https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/insight-with-nick-davies-hack-attack

In July 2011, revelations that journalists from The News of the World hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler created public outrage. But we were soon to learn this was just the tip of the iceberg. The revelations that followed revealed a scandal that has since engulfed Fleet Street, Scotland Yard and Downing Street.

The man behind that story, and the years of investigative work that came before it, was Nick Davies. In his new book Hack Attack: How The Truth Caught Up With Rupert Murdoch, Davies recounts his painstaking investigation and exposes the inside story of what went on in the newsrooms and the corridors of power.

Nick Davies will be joining us in conversation with Stewart Purvis, to talk about the investigation, the revelations and the future of press regulation. We will be asking how the press have changed in a post-Leveson world and whether they have really reformed.

Nick Davies writes investigative stories for The Guardian, and has been named Journalist of the Year, Reporter of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year in British Press Awards. He has written five books: White Lies, Murder on Ward Four, Dark Heart, School Report and Flat Earth News.

Stewart Purvis is professor of television journalism at City University. He is a former editor-in-chief and CEO of ITN, Ofcom’s Partner for Content and Standards, and author of When Reporters Cross The Line: The Heroes, the Villains, the Hackers and the Spies.

With everyone talking about the future of journalism, it’s easy to forget what’s happening now. Do paywalls work? Is the industry still in crisis? Is it still too white and middle class? And where are the jobs?

Grapevine Events will be inviting some of the country’s top editors for a night of questions – and answers.

Doors 7:00 PM

First Panel 7:30 – 8:20 PM
Chaired by Archie Bland.
Zing Tsjeng, digital news editor, Dazed Magazine.
Stephen Bush, assistant comment editor, The Telegraph.
Emma Hogan, Britain correspondent, The Economist.
Alex Hern, tech reporter, The Guardian.

Interval (Drinks and food) 8:20 – 8:50 PM

Second Panel 8:50 – 9:50 PM
Chaired by George Brock.
Amol Rajan, editor, The Independent.
Emma Tucker, deputy editor, The Times.
Ian Hislop, editor, Private Eye.
Alex Miller, editor, VICE.

This event is the third in a series organised by Grapevine Events.

Foreign reporters began to go missing in Syria in the autumn of 2012. The first disappeared just as the conflict slid from violent unrest into the abyss of outright civil war. Within a year the numbers were in double figures. By the close of 2013 rebel held zones were effectively barren of journalists.

What happened to our missing reporters? Who holds them and what can we do to help secure their release? Roving foreign correspondent for The Times Anthony Loyd will be chairing a panel of specialists with first hand knowledge of the hostage crisis in Syria to examine how best we can aid the vanished.

The panel:

John Wade is the deputy director of the Response Division at Control Risks.

Paul Wood is a correspondent at the BBC who has covered Syria extensively.

Michael Hoare is deputy head of press and digital at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Karen Lajon is senior correspondent for Le Journal du Dimanche and co-chair of the support committee for French Hostages in Syria.

This event is off the record, please refrain from filming and reporting the discussion.

This event is organised by  International Alert, in partnership with Sussex University’s School of Global Studies.

In the media, lead coverage is often given to stories and images from the front lines. As the old newsroom saying goes: “If it bleeds, it leads.” But what happens when a conflict fades from the headlines and the long path to peace begins? Can the power of the media be harnessed to highlight positive stories of peacebuilding, reconciliation and change?

Join us to explore how the media depicts the stories of both conflict and peace, with:

Martin Bell, veteran war correspondent.

Timothy Large, Editor-in-Chief, Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Cynthia Weber, Professor of International Relations, University of Sussex.

Chaired by Dan Smith, Secretary General, International Alert.

The event is free to attend and will be followed by a drinks and canapés reception.

Across the world everyday journalists face injuries, kidnappings and death in the line of their work. In the majority of cases the perpetrators are not brought to justice and this evading of punishment often leads to self censorship by other journalists.

Reporting on corruption, crime, conflict, politics and human rights is crucial in society, but how can we better protect the journalists doing this work?

Following World Press Freedom Day we will be bringing together some of the key players that are working on tackling impunity, to discuss the level of the problem and the work they are doing to combat it.

Chaired by Peter Horrocks, the director of BBC Global News, responsible for leading the BBC’s international news services across radio, television and new media. He has worked at the BBC since 1981.

The panel:

Kim Sengupta is the defence and diplomatic correspondent at The Independent. He covers international and domestic news and his extensive reporting from around the world has included many of the major conflicts in recent times.

Heather Blake is the UK Director for Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières) and an affiliate to Pembroke College, Oxford University, Changing Character of War programme.

Elisabeth Witchel is a Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) consultant, she served for many years as the organisation’s journalist assistance coordinator. She launched CPJ’s Global Campaign Against Impunity.

Aidan Sullivan is a photographer, picture editor and vice president of Getty Images. He is the director of the Ian Parry Scholarship and founder of the campaign A Day Without News?.

Organised by ShelterBox

Join us for a panel debate, chaired by Clive Jones, Chair of the Disasters Emergency Committee (and ITV News) with: Mike Thomson, foreign affairs correspondent for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme; Sarah Whitehead of Sky News; DFID’s Dylan Winder; and Ross Preston, head of operations for international disaster relief charity, ShelterBox.

Inspired by ShelterBox, a growing emergency shelter provider in international disaster relief, we are offering a debate on how the media covers disasters, how journalists are selected, briefed and operate once in the field, and the value of their coverage.

The panel is chaired by Clive Jones CBE, the chair of the Disasters Emergency Committee. He is a former chairman of GMTV and ITV News, and an honorary visiting professor at the School of Journalism, Media and Culture Studies at the University of Wales.

