How to get into TV news
Pick up tips from Andrew Marr, Jon Snow, Robert Peston and more at this year's Radio Times Festival, and find your route to a new career
Ever wondered what it's like to grill a prime minster on live TV? Report from a war zone? Or simply find out whether you could read from a teleprompter without stumbling over your words?
This September's Radio Times Festival will take viewers behind the scenes with some of the most sharpest news broadcasters in the business. From Channel 4's Jon Snow to the BBC's Andrew Marr, there's never been a better opportunity to ask some of the best news presenters in the country what it takes to break into TV news.
Here are five events not to miss this September in Hampton Court.
Jon Snow, 2.30pm Friday 25th September
The face of Channel 4 news for more than 25 years, Jon Snow is one of the most iconic broadcast journalists of our time. Having joined the industry in 1973, as a cub reporter for LBC Radio, he has reported from around the world, covering stories such as the release of Nelson Mandela and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Earlier this year he was awarded the Bafta fellowship, the academy’s highest accolade, and here he talks through his fascinating career.
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Eddie Mair and Robert Peston, 3pm Saturday 26 September
BBC economics editor Robert Peston and PM host Eddie Mair are two of Britain’s best-known broadcasters, and have recently joined forces for a new Radio 4 interview programme.
At the Radio Times Festival they will be quizzing each other, asking questions including what it's really like to work for the BBC, what makes for a good story – and why viewers are so obsessed with Peston's hair. Each will also reveal a surprise guest.
Andrew Marr, 12pm Friday 25th September
Broadcaster, journalist and political commentator Andrew Marr takes time off from his Sunday political grilling to discuss his other love: poetry. Marr will be discussing his forthcoming poetry history of Britain, We British: The Poetry of a People, as well as his special project with BBC Radio 4 for National Poetry Day. Win tickets to the event here.
Lyse Doucet and Jeremy Bowen, 2.30pm Sunday 27th September
To mark 60 years this autumn of Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent, two of the BBC’s most respected correspondents discuss the trials and dramas of reporting foreign news. Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, and Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s Middle East editor, will reveal the pressures of frontline news-gathering in the age of social media and ISIS.
Buy From Our Own Correspondent tickets
Try reading the news – free event
Head inside the "live" BBC Experience room anytime throughout the festival to see if you have what it takes to read the news and weather.
The free events are open anytime during the festival, from Thursday 24th - Sunday 27th September. So after you've listened to Snow, Marr, Peston and co, put your new-found knowledge into practice.
