BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten is to deliver the 2011 Society of Editors Lecture at the group’s annual conference which this year is being held at Egham in Surrey.
According to the Society, Patten will use his talk to address the big issues that will affect the BBC and the UK media over the next decade. Taking its cue from the historic location – next to Runnymede where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215 – the conference will be called: “Magna Carta II – A modern media charter”. It will focus on media freedom and its role in a democratic society.
President of the Society of Editors Robin Esser, executive managing editor of the Daily Mail, said: ‘Lord Patten faces one of the biggest tasks in the UK media, defending the independence of the BBC while satisfying politicians who ultimately control the purse strings that the corporation is meeting the demands of its licence fee-paying audiences.
“With his unique experience on both sides of the public spending balance and of diplomacy, confronting human rights and freedom of expression issues, his lecture will be apposite to all of the concerns that will be at the top of the media agenda this autumn.”
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The Society of Editors conference runs for three days from 13-15 November.
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