The panel:

Sarah Whitehead, international affairs editor, Sky News.

Dylan Winder, head of humanitarian response, Department For International Development (DFID).

Ross Preston MBE, head of operations, ShelterBox International.

Mike Thomson, foreign affairs correspondent for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

A year ago, in the midst of the uprisings across the Arab world, when the news agenda was moving at a relentless pace, we brought together a group of journalists to talk about the practicalities of life as a freelance foreign correspondent.

One year on, we take stock of the opportunities, challenges and risks that we have seen for freelancers. Should inexperienced freelancers be deterred from heading straight to conflict zones, or should training, insurance and guidance be more freely available?

In a recent piece for BBC College of Journalism Stuart Hughes writes about the risks being taken by inexperienced freelancers. As more and more choose to cut their teeth in the field rather than in local newsrooms, Hughes will be joining us with a panel of journalists and editors to discuss what precautions need to be taken to keep them safe.

Chaired by Stuart Hughes is a senior world affairs producer with BBC News. He has worked in international news for more than a decade. Working alongside some of the BBC’s most respected correspondents, he has covered major news events around the world, including the 9/11 attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Middle East conflict and the Arab Spring.

The panel:

Aris Roussinos is a freelance journalist, filmmaker and television news producer. Over the past two years, he has reported from Libya, Bahrain, Tunisia, Greece and Sudan.

Julia Macfarlane is a freelance journalist working in Asia and the Middle East, having most recently freelanced in Lebanon for an independent documentary and BBC News as well as blogging on the Middle East for the Independent.

Hannah Storm is the director of the International News Safety Institute (INSI). Before joining INSI she worked as both a freelancer and a staff journalist for a number of broadcasters and news organisations, including ITN, Reuters, the BBC and The Times.

Colin Pereira, head of safety and security at ITN, he is responsible for the security of ITN operations in high risk environments. Previously he was deputy head of the BBC High Risk Team. He has advised on thousands of deployments around the world, ranging from the London riots to deploying crews to downtown Mogadishu. He is also head of high risk for 1st Option Safety, specialising in production and freelance safety.

In association with:

We will be joined by an expert panel to look at the nature of the engagement between the British military and the media, in light of more than ten years of conflict overseas.

As we see changes in the British military, the media and the nature of conflict zones, how will this relationship develop? We will be examining the management of the media and the judgements that are made about what to and what not to show.

Chaired by Stewart Purvis, Professor of television journalism at City University London. He is a former Editor-in-Chief and CEO of ITN, and Ofcom’s Partner for Content and Standards.

The panel:

Lorna Ward, deputy foreign news editor at Sky News, currently deployed as Media Advisor to ISAF Deputy Commander, Afghanistan. In her position at Sky she runs the international news input and has spent a considerable time in the field as a reporter and producer. Previously, she was mobilised while in the TA; deploying in charge of a Combat Camera Team attached to British infantry units across Iraq, and US special forces in Baghdad.

Vaughan Smith is a news pioneer who founded the Frontline Club in London in 2003. Since the 80s Vaughan has worked as an award-winning independent cameraman and video news journalist covering wars and conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo and elsewhere.

Robert Fox has worked as a journalist and broadcaster since 1967, and is defence correspondent for the Evening Standard.He is member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Royal Institute for International Affairs, Chatham House.

Major General Jonathan Shaw was chief of staff of UK Land Forces between 2007 and 2008. He joined the Parachute Regiment in 1981 and went on to serve in the Falklands, Kosovo and Iraq before joining the MoD. He currently advises Digital Barriers plc and OPTIMA Defence & Security.

The last time the BBC set up an internal inquiry of the scale of the Pollard Inquiry it resulted in a shake up that saw the resignation of the Director General and the Chairman. Nearly ten years on from the Hutton Inquiry pressure is again mounting at the BBC and there are calls for those at the top to “fall on their swords”.

Join us as we ask whether the criticism levelled at the BBC and its management is fair and how damaging it could be. Does the failure to adequately justify and explain the reasons for dropping the Newsnight investigation into Jimmy Savile’s past point to a larger problem with decision-making at the BBC?

Chaired by Steve Hewlett, a writer, broadcaster and media consultant.

With:

Sian Kevill, runs independent production company, Make World Media. Previously she was editor of the BBC’s Newsnight programme where she won two BAFTA and two RTS awards, she also worked on BBC World News where she had overall editorial responsibility.

Stewart Purvis, professor of television journalism at City University London. He is a former Editor-in-Chief and CEO of ITN, and Ofcom’s partner for content and standards.

David Elstein, chairman of the board of openDemocracy Ltd and of the Broadcasting Policy Group. Previously he launched Channel 5, worked for Sky as head of programming and began his career at the BBC as a producer and director.

Jean Seaton, Professor of media history at the University of Westminster.

It has been a year since the Prime Minister announced an inquiry examining the culture, practices and ethics of the media in light of the phone-hacking scandal. Since then we have heard from journalists, editors, proprietors, politicians and victims of phone-hacking.

As the hearings draw to a close and Lord Justice Leveson begins his report, we will be holding a special event in association with Index on Censorship to discuss what we have learned and the key issues Leveson will have to tackle.

Join us with a panel to map out the questions Leveson will be asking. How should public interest be defined? Is regulation required and if so, what would its purpose be? How should relationships between journalists, proprietors, politicians and police be conducted in the future?

Chaired by writer, broadcaster and filmmaker, Jonathan Dimbleby.

Panelists to be confirmed. 

In association with Index on Censorship