Media Diary: 27/06/2011

A look back at current affairs

The Hour, BBC2

The BBC will recreate the era when Richard Dimbleby and colleagues transformed the BBC with shows such as Panorama and Tonight. The BBC2 six-parter The Hour, starting next month, is a fictional drama and stars Ben Whishaw as an outspoken journo and Anna Chancellor (below) as a hard-drinking foreign correspondent.

The subject matter (Suez and new journalism) mirrors the Arab Spring andWikiLeaks. Less fortuitously, it follows Panorama’s apology over its Primark investigation and coincides with the plight of the Richmond & Twickenham Times, in the Dimbleby family for generations but in peril after David sold it to Newsquest. Staff are on strike today.

Bono brings in UK journalist

Poverty awareness

The Glastonbury headliner Bono has appointed the British journalist Michael Elliott as CEO of his global charity, One, which raises awareness of extreme poverty. Elliott, from Liverpool, is a former executive on Time, Newsweek and The Economist. He starts on 1 August, based in Washington.

Highfield for Edinburgh

Marketing

Microsoft’s fast car loving UK chief, Ashley Highfield, will give the keynote address at the Edinburgh International Marketing Festival, which takes place on 25 August.