between 2007 and 2010. In 2005 he was a member of a BBC commissioned independent panel assessing the impartiality of BBC news and current affairs coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2015 he was a member of the BBC Charter Review Advisory Group as well as many other roles including a non executive director of Channel 4. In our final programme of the year, we look at the issues that the BBC will be facing over the Martin Bashir controversy, Samir Shah’s appearance in front of the DCMS select committee, Robbie Gibb, BBC coverage of the Israeli/Gaza war, GB News and Ofcom's position ahead of an election year. We’ll also be announcing the top three downloaded programmes of the year.

“I have a personal eyewitness evidence, because she once told me personally that she wanted to give an interview to Panorama.”

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Mark Damazer is a former BBC Trustee, deputy head of BBC News and controller of Radio 4, now chairs the Booker prizes. In the week that the Government's nomination for BBC chair, Dr Samir Shah, is scrutinised by the DCMS select committee we discuss his appointment, what will be in his in-tray, the Lineker tweets, the Government's decision to renege on their funding commitment to the BBC, charter renewal, consultation, transparency and the licence fee as a funding mechanism.

“It’s less than four months ago, that John Hardy, the former chief executive, at ITN came up with this new set of guidelines. And I think we can agree, what Gary Lineker is doing, at the very least, is pushing at the edge of it.”

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David Aaronovitch, worked for the BBC in a senior capacity before becoming a writer for the Independent and later a columnist on the Times. He's made numerous documentaries and currently presents BBC Radio 4’s The Briefing Room. He publishes longer articles on his substack 'Notes from the Underground' and contributes to Tortoise Media. We discussed the complexities and roots of the current conflict in Israel and Gaza, BBC coverage of the war, the BBC's role in public service media, potential cuts and his departure from the Times and current interests.

"One of the big problems that I think that the BBC has had and other, is that they've not been able to be fully truthful about the circumstances under which they report from Gaza. I've really felt this incredibly strongly."

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Pat Younge is a former chief creative officer of BBC Television and a Non Executive Director at ITV Studios Ltd. Amongst his many roles he’s also currently Chair of the Cardiff University governing body and runs his own production company. In our interview we discussed why he is also chair of the British Broadcasting Challenge - why it was set up, the future of public service broadcasting, funding and local journalism. We reflect on his career, why he received elocution lessons and how diversity in broadcasting has changed. We also touch upon the BBC's coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.

"I, as a black person, also have a real empathy with what Jewish staff members are going through....... If you are a Jew working at the BBC or a Jewish person in the UK, when you see those scenes from Gaza—the dreadful, horrific things that Hamas did, and I have no problems calling that a terrorist attack—I can understand why a Jewish person will see those things in a very different way. Someone who doesn't have the lived experience or the family intergenerational experience of what it's like to be targeted for something you have no control over."

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Olivia O’Leary has been a television and radio broadcaster on both the BBC, ITV and RTÉ – the Irish public service broadcaster in her native Ireland. In 1985, Olivia became the first female presenter on BBC’s Newsnight. She later returned to Ireland, presenting once again ‘Today Tonight’ – RTÉ’s flagship current affairs programme. She has also presented BBC Radio 4’s ‘Between Ourselves’ and delivered a regular column on RTÉ Radio 1’s drive time.

This week, we get an Irish perspective on the UK election, discuss the complex relationships between Ireland and the UK, and examine how RTÉ, the Irish public service broadcaster, is faring after a series of scandals and the challenges they are facing with funding. Also, as a former presenter, Olivia shares her views on the changes to Newsnight and the future of journalism.

“The government has refused to make a decision on the future funding of public service media, and particularly RTÉ. They've kept putting it off, putting it off, putting it off. Our old licence fee system, because of the scandals last year, is now under enormous pressure. One fifth of people never paid it anyway. And even a bigger percentage don't pay it now.”

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Greg Childs worked for over 25 years at the BBC, mainly as a director, producer and executive producer of children’s programmes. He created the first Children’s BBC websites and, as Head of Children’s Digital, developed and launched the children’s channels, CBBC and CBeebies. Greg left the BBC in 2004 and worked across other broadcasters. He's now Director of The Children’s Media Foundation and Editorial Director of the Children’s Media Conference. We discuss the crisis in children’s TV programming, it's decline in UK media, the importance of it, funding and the regulation of tech giants.

"ITV have admitted to us that when they took the decision to shut down CITV channel and move it all online, they were getting programme viewing figures of around 4000 children per programme."

