Media Masters

Jenna Goudreau is the vice president and managing editor at CNBC Digital.Since joining the broadcaster in 2016, Jenna relaunched their personal finance site ‘Grow’, reaching 6.5 million people in 5 years, and is the founding editor of the award-winning money news website ‘Make It’, which tackles financial illiteracy and helps people navigate their big financial firsts: from landing a dream job to starting a business.Jenna shares the risks caused by the lack of financial education – schools prioritising trigonometry and algebra over investments and tax returns. She describes her go-to interview question and the qualities she looks for when recruiting new team members – explaining what early career journalists can do to stand out to their boss.

Jon Wardle is the director of the National Film and Television School.Founded in 1971, the Buckinghamshire-based institution teaches over 750 students and has recently opened new campuses in Glasgow, Leeds, and Cardiff.The exponential growth of streaming services has hugely increased the demand for UK creative talent. To meet this, the school offers nearly 40 specialist courses – including traditional subjects such as cinematography and screenwriting, as well as “less glamorous” yet highly impactful courses, like production management and accounting.The gaming industry is bigger than ever, generating higher profits than all of Hollywood combined. The school is at the cutting edge of gaming technology, and its game design MA has become one of the most popular courses – with game engine software transforming film and TV production after being used for major shows such as ‘The Mandalorian’.

Meredith Artley is the former Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President of CNN Digital.During her tenure at CNN, Meredith oversaw content creation, programming, and publishing across their digital properties, leading a global team of over 350 reporters, producers, and editors—and left after 12 years with CNN enjoying the world’s largest digital audience, reaching over 160 million.Meredith reflects on her career journey—from digitising The New York Times in the ‘90s, significantly growing the online reach of the LA Times, to putting diversity at the heart of CNN’s leadership. She is now on sabbatical in Hawaii, planning her next move.

Amanda Groom is founder and CEO of ‘The Bridge’. The TV, film and animation company aims to “bridge” the gap between East and West, enabling mutually beneficial co-productions across multiple genres, collaborating with major broadcasters such as Sky and Channel 4.When ‘Parasite’ won the Oscar for best picture in 2020, it opened the West’s eyes to the wealth of creative opportunities in the East. Amanda takes us behind the scenes of her recent success, ‘Ms Ma, Nemesis,’ an asian take on Agatha Christie’s ‘Miss Marple,’ and gets us excited for the first Spanish-Korean co-production—bringing a fresh perspective from the world’s previously unheard voices.

Athena Brensberger is an astronomer and science communicator.Presenter of ‘Suppressed Science’ on Curiosity Stream, she founded the educational platform ‘Astroathens’ in 2016, with a mission to showcase her passion for science and astronomy to the general public. She’s already partnered with NASA, The Science Channel and Spaceport America among others.In a wide-ranging discussion, she shares the challenge of unlocking complex scientific ideas for diverse audiences—where life on Earth really began, designing biological systems not compatible with ours, and how plants are our unlikely ally in the search for alien intelligence.One Line: Inspiring the curious to explore the big questions—the great beginnings of the universe, planet Earth… and life itself.

Robin Ritch is President and Publisher of Deseret News.From advising startups to transforming the longest-running news organization in the American West, Robin has grown Deseret News, founded in 1850 by the Mormon Church, from a local paper into a national media powerhouse, with over 10 million readers across their platforms. As Utah’s oldest continuously operating business, their name derives from the geographic area of Deseret, and just like the settlers that named the area, it is a pioneer in its own right.Robin shares their commitment to tackling fake news by “being a standard-bearer of journalistic integrity and principled reporting” and discusses their mission to “elevate understanding, challenge assumptions and illuminate context” about the Mormon Church, while remaining editorially independent. Having identified a clear gap in the national news market, and looking to provide a balance to the typically right or left-wing political dialogue, Robin lead the paper towards a centrist political approach, ba

Sophy Roberts is an award-winning author and travel writer.After an unusual start writing about different sides of the pornography industry, she cut her teeth as editor-at-large on the UK edition of Condé Nast Traveller, before joining the magazine’s American team as a special correspondent.Sophy shares why the best source for stories is through chance meetings with strangers, albeit on a train or in a Mongolian tent, which formed the backdrop of her Sunday Times Book of the Year (2020), ‘The Lost Pianos of Siberia,’ which documents her quest for the classical instrument against the extreme Russian landscape. Recalling her work with Jessica Mitford on one of the most notable exposés in American literature, she compares UK and US newsrooms from a freelancer’s perspective.

