Visiting Professor of Creative Media

The Visiting Professorship of Media was established in 1996, as part of a generous benefaction from Rupert Murdoch. It is an annual appointment and the Professor will give a series of lectures during the academic year (usually in January/February).

The current postholder is David Baddiel.

David Baddiel is a comedian, author, screenwriter, television presenter and Jewish activist. Following the publication of his bestselling polemic Jews Don't Count, David has been at the forefront of tackling antisemitism in the media, sport, and more broadly, the progressive left. The book became The Sunday Times Politics and Current Affairs Book of the Year, 2021 and enjoyed critical acclaim in the UK, Europe and US. He has been invited to speak on antisemitism for audiences in Berlin, New York and around the UK. In 2022, Jews Don't Count was adapted into a documentary for Channel 4. His next book, The God Desire, will be published in April 2023.

David's varied career spans over thirty years. As a stand-up comedian, he performed to a Wembley crowd of 12500 in the UK's first ever arena comedy show in 1992 and was credited with turning comedy into "The New Rock n Roll". His television credits include creating and starring in The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Newman and Baddiel in Pieces and Fantasy Football. More recently he has created and presented several acclaimed documentaries, including The Trouble with Dad (Channel 4), Confronting Holocaust Denial (BBC2) and Social Media, Anger and Us (BBC2). David has published ten hugely successful children's books as well as four critically acclaimed adult novels.

In his role as Visiting Professor of Creative Media, David Baddiel was 'In Conversation' with Professor Robert Douglas-Fairhurst on 31 January on the topic of 'Storytelling across different media'. You can see the recording of the event below.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/tpOHJBAjjZQ?si=Sh9EAfQlE_dAYRan

Previous Professors have included:

Jeanette Winterson CBE

The Word Tardis (May 2023)

The Word-Zoo: Language in the time of Tabloids, TikTok, Conspiracy Cults, Brexit, and AI. Evolution? Conservation? Extinction? (October 2022)

Zing Tsjeng, Executive Editor of VICE UK, and author of the Forgotten Women series.

'Yellow Peril' in the UK (October 2021)

Everything is online now – how the internet blurred fact and fiction (May 2021)

Samir Shah, Chief Executive and Creative Director, Juniper TV, who delivered his 2019 lectures:

'Truth, Lies and Videotape - drawing the line between acceptable artifice and unacceptable deception'

'Mercury’s perihelion and The Donald'

Stig Abell, Editor, The Times Literary Supplement, who delivered his lectures on 'The End of Journalism?'.

Lecture transcripts are available here:

Visiting Professor of Creative Media lecture – The End of Journalism? (1)

Visiting Professor of Creative Media lecture – The End of Journalism? (2)

Dawn Airey, CEO of Getty Images, who delivered a lecture series on 'No Filter – Power and Pictures in a Post-Truth World'.

Matthew Engel, the journalist and sports writer, who gave a series of lectures entitled 'Please, mister, can we have our ball back? Sport, the media, and the people'.

Lecture transcripts are available here:

Lecture 1: Life and death? No, much more important than that

Lecture 2: It's the cat's whisker

Lecture 3: From Reith to wreath

Lecture 4: You are the earth and the sky

Stephen Garrett, the man who brought Spooks and Life on Mars to our screens, who gave the series:

Lecture 1: How to Grow a Creative Business According to the Laws of Chance

Lecture 2: Why the Only Rule is that there are No Rules

Lecture 3: No More Heroes

Lecture 4: Tomorrow Got Here Yesterday

Paul Gambaccini, who gave a series of lectures entitled 'Face the Strange'.

Anthony Lilley, Chief Executive, Magic Lantern Productions