Stewart Purvis, former editor and chief executive of ITN, will deliver the 2004 Society of Editors Lecture at its annual conference in Newcastle in October.
Purvis, now Professor of Television Journalism at City University, will be the first broadcaster to give the lecture, which will be delivered at the opening of the conference on the evening of Sunday, 17 October.
He spent more than 20 years at the top level of TV news, starting as a journalist and field producer.
His work at ITN notably included live coverage of the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy in London and the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
Purvis became editor of ITN’s Channel 4 News in 1983 and is generally credited with turning the programme into the success it has become. He went on to become the overall editor of ITN and then in 1995 its chief executive officer.
He retired last year after 31 years.
Conference keynote speakers will include Leader of the Opposition Michael Howard MP and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens.
National newspaper editors already booked to speak include Simon Kelner of The Independent, Andrew Gowers of the Financial Times and Andy Coulson of the News of the World. Regional newspaper editors on the platform will include Ian Murray from the Evening Echo, Southampton, and Jane Wolstenholme of the Daily Post, Liverpool. Broadcasting speakers will include ITV’s Clive Jones and BBC director of news Richard Sambrook.
For more details and to book, see www.societyofeditors.org or e-mail info@societyofeditors.org.
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