Edward Felsenthal is the editor-in-chief and CEO of Time magazine.Under his leadership, the iconic American publication has enjoyed its greatest revenue and audience growth ever – now reaching 100 million readers globally – and its successful expansion into TV, video and film production.Including leading the health team at The Wall Street Journal, which won two Pulitzer prizes, Edward shares their plans to celebrate Time’s forthcoming centenary. He takes us behind the scenes of the editorial and selection process for ‘Person of the Year,’ which is always impactful – and sometimes controversial; and discusses their commitment to campaigning on climate change and fixing the global trust crisis.

Jon Mew is CEO of the Internet Advertising Bureau UK.The organisation represents and regulates the £23bn digital advertising industry, counting Google, Meta and Twitter among its members, with a mission to “promote transparency and build a sustainable future for online marketing.”Jon shares how the industry is toughening its response to fraudsters – standing up for greater consumer protection, but arguing they could do more with the government’s help. He also shares how they are tackling online influencers who endorse products without revealing that they are paid, and in what ways restricting promotion of products high in fat, salt and sugar affects small business owners.

Jim Edwards is former editor-in-chief for news at Insider, and author of ‘Say Thank You for Everything’ – the best-selling guide which aims to revolutionise newsroom management.Jim started Business Insider UK in 2014 with just one laptop in an empty office. He helped grow the readership from zero to 250 million readers, placing it amongst the most successful news websites in the world. His “bullshit-free guide” provides management advice based on the 19-point email he sent to a colleague, summarising everything he learned supervising people at Insider, which famously went viral. Based on his expertise, it aims to tackle the issue of poorly-run newsrooms, ensuring media management teams are up to the huge challenges to come.

Steve Wilson-Beales is Head of SEO & Editorial Product at Global.One of the world’s leading media & entertainment groups, Global reaches over 50m consumers each week across media and outdoor advertising. Steve drives search strategy for its most high-ranking brands – Classic FM, Capital, PopBuzz and LBC – and is at the heart of the radio industry’s pivot to digital. He is the brain behind driving awareness to the Global brands via what has become an increasingly crowded search landscape.

Bel Trew is International Correspondent at The Independent.Based in Beirut, Bel has been covering conflicts across the Middle East for a decade and has recently returned from an extended secondment in Ukraine. A series of her reportage ‘On The Ground’ uncovers the horrors that Russia has inflicted on Ukrainians – including clear evidence of torture and enforced disappearance. Bel relates the stark reality of war reporting, sharing harrowing details of what she saw shooting them and how she made it to stay safe. Drawing on her own experience, she brings up the subject of journalists risking their lives and suffering from PTSD – a common but ignored result of reporting from war zones.

Kiran Nazish is founding director of The Coalition For Women In Journalism.Launched in 2017, it is the first worldwide support network for female journalists ‘at high risk of violence and harassment,’ with targeted support for those reporting from the frontline. Kiran started her journalism career in her native Pakistan and was inspired to set up the New York-based organisation because of the danger she had faced as a female reporter based in war-torn Middle East. The Coalition offers comprehensive support for the journalists at risk of PTSD and is spearheading an initiative to help newsroom managers reduce it happening in the first place.

Angelos Frangopoulos is CEO of GB News.The channel marked one of the most controversial media launches in recent memory when last year it became Britain’s first new rolling TV news broadcaster in over three decades. Angelos reflects on the “teaching moments” from those rocky first few months, and how he wants to build on the new-found stability to grow the channel’s audience. He faces down those who sought to ‘cancel’ the channel before it was even launched by organising an advertising boycott, and shares with pride the evidence that those attempts failed – including the creation of 200 new journalist jobs. He also sets out plans to make GB News “distinctive” including “serving all communities across the UK”, unlike the other “London-centric” broadcasters.