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It was once aid that the five most terrifying words in the political lexicon were “Michael Crick is in reception”. Michael has worked extensively across the main public service broadcasters – starting at ITV. He then moved to Channel 4 becoming political correspondent and Washington Correspondent. He joined the BBC as a reporter at Panorama and eventually became political editor of Newsnight before returning to Channel 4 News as political correspondent. He has now stood back from daily journalism to concentrate on writing and commentating. We discuss being kicked off GB News, impartiality in public service broadcasting, Newsnight, Nigel Farage and we reflect on his extensive career.

“It spends too much of its time, I would argue, dealing with questions of race and gender and trans rights. And if you will just listen to Radio 4, you would think that the number of ethnic minorities in this country were say, half the population and I think there's a liberal left leaning amongst the makers of BBC Radio 4.”

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Sophie Chalk is the policy adviser for VLV (Voice of the Listener and Viewer), an independent charity representing the interests of the audience in supporting high-quality broadcasting in the UK. Earlier this year, they appeared before the DCMS select committee’s inquiry into the future of Public Service Broadcasting. Have their concerns been taken on board and reflected in the Media Bill, which was announced in the King's Speech on Tuesday? We discuss the implications of the bill on public service broadcasting including prominence, regulation, local radio, content, and impartiality.

"There's a lot of concern about impartiality regulation at the moment. Ofcom is overwhelmed with inquiries that it's running into GB News. We think there is a real opportunity to define more closely what ‘news’ is. But the government hasn't picked up on that opportunity yet."



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Ritula Shah spent 35 years at the BBC as a producer on 'Today,' presenting 'The World Today,' 'Woman’s Hour,' 'PM,' and chairing 'Any Questions.' However, Ritula is best known for her decade-long tenure as the presenter of the ‘World Tonight' on Radio 4 until earlier this year. We discuss why she left, covering the Israel/Hamas conflict, impartiality, preserving 'Newsnight' at the expense of successful Radio 4 strand programmes, and presenter pay.

“I think that many of my colleagues are rather overpaid.”

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Richard Sambrook, the former BBC Director of News, the World Service and Global News is now emeritus Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University. We discuss Tim Davie, the BBC director general's appearance before the 1922 parliamentary committee, the BBC's coverage of the Israel/Gaza conflict, their news gathering process and transparency, BBC cuts and their impact on services and journalism training.

“The BBC tends to be overly defensive. That's it’s kind of default position. But I think it's increasingly important, they are able to get out there and explain what they're doing.” 

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Edward Stourton has worked in broadcasting for more than forty years, and has been a foreign correspondent for the BBC, ITN and Channel Four. He was a one of the main presenters of Radio 4’s Today programme for ten years and still regularly presents The World at One, The World this Weekend and Analysis. He’s also been the main presenter of Sunday – the radio 4 programme which looks at the religious and ethical issues of the week. He's recently written a book about it with his producer Amanda Hancox which we discuss as well as another very personal book Ed has published this year called 'Confessions:Life Re-examined'.

“I am endlessly impressed by the young people I work with, because it seems to me, they've got absolutely the sort of hunger and curiosity and healthy scepticism and love of the job that I like to think I and my mates had when we were all starting off all those years ago. And they don't dismiss things, they ask. They want to know about Hamas, they want to know about what most of us would consider its distorted religious inspiration.”

“I think I'm just so soaked in Catholicism, that it's just me and trying to drag it out of me would be a hideously painful process. So, I just think it's easier to acquiesce is my sort of my watchword, just give in and believe - it's just easier. And it's helpful, I think it does provide you with a structure and approach to life.”

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Roger Mosey was head of BBC TV News and is a former editor of the Today programme. We discuss the BBC's reluctance to use the term "terrorist" and the BBC's coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.

“You have to recognise that you can't be morally neutral, you can't think that everything is a 50 50 call. So it's tough doing it. I think this is about the most difficult thing the BBC has to cover, after many years, decades of difficulty in covering Ireland.”

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By the time he was 40, Sir Mark Thompson had held some of the top jobs at the BBC. He went on to become Chief Executive of Channel 4 before returning to the corporation as Director General in 2004. In 2012 he went on to The New York Times where he turned around its fortunes. Another challenge now beckons - CEO and chair of CNN, the US news channel where he starts shortly. Roger Bolton talks to his former colleague about impartiality, free speech, BBC bias, democracy, public service broadcasting, religion, Russell Brand and Mark's career.

"I like rule breakers, I like bad boys, and the female equivalent of bad boys. In other words, people who break the rules, break convention, and speak for me."

