The Science Gallery Lecture Theatre, London Bridge. Wednesday 21st May 2025.
Nigel Dacre:
Former Editor of ITV News and Chair, Sir David Nicholas Lecture Committee
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the inaugural Sir David Nicholas Memorial Lecture to be given tonight by ITN’s Chief Executive, Rachel Corp. I’m Nigel Dacre, a former Editor of ITV News at ITN and the Chair of the David Nicholas Lecture Committee.
As we explained in the marketing for this event, the idea is that each year, we ask a senior person in the TV news business to give a lecture about the industry – its past, present, and future. We know there are other journalism lectures in the UK, but we’re not aware of one specifically for the TV news business.
We think it’s a really fitting way of remembering David, a journalist who did so much to develop the TV news industry. David, who sadly died 3 years ago, was at ITN from 1960-1991, joining as a sub-editor and then going on to become Editor, Chief Executive, and Chair.
Like many people here tonight, I worked with David. In my case, it was in the 1980s, in the main newsroom, on two general election programmes, and on the launch of Super Channel News. On all of those programmes and projects, he was an inspirational boss, but also someone who was constantly innovating, trying out new production techniques, and seeking out new commercial and business opportunities.
Of course, it’s fitting that the inaugural lecture is being held in the 70th anniversary year of ITN. It also comes at a time when the TV news business is under immense pressure as viewing habits shift from linear TV channels to the digital world.
Let’s hear now from David’s family.
James Nicholas:
David Nicholas’s son and former ITN cameraman
Thank you very much, Nigel. Good evening, and welcome to this wonderful venue. My father always said he knew he wanted to go into journalism from a young age. Considering it was only just after World War Two, everyone presumed it would be into newspapers. There was a brief period during his national service when he seriously considered staying in the army, but he eventually got a job as a journalist in Yorkshire before moving to Fleet Street.
My mother was amazed when, one day, he said he had been giving his career a lot of thought and decided television news was the future. As Nigel said, he joined ITN in 1960 as a sub-editor, while still working weekends on The Observer, becoming Deputy Editor of ITN in 1963. My father was involved in so many firsts at ITN, as producer of the first ever News at Ten in 1967, the Apollo space programme coverage, general elections, and the launch of Channel 4 news, to name just a few.
He willingly embraced technology, which in those days was evolving rapidly. He always loved the buzz of the newsroom, especially during a breaking story. He once said to me decades ago that many people in ITN were arrogant, go-getting, self-serving, never took no for an answer, pain in the… I could go on. He then said the problem is that’s exactly what makes them good at their job.
Importantly, he enjoyed the camaraderie. He loved the ITN newsgathering community, at least most of the time. As my sister Helen brilliantly put it, my mother knew he loved her, she knew he loved his family, and that he loved ITN, just not necessarily in that order.
It is very humbling to know that so many people want to honour the life of our father with what we hope will become an annual event. The Nicholas family are privileged and delighted to have a lecture named in his memory. Helen, my sister, and I also appreciate the support the ITN family have given us over the years.
It is a very different era for TV news than in my father’s day, and I don’t know what he would have made of the current world of digital platforms, streaming TVs, and social media. But I do know he would be particularly proud that the first lecture is being given by an ITN CEO, another first for ITN, maybe.
Tonight, Helen and I would like to thank ITN, the ITN 1955 Club, and especially Nigel Dacre and Sandra Kiely for all the work that they have done. We know that they have put in a huge amount of time and energy to make this event happen, which we really appreciate.
Thank you all for being here tonight. I’m sure it will be a thought-provoking evening. Thank you.
Nigel Dacre:
Thank you, James. The memorial lecture, as James said, is being organised by the ITN 1955 club, which, for those who don’t know, is an organisation for people who used to work at ITN. It has around 325 members currently, and in my view, does a really important job at remembering and keeping alive ITN’s history and achievements.
The plan is that each year, the person who will be asked to give the lecture will be selected by the Lecture Committee, currently made up of myself, James, Richard Tait, Duncan Jones, and Sandra Kiely.
In future years, we hope to get people from different organisations and different news companies. But this year, we were unanimous in asking Rachel to give the inaugural lecture. It feels really appropriate that for this first lecture, we have one of David’s successors. Rachel herself has had an extraordinary career at ITN, going from being a news trainee and rising up to become Editor of ITV News, and then in May 2022, being appointed to her current role as Chief Executive of the company.
