Media Masters

Anthony Scaramucci is an entrepreneur, financier, and for a short time was President Donald Trump’s Communications Director. In this in-depth interview, ‘The Mooch’ talks in detail about that tumultuous period - how he became an “accidental entrant into the political system”, put his company up for sale to serve a President whose candidacy he had previously opposed, though ultimately becoming one of his most loyal and vocal supporters; talks about his relationship with Trump, calling him the “toughest guy I’ve ever met” - arguing he will be re-elected, and bring peace with North Korea; compares the reality of life in DC as being even more brutal than House of Cards; shares his frustration with some of Trump’s actions such as his tweeting, calling for a “truce” from “both sides” in the media war; advises what Democrats need to learn if they are going to effectively oppose the President; and takes responsibility for the errors which led to his downfall - albeit arguing he “would have been fired anyway” as John Kelly “wouldn't have allowed a guy like Scaramucci in the White House.”

Jason Feifer is the Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur magazine, which has 3 million readers and an online reach of 14 million, and established over 40 years ago as the ‘go-to’ brand aimed at ambitious people looking for advice and inspiration to ‘start, run and grow’ their business. He also hosts two podcasts: ‘Problem Solvers’ - about solving unexpected problems in business, and ‘Pessimists Archive’ - a history of unfounded fears of innovation. In this in-depth interview, he details the evolving editorial direction and changes he’s made since taking the top job; shares what he’s learnt from spending time with hundreds of successful high-flyers – what motivates them, how they think, their biggest challenges, and what they get wrong ...and reveals that working with entrepreneurs has inspired him to become one himself.

Rosie Nixon has been at HELLO! magazine for over a decade, appointed joint Editor in 2008 and promoted to Editor-in-Chief in 2016. Under her leadership, the magazine has recorded the largest-ever increase in reach, with a weekly print readership of 900,000 and over 2 million online. In this in-depth interview, she reveals how the iconic magazine is put together, with its unique mix of celebrity, royalty, and red carpet paired with fashion, beauty and lifestyle - deliberately positive, warm and upbeat in tone; shares how she has built personal relationships with some of the world’s most famous names - and the edge this gives the brand in her growth strategy for the hugely competitive digital space, with celebrity coverage websites battling for millions of clicks; talks about her two recent novels and her plans to write further books; and divulges the meticulous level of planning involved in the forthcoming royal wedding.

Christian Broughton is Editor of The Independent. After spending much of his career at the ‘Indy’ and the i newspaper, he became Digital Editor in 2012, and launched the award-winning indy100 website. In 2016, when Evgeny Lebedev famously closed the print edition, he took over as Editor, taking their reach to a peak of 120 million, and 6 million daily readers. In this in-depth interview, he discusses his efforts to take full advantage of the opportunities digital presents, while maintaining their long-held values and brand strength; shares details of his commitment to more foreign bureaux and specialist reporters, and their ‘InFact’ unit tackling fake news; talks through the challenges of expanding the business in a commercially sustainable way, their relationship with twitter, facebook and google; and tackles critics who accuse the site of chasing clicks at any cost.

Audrey Cooper is Editor-in-Chief of the San Francisco Chronicle. One of Cosmopolitan magazine’s ‘50 Fearless Women’ she joined as Assistant Metro Editor in 2006, and just nine years later became Editor-in-Chief - the first woman to hold the position in the publication’s 150 years, and the youngest-ever to fill the top post at a major US paper. In this in-depth interview, she shares the secrets of her amazing turnaround - from shedding staff and losing millions to a sustainable business with a record readership of 35 million; talks through innovations such as the re-introduction of an investigative team, and hiring a cannabis consultant to cover the now-legal marijuana industry; and fondly analyses San Francisco itself - contrasting the wealthy beneficiaries of the tech boom against a massive homelessness crisis, outlining how her paper is trying to be a catalyst for the solution.

Sarah Sands is Editor of Today, the BBC’s flagship news programme. In this in-depth interview, she shares how her appointment surprised many after a long career in print, the changes she has already made to the show and her plans for its future direction; reflects on life in the Editor’s chair at the London Evening Standard, where she stands by her former paper’s support for Zac Goldsmith - though conceding he “would've been terrible” as London’s Mayor; discusses the BBC gender pay gap problem and her efforts to get more female voices on the show; and given that for the first time in the BBC’s history it’s likely the next Director General will be a woman... she reveals whether she wants the top job.

With 33 years in broadcast journalism under his belt, Neil Thompson began rising with the larks in 1993, as part of the GMTV launch team, and has been a stalwart of ITV early mornings ever since. In this in-depth interview, he discusses the multiple attempts to rescue the “disaster” that was Daybreak - lessons learned which resulted in the wholly rethought “live, inclusive, immersive” approach for Good Morning Britain; examines the successful pairing of “two alpha brains” Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, how their relationship works (both on and off-screen), and how viewers have embraced the tension - helping GMB make significant gains in the ratings war; and reveals how a typical show is put together... plus the secrets of Piers’ recent interview with President Donald Trump.

A 20-year BBC veteran and respected war correspondent, Katya Adler is still covering ferocious conflict - this time with Brexit. Appointed Europe Editor in 2015 - arriving in Brussels with reservations that her new beat would be dull and uneventful - she instead found herself reporting on Europe’s most turbulent time since the Second World War: the Greek economic collapse, the Migrant Crisis, and the rise of populism. In this in-depth interview, she laments an increasing propensity for European leaders to refuse to go on the record; tackles critics from all sides who accuse her of bias; outlines her personal take on Brexit negotiations, and the likely result; and how speaking five languages is her secret weapon for getting her sources to open up.

Madhav Chinnappa is the senior executive at Google responsible for their relationship with the news industry. After 9 years at the BBC leading their commercial team, he joined the ‘wonderfully crazy company’ and deliberately became ‘the most technically dumb guy at Google’ to boost their understanding of the media ecosystem beyond a tech-only approach. In this in-depth interview, he talks through their Digital News Initiative - offering expertise, and even cash investment through their Innovation Fund; discusses the huge complexity of complying with the laws of hundreds of countries; and outlines their initiative to tackle fake news - ensuring perpetrators don’t profit, and marking search results which have been fact checked.