Category: Â鶹Éç
FOUR; Factual
& Arts TV
Date: 06.09.2004
Printable version
Tyler Brûlé,
journalist and founder of Wallpaper*, is to present Â鶹Éç FOUR's new media
show.
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Janice Hadlow, Controller of Â鶹Éç FOUR,
today announced that a joint venture between Brûlé's production
company, Winkontent, and Manchester-based Moonbeam Films has won the
commission to produce the 30-minute media show for the channel.
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Moonbeam's Anne Reevell will executive produce.
The Desk will launch in January 2005 – with an initial run
of ten programmes - and will be the only regular media magazine show
currently on UK television.
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The magazine-formatted show promises a fresh take on
any and every aspect of the media world.
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Filmed on location and in the studio, The Desk will
be a mix of feature interviews, authored films, and behind-the-scenes
insight: from media manipulation in our own backyard to musical editors'
chairs in New York.
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Janice Hadlow commented: "I
am delighted that The Desk is coming to Â鶹Éç FOUR.
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"The channel's remit is to do things differently,
and The Desk promises to do just that.
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"Media has become a bigger and bigger story in
recent years - and not just for the industry itself, but for everyone
who wants to understand how the modern world works.
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"Viewers are looking for a thoughtful, sophisticated
and engaging take on the story behind the spin. The Desk looks set to
deliver this, and with an excitingly broad perspective.
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"It will go beyond a purely domestic agenda, casting
its eye across the world's media landscape, bringing fresh and unfamiliar
stories to catch the imagination of audiences, as well as shedding new
light on more familiar territories nearer home."
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Tyler Brûlé said: "The Desk will fill
a huge gap in the schedules by satisfying people's unquenchable thirst
for news about the media in all its forms.
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"It's exciting to be able to bring both the UK
and international media agenda to television.
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"With so many print and online sources for media
news we're delighted that Â鶹Éç FOUR has chosen
us and we hope to bring a fresh and challenging approach to covering
the industry."
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Anne Reevell said: "I'm delighted to be working
with Tyler again. He has a unique understanding and insight into all
aspects of the industry and will give The Desk a distinctive voice in
the media debate."
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George Entwistle, Executive Editor, Â鶹Éç Topical Arts
Unit, said: "We had a fantastic selection of pitches from some
of the brightest and best British indies.
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"We were very impressed indeed by the range and
quality of the ideas, but at the end of the process we had to make a
decision.
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"The Winkontent proposal had a powerful sense of
how new technology and an international perspective are set to be dominant
themes - plus an energy and style which we felt was spot on for Â鶹Éç
FOUR."
Notes to Editors
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Â鶹Éç FOUR was awarded Media Guardian Television Festival Channel of the
Year, 2004.
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Janice Hadlow was appointed Controller of Â鶹Éç FOUR in June 2004.
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She was previously Head of Specialist Factual at Channel
4 (2002- 2004).
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Before joining Channel 4 in 1999 as Head of History,
Art and Religion, Janice was Joint Head of the Â鶹Éç's History department
where she devised the enormously successful A History of Britain.
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Janice joined the Â鶹Éç as a production trainee in 1986.
As Radio 4 producer from 1987 to 1989, Janice worked on programmes such
as Woman's Hour, Start The Week and The World Tonight.
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From 1989 to 1992 Janice was Producer and Executive
Producer for the Late Show, the influential arts strand and in 1992
(until 1993) was appointed Editor.
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George Entwistle was appointed Executive Editor, Topical Arts Unit,
at Â鶹Éç Television in March 2004.
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George is responsible for all Â鶹Éç TWO and FOUR topical
arts output, including the new Culture Show on Â鶹Éç TWO and The Desk
on Â鶹Éç FOUR.
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Winkontent is the editorial and TV production arm of Winkorp, the parent
company of Brûlé's agency Winkreative.
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The Desk Presenter: Tyler Brûlé - born in Canada and based
in the UK for the past 15 years, Tyler Brûlé began his
career at the Â鶹Éç and has worked across a host of international media
brands.
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With a strong broadcast background, Brûlé
has extensive onscreen experience.
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He has produced for ABC's Good Morning America and Australia's
60 Minutes and was the editor of EBN's daily style and media programme.
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In 1996 he launched Wallpaper* magazine and in 2001
he became the youngest ever recipient of the British Society of Magazine
Editors Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Currently, Brûlé runs a successful design
and advertising agency, Winkeative, and holds columnist posts with Financial
Times, Switzerland's NZZ am Sonntag and The New York Times.
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The Desk Executive Producer: Anne Reevell - as well as a long track
record of producing long-running, award-winning factual TV programmes
and blue chip documentaries for Â鶹Éç ONE and Â鶹Éç TWO (Executive Producer,
Heart of the Matter; Futurewatch: My Generation; Diary of a Princess/Diana
in Angola), Reevell was also the founding editor of Radio 4's Mediumwave.
She also developed and launched The Box for Five
Live.
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As an independent producer for five years, making high
quality TV documentaries for the international market, as well as current
affairs programmes for Radio 4 (The Commission) she also has experience
of the industry at an international, business and editorial level.
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Anne also has a background in news and current affairs.
She was Deputy Home News editor, Â鶹Éç TV News, from 1982 to 1986.
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