When she was appointed as CEO, the ITN chair, Kyla Mullins, said, and I quote: “Rachel is an outstanding leader with a strategic focus, creative mindset, sharp entrepreneurial instincts, and impeccable journalist credentials”. Kyla went on to say that having risen through the ranks at ITN, Rachel “knows the organisation back to front”. With that stirring endorsement, let’s now hand over to Rachel for the inaugural Sir David Nicholas Memorial Lecture.
THE LECTURE
Rachel Corp:
Thank you all for such a warm welcome. Lovely to see, when I say old faces, I mean people I’ve known for a long time. Really looking forward to talking to you afterwards as well. I hope you can stay. But look, thank you for this invitation to deliver the inaugural lecture today.
I am delighted to be talking to you during ITN’s 70th year, which really is a landmark moment for ITN broadcast news and the wider broadcasting industry. I know many of you will be keen to reflect on ITN’s past and celebrate the role it’s played in the media over those seven decades, delivering historic, award-winning and original journalism.
As we’ve been hearing, Sir David Nicholas himself was a pioneer. He had a passion for live TV news, broadcasting coverage of Francis Chichester completing his solo voyage around the world in 1967. He oversaw, as James said, the ground breaking introduction of electronic newsgathering, and he was instrumental in winning the contract for Channel 4 News in 1982. Just a few examples of his great impact on both ITN and the industry. His capacity to shape the future rather than solely reacting to developments is a spirit that I believe firmly continues to run through ITN today.
Now, nodding to what Nigel said, we are operating in the most competitive market that I think we’ve ever known. Linear TV audiences are in decline. Commercial models are being upended.
Our biggest competition for eyeballs is no longer BBC or even Netflix. It’s the phone in your pocket. It’s the savvy influencers. It’s the so-called bedroom correspondents, the political actors, generative AI. Despite public service broadcasters retaining really high levels of trust, news avoidance overall is on the rise. Mainstream media around the world, as you know, is under attack.
Now, our challenge is to cut through that noise and retain our trust and relevance. That is why ITN’s output now is the most diverse it’s ever been. We’re on more platforms than ever before, and we’re reaching millions of people every day with our distinctive original journalism and our bold storytelling. In fact, I would say we are a content powerhouse.
To mention a few recent stories, Channel 4 News’s investigation into the Church of England, which led to the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. ITV News going undercover to expose a growing white supremacist network. 5 News driving the channel’s Lawless Britain season, reporting from right across the UK.
The awards that we continue to accumulate speak for themselves, from Channel 4 News’s International Emmy for its coverage of Israel and Gaza, the nine collective RTS journalism awards for both ITV News and Channel 4 News this year, and Dan Walker’s Presenter of the Year at the AIBs. We are being widely recognised as leading the pack on news excellence.
And it’s not just news. This year alone in ITN productions, we’ve taken Michael Palin to Venezuela for 5. We’ve made a premium 90-minute documentary on the death of Matthew Perry for Peacock. We’re repairing cars with Ant Anstead for Discovery. We’ve launched a third daytime show for 5. And in a new style of partnership this month, we joined the Sun to deliver a world exclusive on Madeleine McCann for Channel 4. Our content has also been teaching English to millions around the world, and we’ve helped Tesco bring together colleagues from right across the globe for an ambitious live town hall.
Now, where ITN stands apart from other production companies is not just our editorial excellence and impeccable storytelling, it’s the range of what we offer, from news, fast turnarounds, and those live daytime shows, to the long-running investigations and premium documentaries, our in-house post-production, and our ability to broadcast live at a moment’s notice from Leeds, London, or anywhere else in the world.
Under our unique model, each of our newsrooms and divisions retain their own style and editorial priorities, a focus on different audiences and clients’ goals. They compete with each other as well as the rest of the industry whilst benefiting from that shared infrastructure that allows each of them to innovate in different ways and for ITN as a whole to adapt and grow. Our hard-won reputation means we are trusted in every market we work in, delivering content with integrity, leading the UK in news production excellence, and constantly innovating technologically. These are our calling cards.
Now, I’m sure you will have heard, ITV announced yesterday plans to move Good Morning Britain to ITN from January. As we turn 70, we feel very proud to be taking on the production of a fourth flagship news programme in what feels like a natural progression for us. It’s a vote of confidence in ITN, our teams, the way we work, and the future of the organisation. No other production company has the expertise or capability to deliver this commission to the standards that we can, bringing our brand of high quality, relatable programming to another key audience and also value to ITV.
