The Media Show

BBC Radio 4's The Media Show has been a fixture of British broadcasting for years, and it works because the BBC has the institutional credibility to ask tough questions about other media organizations while also being willing to examine its own practices. Hosted by Katie Razzall, Ros Atkins, and Amol Rajan on rotation, each weekly episode runs about 30 minutes and tackles two or three media stories with a panel of journalists, editors, and industry figures. With 816 episodes, the archive is enormous. Recent shows have covered Murdoch family revelations, Washington Post layoffs, algorithm transparency, AI-generated content by Grok, and how viral videos are changing journalism. The rotating host format keeps things fresh. Atkins brings his signature analytical style, breaking stories down into their component parts. Razzall tends to focus on press regulation and ethical questions. Rajan brings energy and sometimes a willingness to be provocative. The show has a 4.4-star rating and publishes weekly. It skews British in its focus but covers American and global media stories regularly. The production is clean and efficient, no filler, no long intros, just straight into the discussion. For anyone trying to understand how the media industry operates in the UK and beyond, this is as reliable as it gets.