Jon Snow to deliver MacTaggart

The Edinburgh International Television Festival has announced that journalist and broadcaster Jon Snow will deliver this year’s James MacTaggart Lecture.

Jon Snow has covered many of the defining news events of the last 40 years including the fall of Idi Amin in Uganda, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, the fall of the Berlin wall, and the release of Nelson Mandela – as well as the elections of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Barack Obama and most recently, Donald Trump.

Snow’s career has spanned huge changes to news and broadcasting and he has been at the forefront of Channel 4 News’ success in engaging young and diverse audiences with its digital journalism.

He said: “I’m both delighted and honoured to have been accorded such an opportunity. These are exceptionally complex and challenging times, but amid the digital revolution this is also one of the most exciting times to be in television – laced with opportunity. I greatly look forward to August 23rd in Edinburgh.”

Festival director Lisa Campbell added: “Jon Snow is nothing short of a broadcasting legend. His decades of experience combined with his enthusiasm for new ways of working has garnered awards as well as an enormous fan base of younger viewers in the UK and overseas.

“It is a huge privilege to be able to offer him this global platform and I’m sure delegates will be enthralled by his speech.”

The MacTaggart Lecture has formed the centrepiece of the Festival since 1976 which in the past, has been delivered by leading authors, playwrights, journalists,media titans and actors, including Dennis Potter, Rupert Murdoch, Kevin Spacey, Ted Turner, Janet Street-Porter, John Schlesinger, Marcel Ophuls, Elisabeth Murdoch and Armando Iannucci.