Strategically, bringing GMB into ITN further establishes our position as one of the leading producers of news content in The UK. Reputationally, GMB is a significant addition to ITN’s line-up of award-winning brands. I’m really excited to see how welcoming the team into ITV News will create even more impact across the day for the channel.
I hope you’ve also seen, we’ve also just announced we’re renewing our news contract with ITV for the next 5 years and potentially up to 10 – another key achievement for ITN that also highlights ITV’s ongoing commitment to high-quality news and current affairs. It offers stability for ITV’s audience and ITV News, and guarantees we can continue delivering our distinctive journalism for the years to come across ITV National News, ITV London, ITVX, digital, and special events.
With the addition of GMB, our overall live output is increasing and will be increasing to around 70 hours a week. This is a huge volume, and it will make us, I believe, the largest supplier in terms of hours to ITV 4 and 5 – very much that content powerhouse I talked about at the top.
Whilst we’re delivering more than ever in live production, we are also rapidly growing in digital, as Nigel mentioned. Our live bulletins remain critical to our clients’ output, but we’re well aware that we can no longer assume the audience will naturally come to us via TV. As public service media, we know we have to find them where they are, where they want to be, consuming content across multiple platforms and in a range of formats.
The reality of producing news with a free-to-air remit in a market where people can watch where they want and what they want and when they want means we, therefore, have to be everywhere, whether that’s YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or elsewhere, but always retaining our quality and standards and innovating with integrity.
To see this, you only have to look at our digital figures from last year. Across ITN, we achieved 7.2 billion video views. This is a huge number, and represents a 40% increase year-on-year, and accounts for content that’s been published on social platforms as well as on our clients’ own streaming services.
This growth trend is only set to continue if we look at the figures so far from the first quarter of this year. Channel 4 news, for example, has had 583 million across platforms, a 95% increase year-on-year. ITV News has achieved a billion views, double the same period in 2024 and recording record growth on Instagram.
Whilst, interestingly, 5 News continues to buck trends growing on linear, it’s also majorly expanding across social platforms alongside the Jeremy Vine group of shows, which now reaches millions every week. ITN’s journalism is giving audiences choices, and I’m incredibly proud of that growing relevance in digital as well as historically on linear.
Industry surveys regularly report that audiences are turning away from the mainstream broadcasters and getting their news instead from the social platforms. This 7.2 billion reassures me that a significant proportion of the news that they are consuming online is made by those with a long history of upholding the highest standards in broadcast journalism who choose to apply the same rigour and impartial fact-based storytelling that we do for Ofcom regulated TV bulletins.
In the complicated and fractured era we’re living in, as we’ve always done on TV, we are continuing to deliver to audiences the information that they need to make informed decisions about themselves, their families, their communities, and their businesses. Our eyewitness reporting, original investigations, expert analysis, down-to-earth and relatable storytelling with people at its heart is resonating online just as much as it did and still does on television. And the expanded scope means we’re able to tell new stories for different audiences that might not have made the bulletins on a busy day.
We provide a vital service, not least in a world where political leaders are exploiting different platforms and creating their own narratives, even creating their own platforms, to avoid some of that more traditional scrutiny and accountability. As you can imagine, Trump is keeping us busier than ever. The appetite for our content is huge, and our newsrooms are rising to the challenge across the board.
As we watch the US news industry under pressure, I’m really impressed by how well I think British media overall is calmly responding and just taking the extra time to challenge what is being said. Whether it’s Lindsey Hilsum adding an extra 30 seconds to a live to explain why a claim doesn’t stack up and how we know that, how we fact-check that, to maybe half a sentence on Mail Online suggesting maybe that might not be true. We, as a media, are ensuring that audiences have the full picture.
As the media landscape in the UK changes rapidly, some have argued recently that the only sensible future for the PSBs is to consolidate with less competition for shrinking resources, even going so far as to suggest that only the BBC should survive. Unsurprisingly, I totally and fundamentally disagree. Audiences who are watching long chunks of Channel 4 News’s international analysis on YouTube, teenagers following the ITV News rundown on Snapchat, families tuning into 5 News at 5:00 PM, often the only news they access, they would all be left without their preferred news provision.