John Whittingdale OBE MP is former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. A Member of Parliament for over 30 years, he also previously chaired the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee during its most famous moment – when a pie was tossed in the face of media mogul Rupert Murdoch at the end of a session. The Sun dubbed John ‘Maggie’s Toy Boy’ when in 1988, aged just 28, he became then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s political secretary. In this in-depth interview, John discusses how people are surprised when they hear of the “vast range of responsibilities” he had when leading the DCMS – including overseeing the work of The National Lottery, leading on policy relating to blockchain and the digital economy, and promoting the UK on a global stage; praises the BBC as “the finest broadcaster in the world” and acknowledges that it may “surprise some people” to hear his strong support – making the case again for the continuation of the licence fee settlement; and shares the challenges involved in b

Hillary Frey is editor-in-chief at Slate. Founded in 1996 by software giant Microsoft, the online magazine brings thoughtful, long-form journalism on culture, politics and current affairs to a global audience. Previously, Hillary worked for the likes of NBC News, Politico and HuffPost, and was editor-in-chief at Yahoo! News. In this in-depth interview, she reflects on how her very first regular writing gig in the late 1990s was for Slate – and how returning nearly three decades later in the editor’s chair is a “funny story and an exciting opportunity”; shares how the company is always searching for ways to “experiment and innovate” in order to retain and grow its subscriber base, in an era when “too many consumers” expect to get high-quality journalism for free; and discusses the tension between covering the most popular stories – such as whether Donald Trump’s putative comeback will be a success – while also ensuring they offer their readers a wide variety of topics.

Carl Zimmer is an award-winning science writer and New York Times columnist. A three-time winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s journalism award, in 2021 Carl was a member of the team at The New York Times which won The Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for their coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this in-depth interview, Carl discusses the topic of his latest book – ‘Life’s Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive’ – shedding light on why it is “very difficult and may be impossible” to know precisely what life and death actually are; shares some of the problems that are caused by humans “wrongly making themselves the centre of any definition of life”, instead of realising that “the vast majority of life is not like us”; and reflects on just how much the pandemic dominated his work for two years, and how people trusting the accuracy of Covid-19 coverage is quite literally a matter of life and death.

Scott Armstrong is the former editor-in-chief of Arabian Business magazine, and founder of ‘mentl’ – a platform which provides a holistic approach to mental health issues in the workplace. With more than 30 years of experience as a journalist, editor and strategic communications consultant, his storied career has taken him from the UK to the Bahamas, through Oman to the United Arab Emirates. In this in-depth interview, Scott reflects on his years as an editor and how “instinct, leadership and management skills” are key to success – despite editors rarely receiving management training when promoted, which results in them lacking the necessary skills to lead effectively; argues that in local journalism, there is always a local angle to be found even within global news events – recalling his time working on The Evening Chronicle in Newcastle (UK), when they were able to find local residents who had been first-hand witnesses to the 9/11 attack in Manhattan; and reveals what inspired him to set up his new firm ‘me

Sophie Ferron is CEO of Media Ranch, an award-winning, Canadian production and distribution company, specialising in unscripted TV formats – including factual, reality/docu-reality and lifestyle. After two decades of working across production, broadcasting, distribution and business development, she launched her own venture in 2008. In this in-depth interview, Sophie recalls how working with media giant Endemol, the company behind ‘Big Brother’ and ‘The Real World’, inspired her to focus on unscripted programmes and drove her to expand the concept globally; explains why a reality show needs to leave room for cultural differences, while keeping its overall structure to achieve international success; and shares how her desire to promote the Canadian TV production industry abroad is now bearing real fruit.

Gavin Allen is executive editor-in-chief of Huawei. He joined in 2021, after nearly two decades at the BBC, taking in senior editorial roles at BBC News, including flagship programmes like ‘Question Time’. In this in-depth interview, Gavin tackles the groundless conspiracy theories levelled at the company, the real-world consequences, and the strategy for handling an unjustified reputational attack; shares lessons learnt from launching ‘Transform’ - Huawei’s thought leadership magazine covering brand development across all sectors; and takes us behind the scenes of how he has shaped the role of editor-in-chief in one of the biggest tech companies in the world, taking into account its experience in the media.