Dorothy Byrne was head of news and current affairs at Channel 4 and is now the station’s editor at large. She reveals her leadership lessons and how she dealt with sexism and elitism in the newsroom.

When the editor of Press Gazette asked me to write about being a senior news manager, I had to admit the truth: if you’re a good journalist, there are two routes open to you.

You can just carry on being a good journalist or you can climb the greasy pole into management. I was for years a producer/director on World in Action which must have been the best job in television journalism. I would have been happy to continue working at it all my life but I wanted to have a baby.