We know the speed at which disinformation is spreading as it becomes both easier to make and to disseminate. PSB media is on the front line of tackling it, and the job is only getting bigger. Whilst we also call on governments and regulators to do their bit too, not just leave it to journalists, this is not the time to be scaling back. The UK’s public service broadcast news is special because of the variety it offers. Its plurality deserves to be valued and protected for the wealth and breadth it brings to audiences rather than in any way reduced.
This is why one of the most consistent asks we have of policymakers is to ensure that as they seek to update the PSB framework, news is given significant prominence within it. I’ve said this many times that traditionally, if people want to find trusted, impartial quality news, it’s as easy as switching on your telly at 10:00, at 7:00, at 5 o’clock. What is critical is that it remains as easy for audiences to find that news in a nonlinear world of streaming and social media, not least in the face of the mis and disinformation that I mentioned.
The Media Act is due to deliver prominence for the PSBs on a device level, such as smart televisions, But I passionately believe it needs to go further with a specific focus on the prominence for news as well, and not just on devices. This should also apply to popular social platforms. We know how well our content can do and how far its reach can spread when the algorithms promote it to the top of people’s feeds. But this is not yet a given. There’s no requirement for it, and it’s not a reliable way to guarantee audiences can find it.
Without regulation to support this, we’re leaving decisions of prominence and mass access to our style of news in the hands of big tech manufacturers and platform owners based on the other side of the world. I was pleased, therefore, to see Ofcom’s Chief Executive Melanie Dawes speaking in these terms when she gave evidence to the DCMS a couple of weeks ago, and we will continue to lobby on this critical issue.
To be clear, this isn’t about trying to prop up declining legacy media. For me, this goes to the heart of our remit and what drives our teams at ITN: public service journalism for the benefit of the public and civil society. We work, of course, in the commercial sector, and prominence is linked to commercial success directly.
At ITN, I really feel we’re fortunate that currently we continue to enjoy stable news contracts due to the PSB system requiring broadcasters to fund high-quality news. This means we can innovate and explore new outlets as fast as the audiences change. Unlike other news media, we haven’t so far had to rely on monetising our social content to fund our journalism, which wouldn’t even begin to replace those TV-based budgets that come from our clients.
An updated regulatory framework cannot come soon enough. Those audience habits are now transforming even faster with the acceleration of generative AI. This technological revolution is already changing the nature of search and how people consume information online. AI models are generating aggregated results based on multiple sources of news content without attribution and without payment. This raises fundamental questions about the role of all journalism online.
Earlier in the year, ITN joined the rest of the creative industries in responding to the government’s consultation on copyright and AI. In our response, we highlighted that allowing the large language models to scrape content without respect for copyright would have serious commercial and reputational implications for those creating the content, including news. Getting the foundations of the AI market right for all of society to benefit, we believe, is imperative, and the IP question is a significant part of that.
ITN continues to wholeheartedly support calls to ensure that AI models must actively seek permission to use our copyrighted content rather than the default that they want, which is allowing them to scrape unless an IP holder has said no. All of these policy points are connected, and are the ones we’re continuing to drive. As information sources and the media rapidly evolves, it’s vital that public policy keeps up too, often an area that’s been a bit slower traditionally.
Now, getting policy right is only one part of the jigsaw. As CEO, I want to drive sustainable growth at ITN to get us to a position of greater stability to weather the inevitable changes ahead and secure the future of the company. UK broadcaster budgets are under pressure, with production costs rising and advertising spend fragmenting. This has created extra urgency for the entire industry. We all need new revenue streams.
At the heart of this for us is the work of ITN Productions, which is expanding into new genres, markets, formats, striking new deals, and working with a wider range of clients. We’re increasingly focusing internationally with our British content that’s highly coveted by English-speaking audiences, particularly in the US. Established UK producers like us are seen as a guarantee of quality in both scripted and unscripted, offering excellent value for money. In recent years, our true crime and factual content have been snapped up, including World’s Most Notorious for Peacock and two seasons of Ancient Apocalypse for Netflix.
I know there are many opportunities ahead for us right across the business. I want us to continue being bold and counter what is quite frankly the often-gloomy narrative around news. The explosion of content options has the potential to unleash a greater range of creativity and a lot more freedom for news perhaps than traditionally, not just in the stories we tell but how we tell them.
Just take, for example, our deeply analytical podcasts such as Ways to Change the World or Talking Politics that allow our respected, recognised faces to go deeper for viewers, our snappy explainers on TikTok that make stories accessible for all, or our news events on ITVX streamed live and now watched on demand afterwards.
