Andy Webb is the author of Dianarama: The Betrayal of Princess Diana. We discuss his years-long investigation into the BBC Panorama interview with Princess Diana, the controversial methods used by journalist Martin Bashir, the ongoing questions of BBC accountability and transparency, and the significant challenges he faced accessing the BBC’s archives in pursuit of the full story.

"It could be plausibly argued that Diana would be alive today—64 years old, the grandmother of five kids—had the BBC, in April of 1996 or thereabouts, told her what they knew."

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Richard Ayre is a former Controller of Editorial Policy and Deputy Chief Executive of BBC News, and later became a member of the BBC Trust. We discuss the BBC's crisis: how the organisation should respond to legal threats from Trump; the resignations of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness; the actions and inaction of the editorial guidelines and standards committee; and the wider impact on BBC journalism.

Richard also explains the process for appointing a new Director General, the implications for Charter Renewal, and the failures of the current governance system.

"Ministers have the power now to insert onto the shortlist people of their own choosing, irrespective of what any independent panel says. It's corrupt. It invites corruption. We have to take all public appointments out of political hands, and that includes the non-executive directors of the BBC."

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Pat Younge, former BBC Chief Creative Officer and board member at ITV Studios, responds to allegations of bias made against the BBC’s Panorama programme; outlines proposals from the British Broadcasting Challenge for renewing the BBC’s charter and ensuring its long-term independence and relevance; and discusses the impact of media consolidation by wealthy, powerful figures in the US and how this affects the UK media landscape, especially Channel 5. We also discuss broadcast funding models, governance reforms, the importance of universality and trust, the role of citizen assemblies and the prominence of news and current affairs.

“The BBC is like the sun around which our entire broadcasting universe revolves. So we need to get the BBC right. If everything else is going to be right.”

Find out more about the British Broadcasting Challenge: britishbroadcastingchallenge.com

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Matt Frei is the Europe editor and presenter of Channel 4 News who delivered the annual Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture. We discuss his speech, the state of democracy in the United States and whether what is happening there can happen here, BBC's coverage of Gaza and the propaganda war, challenges facing traditional news organisations and whether there is a place for GB News, the domination of the news cycle by Trump, his personal journey from Germany to becoming a prominent British journalist, and the complex media landscape in the era of social media and political polarisation.

"The audience wants stories to be told to them. It's how we do it and to how many people. That's really the issue here. But the internet, the diversification, the anarchy of what we have before us is a golden opportunity to tell more stories to more people, or a different group of people in different ways, and that's fantastic, and we should celebrate that."

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Professor Stephen Cushion, Director of Research at the Cardiff School of Journalism, discusses this week's decision by Ofcom on politicians presenting news programmes, the BBC's request to reduce the number of current affairs programmes in prime time, and his new research which analyses impartiality in news reporting, the representation of political parties, the impact of social media and news consumption, and generational attitudes towards impartiality.

"The rules are changing, aren't they? We're at a bit of a crossroads. Do we want to be more an opinionated type of TV and radio programming, or do we want to preserve these due impartiality guidelines."

Find out more about Prof Cushion’s research: https://www.enhancingimpartiality.com/

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Prof Paul Dixon, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Leicester and Queen Mary College, University of London, discusses his new book, “The Militarisation of British Democracy: The Iraq and Afghan Wars and the Rise of Authoritarianism.” We explore the military’s influence on UK politics and society, the idea of a "militarist coalition," debates over defence spending, media coverage of military issues, and recent and historical conflicts including Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Northern Ireland.

"I had the luxury as an academic to go back and look at key instances where there were moral panics generated about Selly Oak hospital or the parades at Abingdon or alleged abuses of soldiers in Leatherhead Leisure Centre, and show that there was a lack of substance to a lot of those stories that were used to promote the militarisation of the UK. And what I found in looking back was that there wasn't very much analysis of those moral panics to get to the bottom of actually what was going on and whether there was real substance to these panics.”

Buy the book: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-militarisation-of-british-democracy.html

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Mary Hockaday, former Controller of BBC World Service, discusses the future of the BBC World Service amid funding pressures and political challenges, the debate over government and defence funding, the challenges of budget cuts, and the global influence and value of the World Service.

“For me, the most important thing in all of this is almost wherever the money comes from, that the principles of independence, editorial independence, are absolutely sacrosanct.”

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Stewart Purvis is the former Editor in Chief and Chief Executive of ITN and a former content regulator at Ofcom. We discuss Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’s intervention in the debate on GB News, issues of impartiality in news, and the role of Ofcom and government in media regulation. As ITV celebrates its 70th birthday, we also look back on Stewart’s long career, the challenges facing ITN, and his so-called “nipple-gate” moment involving Princess Diana.

"Lisa Nandy has actually put the case extremely well, of what is going on: that really these are polemics, and that they really count as news. So now Ofcom is in a difficult position."

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Mark Damazer is a former controller of Radio 4, Deputy Director of BBC News, BBC trustee, writer, commentator, and chair of the Booker Prizes. We spoke to him about the BBC’s plans for its international audio services, the challenges of monetising content overseas, the implications for the BBC’s global reach and influence, the value of its radio archive, the future of public service broadcasting, and the role of consultation and vision in shaping the BBC’s direction.

There's still quite a lot that's been lost, and you feel really quite strongly; they've been making it up as they go along, and they've had a lot of trouble communicating to these audiences outside the UK, interested in BBC audio, what it is that they're actually doing.

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Robin Aitken is a former BBC journalist, author, and contributor to The Daily Telegraph. In this episode, he discusses his chapter in the book "The BBC: After the licence fee?"

We discuss the BBC’s internal culture, its approach to impartiality, the representation of religious perspectives, its coverage of events such as Brexit, audience trust in the BBC and factors affecting licence fee payments.

“There is an assumption in the BBC, broadly speaking, that public is always better than private; that a social democratic government anywhere in the world is always going to be preferable to what the BBC often terms ‘Far Right,’ and the way that they use those terms is itself such a giveaway.”

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