Political Communication (MRes)
Political Communication Seminar
This seminar series presents a truly unique opportunity for students in the MSc and MRes in Political Communication to meet with top practitioners in the profession to informally discuss the practical aspects of political communication as well as career options.
Guest speakers include pollsters and political strategists, print and broadcast journalists, public relations specialists for parties, interest groups and business, media-policy makers and those who work in communication for government agencies.
The seminar meets about four times a year. Guest speakers generally make a brief presentation, leaving plenty of time for questions and answers, group discussion and the all-important networking.
Guest speakers 2012-13
Ric Bailey
Ric Bailey is the BBC's Chief Adviser, Politics, taking up the post in Editorial Policy in September 2006. He joined the BBC in 1982, working first in local radio, mainly at Radio Stoke as a reporter, producer and news editor, winning a Sony Gold award for coverage of the miners' strike. Ric Bailey was appointed Editor of Political Newsgathering in 1995, leading the team of BBC Political Correspondents and newsgatherers at Westminster. Between 2000 and 2006, he was Deputy Head of Political Programmes, with responsibility for Question Time, for which he was the BBC's Executive Editor. In the run-up to the 2010 UK General Election, Ric represented the BBC on the team which negotiated the first ever television election debates between the Prime Ministerial candidates.
Joel Benenson
Joel Benenson is the only Pollster in democratic history to have achieved success in three Presidential campaigns. Most recently, Benenson was lead pollster and Senior Strategist for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in yhe 2012 election, as well as serving for Obama in 2008 and for Bill Clinton in 1996.
Benenson founded Benenson Strategy Group in 2000, a highly acclaimed global strategic research and consulting firm. Throughout his career, Benenson has worked alongside some of America’s most instrumental CEOs including Bob Pittman of AOL and A. G. Lafley of Proctor and Gamble. Before coming a pollster in 1995, Benenson worked as a political journalist and also as a communications director, thus shaping his widely recognised combination of communication expertise and aggressive analytical approach.
Peter Brodnitz
In 2008 Brodnitz guided Democratic candidates to successfully gain control of Republican-held seats in both houses of Congress as well as on the state level. With Brodnitz’s strategic advice, Jeff Merkley became the first challenger in nearly 40 years to defeat an incumbent Oregon senator, ousting two-term Sen. Gordon Smith. Rep. On the state level, Brodnitz’s analysis and strategy in 2008 on behalf of the Campaign for a Moderate Majority’s independent-expenditure effort to elect Democrats to the Ohio Statehouse helped the Democrats pick up seven seats, enabling them to capture the Statehouse for the first time in 14 years. In 2007 Brodnitz was named Pollster of the Year, the industry’s top honour, for his work on the upset victories in Virginia of Gov. Tim Kaine, in 2005, and Sen. Jim Webb, in 2006.
Michael Jermey
Michael Jermey is ITV’s Director of News and former Programme Director from ITN. His career in television began in 1985 as a researcher in current affairs at Central Television. Later joining ITN, he was Programme Editor of News at Ten and head of both home and foreign newsgathering. Michael led ITN's award-winning coverage of many of the major stories of the 1990s including the war in Bosnia, the Rwandan genocide and the Dunblane massacre. In the early years of this decade he led the ITN team that launched Europe's first 3G video news service on mobile phones and set up an international consultancy team that advised on the launches of 24 hour news channels in Europe and Asia. His roles at ITV have included Launch Managing Director of the ITN News Channel and Deputy Editor of ITN’s national news service for ITV.
David Muir (University of Glasgow Alumni and Honorary Professor, School of Social and Political Sciences)
David Muir was Director of Political Strategy for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown between 2008 and 2010. In 1992 he graduated with a MA Hons 1st Class in Politics and Economics. He also won the Alistair Reid Prize for Politics for the outstanding study of politics and an ESU Scholarship to work with the US politician Byron Dorgan. In 1992 Muir joined the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, becoming New Business Director until taking a leave of absence to complete his MBA in 1999. In 2003 he wrote with Jon Miller The Business of Brands, looking at how businesses could nurture and value their brands. In 2008 Muir left WPP to become the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown's, Director of Political Strategy. He along with Kirsty McNeill developed Brown's "No time for a novice speech" at the 2008 Labour Party Conference which was "warmly received".