Preparing for the future, our newsrooms are working closely with the platforms to identify potential new sources of income should the PSB funding structure change. I am pleased we are developing deeper relationships with most of these organisations. Though, for this to be meaningful, they need to improve. They need to give us better quality data about our audiences, specifically details of how the algorithm surfaces content and how our stories can reliably reach the widest audiences.
Generative AI, as in so many industries, has some really exciting opportunities for us, too. For me, there’s an absolute red line we will not cross over replacing eyewitness human journalism. But we are embracing it where it can enhance and support our teams. ITN has created a bespoke transcription tool that can accurately and speedily log content coming into the building, whatever the source. It can make verbatim notes at press conferences in the field and instantly send them back to Gray’s Inn Road, and in seconds transcribe any interview on our servers.
Our galleries are an area where IT has historically driven innovation, including in David’s time, before, and since then. Right now, we’re spearheading an exciting cross-industry project with colleagues from the BBC, Google, and elsewhere. We’re exploring how we can use AI in live production, such as creating voice-activated tools to help the teams play clips, to check running orders, to check Astons, all things that will just make our content better.
And we’re using it to enhance our data journalism. I highly recommend you visit Channel 4 News’s Trump Tracker. If you’ve not seen it, it’s a multimedia project led very much by the fact check team, which used AI to scan over a million clips of his election pledges, and it’s to aid very much human analysis by the team.
And then there are commercial opportunities, too. We know that reliable quality information is vital to the booming generative AI market. We have 70 years of archive, another unique string to our bow, which has helped boost ITN’s finances and stability historically through the licencing of clips to a wealth of producers, broadcasters, and clients. With the explosion of AI-generated synthetic material, that human-generated content, which the models need to train on, is ever more important and valuable.
Last year, we partnered with Open Origins, a British start-up, to shore up and protect our archive by digitally verifying every piece of content. We’re now exploring the licensing of our video for AI learning as others have done with text. Now, it’s difficult. It’s really complicated, but we believe, and we’ve made the case to government, that there is a world where tech start-ups and content owners can come together in a way that benefits both sides commercially and creates positive and transformative tools for the public based on quality inputs. With the creative industries on the list the government is relying on for growth, this is the time to come together, not pit big tech versus the creators.
Finally, as consumption of content changes outside news, too, there continue to be ways ITN can offer our editorial, digital, and production expertise for new clients as they emerge away from the broadcast sectors with the credibility, storytelling, and innovation that’s in our DNA. Let’s bring this together.
In the landmark 70th year for ITN, we are celebrating our extraordinary past, whilst also firmly setting our sights on the future. I truly believe our next chapter will be just as bright and exciting. When the company first started, who could have predicted how far the market would have evolved? But we are still standing here. We are winning business. We are delivering outstanding content that is resonating around the world and thriving.
Our strength lies in our ability to adapt our bold journalism and our unique production model, combining editorial excellence with that technological innovation and creative ambition. From expanding our digital footprint to delivering those 70-plus hours of live programme each week, ITN is able to reach more people in more places than ever before. We’re a trusted multi-platform content powerhouse producing not just news but standout factual and digital content. We have a plan to secure the future stability of the company by continuing to build those parts of the business.
The addition of Good Morning Britain to our line-up and the renewal of the ITV News contract this week are key developments of which I hope there are many more to come in the years ahead, and I hope I will be discussing it with all of you. While, of course, we remain vigilant in the toughest media environment for a generation, I’m also optimistic about the special role ITN plays in the UK media. I hope you are, too. Thank you.
Alex Kingston
Chair, ITN 1955 Club
Thank you very much. What a fantastic evening. I mean, I’ve been blown away, Rachel, to see your energy, your commitment, and integrity shine through. It’s like the spirit of David goes on living, and I’m sure we’re all hugely buoyed up by the thought that the ITN is in extremely safe hands.
On my list, I also have to obviously thank Nigel Dacre. It is Nigel’s brainchild. Having had such an incredibly successful start, we hope this will become an annual event. Newt is in Somerset.
The ITN 1955 Club has sponsored this event, and we would encourage anybody who’s here tonight who isn’t a member to please join. The entry bar is very low. You just have to give us £25. I must especially thank ITN itself for funding the drinks. Thanks also to Richard Tait and James Nicholas for helping to fund the venue. And now, the most important announcement of the evening: drinks are being served.
