VLV Autumn Conference 2023

Upcoming Events

VLV’s 40th annual Autumn Conference will be held at The Geological Society, Piccadilly, London, from 10.30am—4pm, on Wednesday 29th November.

This is an important time for broadcasting – the Media Bill, which could completely change the broadcasting landscape, has now been introduced to Parliament and the future of the BBC will be on the minds of all political parties during the upcoming election.

We have a stellar line up of speakers for the day.

Two of the most important figures in British broadcasting will be our keynote speakers in the morning: Lord Michael Grade, Chair of Ofcom, and Dame Elan Closs Stephens, interim Chair of the BBC. Katie Razzall, the BBC’s Culture and Media Editor, will chair the first session and Helen Boaden, former Chief Executive of BBC News and of BBC Radio, will chair the second session.

At lunchtime we will host the highly regarded VLV Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting.

In the afternoon we will be focusing on two crucial issues with an election due in the next twelve months or so.

The first session will ask What can broadcasters do to counter fake news?, chaired by Stewart Purvis CBE. Chris Morris, CEO of FullFact, independent media consultant Chris Banatvala, who was Ofcom’s founding Director of Standards and a member of its Content Board, and Marianna Spring, the BBC’s Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent will speak on this panel.

The second afternoon session will look ahead and ask What should the next government do to support public service broadcasting? This session, chaired by broadcaster Ritula Shah, will feature Lord Tom McNally, former leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords, Lord Inglewood, former Chair of the Lords Communications Committee and former Minister for broadcasting, Kevin Brennan, Labour MP for Cardiff West who sits on the Culture Media and Sports Committee and is a former Shadow Minister for DCMS, and Catherine Johnson, Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds.

You can book tickets by clicking on the link below or by calling the VLV office on 01474 338716. If you would like to attend the conference virtually, using Zoom, please email info@vlv.org.uk to register.