Jean Seaton
Jean Seaton is Professor of Media History at the University of Westminster and the Official Historian of the BBC. She is writing the next volume of the Corporation’s story, The BBC Under Siege, taking Lord Asa Brigg’s work forward for Oxford University Press. This involves everything the BBC did in a tumultuous decade – from the conflict in Northern Ireland, to the invasion of the Falklands, to Not the Nine O’Clock News, the Proms, the early music revolution, devolution, Dennis Potter’s greatest plays, Attenborough’s great series, and Radio 1’s most influential moment, as well as the role of women in the Corporation, programmes for children and a tense and complicated relationship with the government.
She has written widely on the history and role of the media in politics, wars, atrocities, the Holocaust, revolutions, security issues and religion as well as news and journalism and is particularly interested in the impact of the media on children. She has contributed to policy debates and formulation especially concerning public service content and freedom of speech.