For ten years Sam McAlister was the interviews producer on BBC 2’s flagship news programme Newsnight, securing head-to-head pieces with Silicon Valley CEOs, world leaders and Hollywood stars. A former barrister, she turned to journalism after a successful career in criminal law and has since negotiated with everyone from Buckingham Palace to the White House, Facebook to Tesla. Sam is now a Visiting Senior Fellow in Practice at LSE Law School, where she teaches negotiation.

Working in a largely unseen role on Newsnight, Sam undertook the delicate negotiations that underpin some of the biggest exclusive interviews in British news. 

Sam secured include exclusive interviews with Sheryl Sandberg, Justin Trudeau, Bill Clinton, Elon Musk, Benjamin Netanyahu, Trevor Noah, and Eric Schmidt. 

Her book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interviews, offers a backstage pass to some of these unforgettable moments.

Most notably Sam led negotiations for the ground-breaking interview with HRH Prince Andrew. The first time a senior royal had agreed to such a journalistic interview, and in the midst of an international scandal, it went on to make headlines around the world and have a serious impact on the Royal Family and in April the story became the Netflix smash hot - ‘Scoop’, starring Billie Piper and Gillian Anderson.

At Media 360 in Brighton, Sam joined Fresh Air Production's Director of Content Michaella Hallam to talk about the biggest risks she's ever taken, Prince Andrew's approach to risk and why its important for brands to be innovative and take risks.

This episode is part of Fresh Air's Media360 series, follow to hear from some of the top CMO's in the UK.

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