He developed a close working relationship with the Obama campaign team and hired The Benenson Strategy Group where he worked closely with Joel Benenson. He also worked closely with Peter Mandelson and Philip Gould on the Labour Party's 2010 general election campaign. He was the lead negotiator of the historic British TV Election Debates and was an early proponent of them.
Guest speakers 2011-12
David Muir (University of Glasgow Alumni and Honorary Professor, School of Social and Political Sciences)
David Muir was Director of Political Strategy for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown between 2008 and 2010. In 1992 he graduated with a MA Hons 1st Class in Politics and Economics. He also won the Alistair Reid Prize for Politics for the outstanding study of politics and an ESU Scholarship to work with the US politician Byron Dorgan. In 1992 Muir joined the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, becoming New Business Director until taking a leave of absence to complete his MBA in 1999. In 2003 he wrote with Jon Miller The Business of Brands, looking at how businesses could nurture and value their brands. In 2008 Muir left WPP to become the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown's, Director of Political Strategy. He along with Kirsty McNeill developed Brown's "No time for a novice speech" at the 2008 Labour Party Conference which was "warmly received".
He developed a close working relationship with the Obama campaign team and hired The Benenson Strategy Group where he worked closely with Joel Benenson. He also worked closely with Peter Mandelson and Philip Gould on the Labour Party's 2010 general election campaign. He was the lead negotiator of the historic British TV Election Debates and was an early proponent of them.
Humza Yousaf
Humza Yousaf is a Scottish National Party member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow region, elected in 2011 via the party list. At 26, he is one of the youngest parliamentarians in the United Kingdom. On his election to Parliament, he was appointed to the Justice and Public Audit Committees and as Parliamentary Liaison Officer to First Minister Alex Salmond. After completing his degree in Politics (including an Honours option in media and politics) at the University of Glasgow, Humza went to work in the Scottish Parliament. He has served as the Media Spokesperson for the charity Islamic Relief, worked for community radio for 12 years as well as for a project that provided food packages to homeless and asylum seekers in Glasgow. He was awarded the Future Force of Politics Award 2010.
David Pratt
David Pratt is Foreign Editor of the Herald (Glasgow). A foreign correspondent for more than 20 years, he has covered conflicts all over the world. An author and broadcaster, with a particular interest in the Arab and Islamic world, David also previously has worked for Reuters and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. View an archive of his work for the Herald.
Magnus Linklater
Magnus Linklater is a prominent Scottish journalist and former newspaper editor. Linklater's journalistic career began in 1964, as a reporter with the Daily Express. This was followed by a position at the Evening Standard, before he moved to The Sunday Times in 1969, where he had a central role in the Hitler diaries scandal. He remained at the Times until 1983. This was followed by three years at The Observer, before he was recruited to launch and edit the London Daily News, a short-lived newspaper owned by Robert Maxwell. Linklater returned to Scotland at the start of 1988 to become editor of The Scotsman, running the newspaper until 1994, when he left to become a freelance writer. Linklater has regularly contributed to The Times, and, since 1998, has written a weekly column for Scotland on Sunday. Between 1994 and 1997 he presented the weekly discussion programme, Eye to Eye on BBC Radio Scotland, and has written a number of books about Scottish history and politics.
Guest speakers 2010-11
Kirsty Wark
Kirsty Wark is one of Britain’s most highly regarded and versatile presenters. As a regular presenter of BBC2's Newsnight and The Review Show her portfolio has extended from current affairs to the arts. She recently competed in BBC1’s Celebrity Masterchef and got through to the final three. She is hosting a brand new cookery quiz A Question Of Taste on BBC2 starting in January 2012. Kirsty also presented The Great British Home Movie Roadshow (BBC2), The Book Quiz (BBC4) and A Question of Genius (BBC2). Kirsty joined the BBC as a graduate researcher in 1976 for BBC Radio Scotland, going on to become a producer in radio current affairs. After a spell on Radio 4’s The World At One, she moved to television in 1983 - working as a producer on Reporting Scotland and later producing and presenting the current affairs weekly Seven Days. Kirsty has interviewed many top politicians - from Tony Blair in January 1996 to Margaret Thatcher in 1990. She was named journalist of the year by BAFTA Scotland in 1993 and Best Television Presenter in 1997.
