Peter Taylor OBE delivers fifth Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture at University of Westminster

The event was organised by the Media Society and The Royal Television Society, and the net proceeds from the occasion go to the Steve Hewlett Scholarship Fund, which supports the Steve Hewlett Scholarship. The Scholarship provides assistance to journalism and TV production students from low-income backgrounds. It is presented each year to one recipient studying an undergraduate broadcast journalism course in the UK.

Steve Hewlett was a print and radio journalist who shared candid accounts of his fight against cancer through his columns in The Observer and his interviews with Eddie Mair on BBC Radio Four’s PM. The scholarship recognises his commitment to improving access to careers in the media for all and improving social mobility.

Veteran BBC journalist, documentary filmmaker and author Peter Taylor delivered this year’s lecture titled ‘Integrity in Television - 50 Years through the Lens’. The lecture explored the principles of integrity which make up the foundations of the BBC and public service broadcasting – impartiality, accuracy, fairness, and trust – through the lens of Peter’s 50-year career as a reporter.

It also considered how these principles apply given the challenges the BBC faces today, including maintaining this integrity in a hostile political environment.

Giving his closing remarks to the lecture, Peter said: “The BBC is central to our freedoms and the health of our democracy – underpinned by the values I’ve tried to reflect in my 50 years through the lens – the component parts of Integrity: impartiality, accuracy, fairness and trust. I hope this evening’s young beneficiaries of the Steve Hewlett Memorial Scholarship will embrace and protect these values as they embark on their careers. I congratulate them and wish them well.”

The live event, which was being recorded for online publication, was managed by staff from the College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries. The show raised over £1,000 from ticket sales and donations.

Learn more about the Steve Hewlett Scholarship Fund.