Contemporary Japanese Cinema - Domestic Appeal vs International Prestige - Dr John Berra
Dr John Berra is an Independent Scholar and Author who has written extensively about American and Japanese Independent Cinema. His most recent book is The Directory of World Cinema: Japan to be released in February 2010.
This talk was organised by the Coventry University East Asian Film Society.
Reporting Current Affairs - Paul Kenyon
Paul Kenyon is a highly experienced reporter and producer who has worked across BBC News and Current Affairs, and has also presented on Five Live. In 2005 he was the first reporter to film Iran’s secret nuclear sites, making an hour-long documentary which was shown around the world. Hear him in conversation with John Mair.
Current Affairs - Jane Treays
In 1981 Jane became a Researcher in the Current Affairs Department at the BBC and worked on several major series including Soldiers, a 13-part flagship series fronted by Frederick Forsyth.
“At 24 years of age I was picked to interview 120 war veterans around the world. It was an incredibly difficult task because for many of them, particularly the Vietnam war veterans, war experience was still fresh. It was doubted I’d stay the entire course, but stay the course I did. In fact I developed an
21W.730-4 Writing on Contemporary Issues: Food for Thought: Writing and Reading about the Cultures o
"What people do with food is an act that reveals how they construe the world."
- Marcella Hazan, The Classic Italian Cookbook
If you are what you eat, what are you? Food is at once the stuff of life and a potent symbol; it binds us to the earth, to our families, and to our cultures. In this class, we explore many of the fascinating issues that surround food as both material fact and personal and cultural symbol. We read essays by Toni Morrison, Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, and others on such t
Can we trust the International Media? - John O Oucho and Fred Mudhai
John O Oucho holds a PhD in Population Geography and was a post-doctoral fellow of the Carolina Population Center in the university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, U.S.A. in 1982-3. He has taught at the University of Nairobi (2 decades), University of Ghana (3 years) and University of Botswana (8 years). He was elected Fellow of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences (KNAS) in 1989 and the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS) in 2003. He is a well traveled and well published academic and ha
The Middle Class Bent at Radio 4? - Mark Damazer
Mark (born 15th April 1955) is the controller of Radio 4 and BBC 7 in the United Kingdom. He trained at ITN in 1980. He joined the BBC World Service as a current affairs producer in 1981. From 1982-4, he worked at ITV on TV-am, returning to BBC News in 1984. He joined Newsnight as an editor in January 1986. In August 1988, he became deputy editor of the Nine O’Clock News, becoming editor in 1990. In 1994, he became Editor of Television News Programmes, then Head of (what became) Current Affai
The BBC World Service - Nigel Chapman
Nigel Chapman is Director of BBC World Service. He is responsible for the overall editorial leadership and management of the world’s leading international radio broadcaster and its new media operations. He has worked for the BBC for more than 20 years.
Media Ethics - Phil Harding
Philip Harding is a journalist and media consultant. Until last summer he was Director of English Networks and News at the BBC World Service, responsible for all the BBC’s international radio programmes in English with 42 million listeners. Phil is a fellow of the Radio Academy and last autumn Phil was made a Fellow of the Society of Editors. He is a member of Society’s Advisory Committee. He is also a Trustee of the One World Broadcasting Trust.
Phil starts this talk with a question about
Zimbabwe, Kenya: Can Africa do Democracy? Dr Mano and Professor Oucho
Dr Winston Mano discusses Zimbabwe and Kenya with Professor John O. Oucho.
Dr Mano is a Course Leader; he has a Graduate Diploma in Media and Communication Studies and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Media and Communication Studies.
Prof Oucho has undertaken consultancies for various United Nations agencies, among them UNFPA, UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO, the world bank, UNHABITAT and other organisations.
The Pinnacle of Performance - Olympics Day - David Moorcroft
David has been involved in athletics for more than 30 years at club, area and international level as a competitor, teacher, coach, broadcaster and from 1997-2006, he was chief executive of the sport’s national governing body. As a competitor, his highlights include setting the world record for 5000m at 13 minutes 00.41 seconds in Oslo in 1982 – it remains the UK record to this day -and winning the Commonwealth Games Gold medals for 1500m in 1978 and 5000m in 1982.