Iain MacWhirter
Iain MacWhirter is an award-winning political commentator for the Sunday Herald and Herald. He has also been a presenter of BBC political television programmes from Westminster and Holyrood for nearly 20 years. Iain joined the BBC straight from Edinburgh University and became Scottish Political Correspondent in 1987. In 1989, he moved to Westminster where he was a member of the parliamentary lobby for ten years, during which time he presented Westminster Live and Scrutiny for BBC2. He also became a political columnist for the Observer and the Scotsman and contributed to numerous books, journals and conferences on constitutional change. In 1999, Iain returned to Scotland to launch the Sunday Herald and to present the BBC's Holyrood Live from the Scottish Parliament. He also serves as Rector of the University of Edinburgh
Major General Gordon Messenger
Major General Messenger is Strategic Communication Officer for the MOD, focussing primarily on improving public awareness of the Afghanistan campaign. He joined the Royal Marines in 1983. After a range of junior officer appointments, he attended Canadian Staff College in 1994. After two staff jobs, he was appointed as Chief of Staff to 3 Cdo Bde RM in 1999; a tour that included an operational deployment to Kosovo. He commanded 40 Commando RM from Dec 2001 to Aug 2003, which included operational deployments to Afghanistan. After a sabbatical in Geneva, he joined JFHQ as COS in July 2004, a job that saw him on various operations worldwide, including the tsunami relief effort, the civilian evacuation from Lebanon and command of the Op HERRICK Prelim Ops deployment in Southern Afghanistan in 2005. After attending HCSC, he briefly acted as Director Force Development in Main Building before being appointed to the position of Director Joint Commitments (Military) in Sep 2007, coordinating military policy for all overseas operations. Major General Messenger then commanded 3 Commando Brigade RM for their tour to Afghanistan in September 2008.
Guest speakers 2009-10
Peter Barron
Peter is Google’s Director of Communications for the UK, Ireland and the Benelux countries. He began his career as a news trainee at the BBC and joined Newsnight in 1990, where he worked for the next eight years as a producer, filmmaker and latterly programme editor. In 1998 he joined Channel 4 News as deputy editor. He handled Channel 4 News' live coverage of the September 11 attacks on the United States. In 2002 Peter joined ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald. During his year on Tonight, the programme achieved record current affairs audiences. He rejoined the BBC as Editor of the new current affairs drama documentary series in 2003 and became Editor of Newsnight in 2004, position he held until 2008. Peter was also in 2007 Advisory Chair for The Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival (MGEIFT).
Dorothy Byrne
Dorothy Byrne is Channel 4 Head of News and Current Affairs, having previously been the Commissioning Editor in charge of Dispatches, the Channel Four's flagship current affairs programme. Her programmes have won Emmy, BAFTA and RTS Journalism awards. She was previously the editor of ITV’s The Big Story (1994-1996) and a producer on World in Action (1987-1994). Dorothy is also visiting professor of the School of Journalism at Lincoln University.
Alan Clements
Alan Clements is Director of Content at Scottish Television (STV). Previously, Alan was Founder and Managing Director of Wark Clements & Co Ltd (1990-2004) and Chairman and Creative Director of IWC Media Ltd (2004-2008). Alan holds a double first from the University of Glasgow and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He started his career as a teacher before working as a political researcher and journalist for the BBC and then freelance for several Scottish and national newspapers. He has been involved in documentary making for 20 years, and has produced acclaimed documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and the Discovery Channel. He published Restless Nation (Mainstream) in 1996 and Rogue Nation (Mainstream), a political thriller, in 2009.
