Journalist Emily Maitlis to Deliver RTS’s Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture

The Royal Television Society (RTS) has confirmed that this year’s Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture is set to be delivered by the journalist, presenter and author Emily Maitlis.

Maitlis was crowned Network Presenter of the Year at the RTS Television Journalism Awards last week. “The Prince Andrew Interview” for Newsnight BBC Two, which she conducted with the royal addressing the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, also won for both scoop of the year and interview of the year.

The net proceeds from the annual event will go to the Steve Hewlett Scholarship Fund, which provides financial assistance to journalism and TV production students from low-income backgrounds. The Media Society and The Royal Television Society established the lecture and the scholarship fund in memory of Hewlett, a celebrated journalist who died in February 2017.

Last year, Mark Thompson, president and CEO of The New York Times Company and former director-general of the BBC, gave the Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture. In his address, Thompson urged increased public funding for some of the parts of media, more support of the BBC and government coordination on policy in the shifting landscape. Other previous speakers include Charlotte Moore, director of content at the BBC, and journalist and BBC’s Today program presenter Nick Robinson.

The 2020 Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture will be delivered on Wednesday, September 23.

Maitlis said: “It’s a huge honor—and no small challenge—to be asked to give this lecture at this time. Steve understood so well—and conveyed so well—the sheer complexity of broadcasting and our constant and evolving search to ‘get it right.’ It will be no small task to do him justice.”

Theresa Wise, CEO of the Royal Television Society, added: “We are immensely honored that Emily has offered to deliver the Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture this year. Emily is highly admired in our industry, has lots to say on key issues in politics and society, and she is a huge inspiration to aspiring journalists. I think Steve would have thought she was an excellent booking.”