The Media Society Council
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Nigel is a media executive, writer and journalist, with over 45 years of experience in the media industry. He has held senior leadership roles in TV, journalism and digital organisations.
As well as President of the Media Society, he is currently Chair of two UK media companies - Comux UK and Inclusive Digital.
Nigel was a TV journalist for 24 years, at BBC News and then ITN. He worked for ITN from 1982-2002 - and was the Editor of ITV News (in charge of all news programmes on ITV, including Lunchtime News, Evening News and News at Ten).
He is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society.
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Dominic specialises in leading change for impact and driving digital transformation as an Executive and non-Executive Board member.
He has led or co-led some of the largest European digital businesses in the fields of entertainment broadcasting, news media, online publishing, printing, ecommerce and software development.This has included: Cybersecurity and Risk (CovertSwarm, Track24), News and Big Data (BBC News Online, FT.com, Upmystreet), SaaS and AdTech (Zephr, Just3Things, SubX and Sliide), eCommerce (lastminute.com, xcite.com, Photobox, Moonpig), Video and Social Media (ITV.com and ITV Live) and Marketplaces (Moteefe, VavaCars, PropertyFinder).
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Charlotte is an author, journalist, broadcaster.
She created and runs The Addition newsletter, looking at the crossover between media and tech.
She was previously the UK Associate Editor of The MacObserver, and has contributed columns to a range of publications, including the Times Red Box, Times Literary Supplement, Independent on Sunday, The Article and CapX.
Her first book, 'Not Buying It', a look at fake news and the post-truth era, was published by Unbound in June 2019.
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Susan is a communications consultant with over 30 years of experience in global brand management and strategy across diverse sectors. She is Senior Consultant at Morton PR UK.
As a three-time elected Vice President of The Media Society and with a commitment to social responsibility, she fosters collaboration among media professionals to support emerging journalists through The Media Society Mentoring Programme.
Susan also serves as Communications and Operations Director for the Wembley to Soweto Foundation, an educational charity facilitating global partnerships to empower disadvantaged young people.
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Alex is a freelance media consultant, event producer, and passionate advocate of gender equality.
She spent 25 years at BBC News, as a News Editor and Producer - including project-managing high profile multi-location live news and sports events at home and abroad.
Work at BBC News included: Programme Editor of BBC News at One; Launch Editor of Afternoon Live with Simon McCoy; and on location as an Assistant Editor responsible for planning major outside news broadcasts (including the funeral of Nelson Mandela 2013, French Presidential Election 2012, Afghanistan War 2009, US Presidential Election Campaign 2008, Israel/Lebanon War 2006 and The Gulf War 2003).
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Peter’s career as a designer spans over 40 years, mostly working in branding and marcomms.
He is a director of the design company WPA Design.
He was appointed Director of Marketing at the Media Society in 2024, and has overall responsibility at the Society for marketing, branding and design.
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Patrick is a C-Level Executive (CFO/COO) with a background in Entertainment and Media, Technology, and Software Development (SaaS). He is currently working within the Media and Hospitality sector.
He has experience of working in large complex international organisations and high-growth VC-backed businesses.
Patrick is the Finance Trustee on the Media Society Council.
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Ivor is a British academic and journalist, professor of political journalism at University of Sussex, and emeritus professor of broadcast journalism at Goldsmiths, University of London.
He has worked as a broadcast journalist for BBC TV and Radio, ITV, Channel Four and Sky News. He is a commentator for a range of domestic TV and radio channels and also writes for a number of UK newspapers.
He serves as the UK representative on UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication and was awarded an OBE for his services of media freedom internationally.
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Jasper’s current role is the technology editor at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
He is an investigative journalist specialising in technology and media. He was previously the assistant media editor of the Guardian and digital editor of the New Statesman.
He has spent more than a decade writing about and applying techniques in digital media and technology.
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Michael is a senior partner in the law firm Reed Smith. He specialises in intellectual property and media litigation, and advises on conflict and potential conflict situations, including crisis scenarios.
He is the firm's Responsible Business Partner for Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
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Margaret is the former Chief Adviser, Editorial Policy at the BBC, working across the range of BBC output including television, radio, sport, news, global news, BBC Worldwide, and publishing.
She was responsible for setting ethical and editorial standards, and advising programme makers and editorial staff across the BBC.
She was particularly involved in establishing the editorial parameters and suitability of key BBC strategic developments and partnerships and was closely involved with the BBC's Olympic coverage.
Before moving to Editorial Policy, Margaret worked as a BBC producer and editor for many years.
She worked in News and Current Affairs on BBC World Service, Radio 4 and BBC Television. She was a producer on 'Newsnight', and edited BBC Radio and Television political and election coverage.
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Dan is a civil servant, currently working on international trade and investment.
He previously worked as a Senior Researcher at the House of Commons (2020-2024) and Vice President of the University of Westminster Students' Union (2016-2018). in both roles he covered communications.
He is a previous Chair of the Student Publication Association.
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Conrad is a freelance journalist in London. He previously worked at Bloomberg News as UK digital editor.
Before that, he edited New Scientist and British GQ's websites.
He is also writing and editing Dark Luxury, a Substack newsletter which reports on the €1.5 trillion luxury industry.
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John is a qualified accountant who has been operating a portfolio career since 1980 as an interim executive, non-executive director and non-executive company secretary.
John is not a member of Council, which enables him to provide advice on financial and regulatory matters as needed.
His clients currently include a charity publishing subscription website, an e-newsletter, and a range of hard copy books where he is involved with intellectual property agreement negotiation and royalty rights.
Prior experience includes contributing to a series of radio programmes on business methods broadcast from Prague shortly after the Velvet Revolution; with periods working for publishers of monthly and weekly magazines.
Governance
The Media Society (TMS) is managed and overseen by its Council, and is a membership organisation. There are three types of membership: Full, Digital and Student.
The President and four Vice Presidents are elected at the Society’s Annual General Meeting. The Council also selects a Director of Marketing and Finance Trustee.
The current President, Nigel Dacre, was elected at the AGM in November 2024.
Council meets every two months – and meetings are in-person and via Zoom. The meetings are chaired by the President.
There are three Council Committees:
Management Committee (made up of the President, Vice Presidents, Director of Marketing, the Finance Trustee and the Treasurer).
Events Committee (made up of Council and TMS members). The committee is currently: Nigel Dacre (co-chair), Alex Sinker (co-chair), Sue Ellis, Ivor Gaber, Charlotte Henry, Dan Seamarks, and Hayley Jones.
Finance Committee (made up of the President, Treasurer and Finance Trustee).
The Council meeting in December 2024 agreed the following Interim Strategy:
“The aim is to make the TMS one of the key organisations in the UK for the discussion of important and topical media issues, supported by a growing membership base, and with its activities taking place across platforms.
Our events need to be at the core of what we do. We need to ensure that they are informative, exciting, sometimes surprising and always distinctive. We also need to have a wide appeal across the media sector, be relevant in today’s fast-moving media world, and meet our charity objects.
At the same time, we need to be a professional and well-run organisation.”
The meeting also approved an ambitious ‘Plan for 2025’ - including launching two seasons of in-person and virtual events, a new Media Society podcast series, a new Members’ Newsletter, an upgraded TMS YouTube Channel, and a new Media Society Mentoring Programme.
The Media Society is a registered charity with number 313450 and also a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales No. 1103573. Its Registered Office is 1 Blossom Yard London, E1 6RS.