Media Masters

Julie Etchingham presents ITV’s News at Ten, and fronts their major current affairs shows Tonight, Exposure and On Assignment. Starting her career as a BBC trainee in 1990, she has worked for Sky and ITV, reporting on global events such as Grenfell, the US and UK elections and terror attacks in Westminster, Paris and Brussels. She also led ITV’s coverage of the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and in 2015 was the first woman to moderate a general election leaders’ debate. A vocal campaigner for equality, her programmes on the menopause, #MeToo and transgender rights have highlighted some of the most important issues facing society. In this in-depth interview, she recalls ‘doorstepping’ Pope Francis, takes us behind the scenes at News at Ten, and describes the “quiet Friday night” which ended when news broke of the Paris terror attacks, just one hour before the nightly bulletin.

Adrian Monck is managing director of the World Economic Forum, best known for their flagship conference at Davos. The annual event brings together the world’s political leaders with entrepreneurs, economists and celebrities to discuss the most pressing issues facing humanity. In this in-depth interview, the former broadcast journalist and university professor talks behind the scenes at Davos, how social media is helping the Forum to reach new audiences worldwide – and reveals what it really takes to get world leaders to listen to one another.

Stephen Wright is associate news editor at the Daily Mail. His reporting of the Stephen Lawrence murder drove the paper’s campaign to bring his killers to justice. During his 30-year career he has written about the country’s most shocking murders, investigated criminal gangs, and exposed police corruption. In this in-depth interview, he discusses the difficulty of reporting distressing court details, how the press/police relationship suffered after Leveson – and recalls how he feared for his life while doorstepping a vicious murderer from Interpol’s ‘most wanted’.

As co-head of Creative Arts Agency, music industry agent Emma Banks leads a £200m business with 2,000 employees. Her clients include some of the biggest names in music such as Florence + The Machine, Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Muse. During her 25-year career, she has received a number of industry gongs – including the 2018 MITS award for her “significant contribution to the UK music industry”, having been hailed “a trailblazer for women”. In this in-depth interview, she shares the secrets to spotting and nurturing emerging talent – and reveals the mountain of decisions needed to get multimillion-dollar tours on the road.

Mark Williams-Thomas is a multi award-winning investigative reporter. After a 12-year career with Surrey Police, he became an advisor for television crime dramas, and got his first on-screen presenting job while organising a sting on a German paedophile in 2008 for ITV’s Tonight programme. He has since reported on a number of major investigations, including the murder of Tia Sharp and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. In this in-depth interview, he discusses his involvement with the Savile investigation – and how the existence of celebrity “untouchables” means there may be more to come.

Julio Bruno is chief executive of Time Out Group. During his three years at the helm, he has overseen the brand’s transformation into a multi-platform media, entertainment, retail and e-commerce operation with a global audience of 217 million. He has also coordinated the expansion of the new Time Out Markets, which last year attracted 3.6 million visitors and is already helping to drive the company back to profitability with five more set to open over the next 12 months. In this in-depth interview, he discusses the 50-year heritage of the iconic Time Out brand, talks about taking the company public, and how his love for London inspired the post-Brexit ‘Dear World’ cover.

Paul Royall is editor of BBC News at Ten. After joining the BBC in 1997 as part of the original News 24 team, he worked on BBC Breakfast before becoming editor of the distinctly different Six and Ten in 2012. Since then, he has overseen reporting of two general elections, the Scottish referendum, Brexit and the presidency of Donald Trump, and has responsibility for deciding the running order of the two programmes. In this in-depth interview, he answers the question he’s most asked - about the role of presenters behind the scenes, who writes the scripts, and what happens when things go wrong – and reveals how a trainee came up with the idea for a new BBC Three initiative to appeal to younger audiences.