In this talk, part of a
The Olympic Controversy - Olympics Day - Duncan Mackay
Jim’s career includes: From 1990–93 Editor of Rugby World, 1994-96 Freelance work and from 1996 to present, The Guardian and Observer. He has also published a number of books including: Linford Christie: The Unauthorised Biography (1995) and Running Scared: How Athletics Lost its Innocence (1996). He is currently working on a number of other books.
In this talk, part of a day of discussion about the Olympics, Duncan discusses why this particular sporting event is surrounded by so much cont
Football, Finance and Funny Business - Simon Chadwick
Simon Chadwick was a founder, and remains a Director, of London University’s Birkbeck Sport Business Centre. Simon is a founder and director of CIBS – the Centre for the International Business of Sport at Coventry University. His research interests are based around sport marketing and sport business strategy.
In this Coventry Conversation, Simon talks about corruption and dodgy dealings in the world of football.
This talk is also available to watch on CUTV.
I Have Seen the Future - Peter Barron, Google
Peter Barron is an enigma; he left one of the best and most high profile jobs in British television journalism – Editor of Newsnight – in the summer of 2008 of his own violation. He jumped ship to the digital world of Google where he is Head of Public Relations for the UK and Ireland. Peter's spell at the helm of Newsnight was the longest since the programme's creation and the most creative – he brought in blogs, vodcasts and more.
In this Coventry Conversation you can hear Peter talking
Why all Governments Need Spin - Nicholas Jones
Nicholas Jones was for many years BBC political correspondent. His books include Sultans of Spin, The Control Freaks, Soundbites and Spin Doctors and Trading Information. He has been involved in the world of politics for more than 30 years as a journalist, most prominently as the BBC’s political correspondent and in uniquely qualified to talk about how politicians can manipulate the media.
In this Coventry Conversation, Nicholas discusses why spin is central to all governments, both Tory and
Documentaries from Tough Places - Eamon Matthews
Eamonn Matthews runs Quicksilver Media, and is the Executive Producer of Channel 4’s foreign affairs strand Unreported World. Here he talks about life as a documentary filmmaker.
Making ‘Nativity’ - Debbie Isitt
Debbie Isitt is a comic writer, film director and performer. She set up world renowned theatre company Snarling Beasties in the 1980’s to great critical acclaim. She then went on to direct 'Confetti' and here she discusses the making of her latest film 'Nativity', an improvised comedy out this Christmas. You can see the trailer for Nativity here
Is there a Crisis in World Journalism? Dr Suzanne Franks
Suzanne Franks is Director of Research at Kent University’s Centre for Journalism. At the start of her journalism career she worked with the BBC as a researcher on documentaries and then joined the Television Current Affairs department, producing programmes such as Newsnight, Watchdog, The Money Programme and Panorama. In the 1990s she started an independent production company, Sevenday Productions, which was awarded the first outside contract for the televising of Parliament. She was based in
Is there a Crisis in World Journalism? Professor Adrian Monck
Professor Adrian Monck is Managing Director and Head of Communications and Media at the World Economic Forum. The Forum is an independent, international organisation incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in Geneva, Switzerland. He was educated at Oxford University and London Business School and went on to be an award-winning broadcast journalist with CBS News, ITN and Sky News. His work at Dunblane and in Bosnia received awards from the Royal Television Society, and on Rwanda won the speci
Is there a Crisis in World Journalism? Professor Richard Keeble
Richard Keeble is a professor of journalism at Lincoln University. He is also a director of the Institute of Communication Ethics and co-edits their quarterly journal, Ethical Space. He has written a number of articles on the journalism of George Orwell and is currently co-editing for Routledge a collection of papers on literary journalists – such as Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens, William Hazlitt, Willa Cather, Angela Carter, Truman Capote – called The Journalistic Imagination. He writes for
Is there a Crisis in World Journalism? Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman is a prominent and noteworthy presenter known and praised his abrasive and straightforward style of interviewing. He started his career in a local radio at BBC radio Brighton and in 1977, he became a part of BBC’s current affairs programme, Tonight. Was a reporter for Panorama and contributed to television programmes like Six O'Clock News and Breakfast Time. Owing to his commanding verbal skills, Jeremy Paxman became the anchor of BBC Two television programme, Newsnight. In 2003,