Guest speakers 2008-09
Andrew Baird
Andrew is Head of News for the Scottish Government and leads a team of 45 communications professionals. He graduated in sociology and history from Glasgow University in 1987. He has worked in government communications since 1987, having previously been a journalist in local newspapers. He has worked under Conservative and Labour UK governments and with Labour/LibDem coalition governments in Scotland from 1999 to 2007 and now for SNP minority government. Andrew led the devolution Communications Team in 1997 and became the first official spokesperson for the First Minister in 2001 conducting daily on-the-record briefings with political journalists.
Blair Jenkins
Blair is Chair of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission. Previously, Blair was director of Broadcasting at STV and Head of News and Current Affairs at BBC Scotland. From 1998 to 2003 he was Chairman of BAFTA Scotland and he has also been a member of the Royal Television Society's steering group on current affairs.
Lindsay Keenan
Lindsay currently acts as a consultant leading campaign projects for Greenpeace Nordic amongst others. Between 2001 and 2006 he was a senior campaigner at Greenpeace International travelling extensively to campaign on the issue of genetic engineering. From 1997-2001 Lindsay coordinated the UK healthfood industries Genetic Food Alert campaign. Lindsay will be presenting her views as an individual not as a representative of Greenpeace.
Pauline Moore
Pauline is senior producer for BBC Radio Scotland and has covered the 2008 US presidential election. She will be speaking about her experience of the elections, as well as what it’s like to produce radio news (a key component of the media in Scotland) in a time of rising nationalism and political change.
Guest speakers 2007-08
Douglas Fraser
Douglas Fraser is Scottish Political Editor of The Herald, a Glasgow-based newspaper with the largest circulation of a Scottish paper. The Herald is key in setting the political agenda, particularly regarding the new parliament and government.
Kevin Pringle
Kevin Pringle is Senior Special Adviser to First Minister Alex Salmond, focusing on media relations and external communications. Kevin was Research Officer at SNP headquarters from 1989-1994; Director of Communications from 1994-99; and was communications director at the Scottish Parliament for the newly elected SNP Group from 1999-2001. From 2001-2004, he managed media relations for the SNP Group at Westminster.
Kevin was Corporate Affairs Manager at Scottish Gas from 2004 to 2006, and specialised in corporate responsibility issues before returning to the SNP in January 2007 to work on the election campaign.
Rob Woodward
Rob Woodward is Chief Executive of the SMG. SMG runs STV, Virgin Radio, Pearl & Dean (cinema advertising) and Primesight (outdoor advertising). SMG is the sixth larger TV programme producer in the UK.
Rob Woodward was Commercial Director of Channel 4 and on the main board. He was CEO of 4Ventures and achieved a dramatic turnaround of legacy businesses, and built a set of successful new media and digital businesses. Rob was previously an MD of UBS Warburg and global COO of corporate finance in Media and Communications. He was formerly Managing Partner of Deloitte’s European TMT business and UK strategy consulting practice.
The Stevenson and ASRF Lecture Series
In addition, this year the Stevenson and ASRF Lecture Series, which are organised by the Politics Department, will be exclusively devoted to Media & Citizenship.
Guest speakers 2006-07
Steven Lawther
Steven is Head of Communications for the Scottish Labour Party. His main responsibilities include managing the Press Office and co-ordinating all the party's research in Scotland. He has worked for the Labour Party since 2001 and has been involved in political campaigning since the 1992 UK General Election. He also spent time at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research - a leading political consultancy in Washington DC - during the 2004 Presidential Election campaign.
Alasdair MacLeod
Alasdair is Executive Editor of News Programmes for News and Current Affairs, BBC Scotland, based in Glasgow. He is responsible for BBC Scotland's main news strands, including Good Morning Scotland, Reporting Scotland, Newsnight Scotland and Newsdrive. From 1999 to 2006, he was in charge of political output for BBC Scotland, based in Edinburgh; he then spent five months as acting Head of News and Current Affairs before taking up his current post in early 2007.
Chris Shaw
Chris Shaw is the Senior Programme Controller of Channel 5 TV responsible for News, Current Affairs and Documentaries. Chris launched the news service and won three Royal Television Society awards during its first year on-air. Since then, he has been responsible for more than 1,000 hours of factual programming.