Jon Snow Hugh Cudlipp Lecture 2012
Jon Snow speaking at the 2012 Hugh Cudlipp Lecture, photograph by Connor Matheson, London College of Communication
Jon Snow controversially called for tighter regulation of newspapers at the annual Hugh Cudlipp lecture at LCC on Monday 23 January 2012
Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow speaking at the annual Hugh Cudlipp lecture at the London College of Communication (LCC) on Monday 23 January, called for tighter regulation of the press: “Until now the written press has suffered from not having a proper regulator,” he said. “We must get away from the PCC, and exclude serving editors.” He also argued for the wholesale abolition of the UK libel laws saying that we should be able to defend reputations under the Human Rights Act.
Also in his lecture entitled ‘Why we are poised for journalism’s finest hour’. Snow explained why – as journalism finds itself the subject of scrutiny like never before and we await the findings of Lord Leveson’s public inquiry – he believes ‘We are poised for journalism’s finest hour’. Defying the doom-sayers he explained why the explosion of online media rather than being the final nail in the coffin for journalism is a ‘window of opportunity’ for journalists. The issue of how to monetize information in the digital age not withstanding, Snow said ‘Journalists have never had more access, more information – or frankly, been more important. If we seize this moment as an opportunity, it will herald a brighter future for us all.’
Snow was the eighth speaker at the annual lecture, where Paul Dacre, Michael Grade, Andrew Marr, Alastair Campbell and have been guest speakers in the past. Snow, 64, says he was honored to be asked to speak at the “high profile lecture”, especially as he is not a print journalist.
The winner of the £1000 Hugh Cudlipp Award for Journalism 2011 was also announced last night. Ben Bryant, a City University journalism graduate, won this year’s award for features about gang culture published in the London Evening Standard. He is now with the Telegraph.
The award is for UK journalism students who have written a series of articles “in the Cudlipp tradition of exposing a wrong or investigating and depicting a social issue in a comprehensive way,” explained Charman. The articles must have been published in a national, regional or local paper between 1 December 2010 and 30 November 2011. Charman explained that Hugh Cudlipp was one of the great pioneers of popular tabloid journalism, “Cudlipp championed the idea that important social and political issues could be presented in an attractive, compelling way which would be understood by working people.”
The full transcript is available via the link below:
Jon Snow Hugh Cudlipp Lecture 2012 Transcript
Read what people said about the lecture on Twitter at #lcccudlipp
Full video recording available soon.