"The United States is a country which continues to have a functioning indeed, at many levels, vibrant democracy. And interesting enough, I think there's a lot of lessons to teach the United Kingdom about democracy."

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Richard Ayre, former controller of BBC editorial policy and a former member of the OFCOM content board is now the chair of the independent press regulator Impress. On this week's programme we discuss the newly published BBC social media guidelines in response to the Gary Lineker controversy last March. We also look at Ofcom's regulation of GB News and the Russell Brand affair.

“Gary is a highly intelligent guy, the fact that he's welcomed these guidelines today, the fact that he never apologised or rode back from the things he said six months ago, suggests to me that if he's welcoming the guidelines, he doesn't think they would stop him saying what he's quite proud of having said six months ago.”

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Katy Searle has recently left the BBC after a long career in news – over three decades. She was in charge of all of the BBC’s political output for 8 years up until last year, during which time huge savings had to be made. More recently Katy was director of news programmes and current affairs. We discuss the Russell Brand scandal, Ofcom's decision on GB News, impartiality and the impact of cuts on the organisation.

"If you look at how long the Brand's investigation took, they spent two years doing that. Now, I wonder whether that's something that the BBC would be able to do, to devote that time. Of course, it's got some brilliant successes in the past, but it's vital that the BBC continues to do that and makes that a real focus."

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Veteran journalist Adam Boulton spent more than thirty years at Sky News, twenty-five of those as political editor. He has been host for General and US elections coverage, invigilated the first leaders’ debate in 2010 and has the distinction of having interviewed every UK Prime Minister since Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He continues to write for Sky but is also now broadcasting on Times Radio, where he co-hosts the weekend flagship politics show Sunday Morning.

This week we discussed general election coverage, how coverage has changed over the years, Nigel Farage’s media manipulation, impartiality and Adam’s colourful career.

“I do think we collectively in broadcast and I think the BBC in particular, do have a case to answer over Nigel Farage. The truth is that he played the media, like a fiddle didn't he?”

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Nick Ferrari, LBC breakfast presenter and one of the UK's longest serving commercial radio presenters discusses impartiality, local radio, journalistic license and competition with the 'Today' programme.

“Within the M25 we put up a fight against ‘Today’, we're not bad, but they are an absolute giant. Once you start getting out of the M25, I more than keep my own against ‘Today’. And you go to some cities, and actually, I will outperform the show in some cities.”

He also looks back on a remarkable and colourful career that started as a 7 year old in his father’s news agency, and included helping to launch LIVE TV.

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Samira Ahmed is the presenter of Radio 4’s arts programme ‘Front Row’ and for eleven years has presented 'Newswatch' – the sister programme and television news equivalent to 'Feedback' - which also aims to hold the BBC to account on behalf the licence fee payer. We discuss BBC coverage of the Huw Edwards story, the ability of 'Newswatch' and 'Feedback' programmes to hold the BBC to account and pay inequality.

"Let's face it, it's mostly older white men coming out to speak on this and a lot of it has been very defensive."

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Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster is a writer and broadcaster who has been involved in policy analysis at the highest levels, both nationally and internationally, for the last 35 years. Roger and Steven discusses the BBC presenter scandal: the actions of the BBC and Sun newspaper, BBC coverage of the story, privacy laws and whether the BBC is facing an existential crisis.

“I think it's self-indulgent and I think it's self-obsessive. And it's self-indulgent to the point of actually acting counter to the BBC's proper news values which should be to think about stories that are important."

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Andrew Neil, the former Sunday Times editor has become arguably the best political interviewer in the business, someone whom Boris Johnson and Liz Truss were desperate to avoid. This week we’re talking to the man who spent 25 years at the BBC presenting programmes such as This Week, Sunday Politics, The Daily Politics, and Politics Live.  Andrew Neil then left the corporation and became the lead presenter and chairman of GB News, but not for long. After only 8 programmes he left.  Due to cuts at Channel 4 his current 'Andrew Neil Show' has been cut for at least this year. We discuss public service broadcasting, left wing bias, impartiality, GB News and plans for the future. 

"A serving Conservative politician interviewing a Conservative government minister I'm actually surprised. It has surprised me how tolerant Ofcom has been of this kind of stuff. Certainly, when I was involved in trying to put together GB News it never struck me that Ofcom would allow that sort of thing to happen. Indeed, I always regarded Ofcom as something of an ally and keeping us within the bounds of proper mainstream broadcasting.”

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