BBC Magazines Deputy Managing Director returns

By Camilla Duncan

Students have received an inspiring visit from Nick Brett, the Deputy Managing Director and Group Editorial Director of BBC Magazines and the PTC Chairman.

Beginning as a reporter for an East London newspaper, Nick struck lucky when one of his stories was picked up by a national paper.

Magazine junkie

On the back of this success he got a job working for The Times. A self-confessed “magazine junkie” Nick joined BBC magazines in 1988 where he became Features Editor for the Radio Times.

So followed a career that fed his “magazine obsession” and led to Nick being awarded the British Society of Magazine Editors’ Mark Boxer lifetime achievement award in 2006 for his editorial contribution to magazines.

Nick delivered an inspiring presentation titled Are You Ready for the Future, focusing on the impact of new media upon the magazine industry.

He demonstrated how much the media has changed over the past 15 years. Most noticeably, newspapers have had to adopt some of the features characteristic to magazines.

He described the reporting of the 9/11 tragedy as the event that “shook newspapers to their core."

To display the impact of user-generated content upon the media, Nick showed a hilarious video called Numa Numa from YouTube.

The clip, of an all-singing, all-dancing fat guy, has so far received 8 million hits. An astonishing figure highlighted by fact that the Beatles record, She Loves You, sold 8 million copies.

Nick said in today’s new media society it is possible to imagine everyone to be a journalist. The use of witnesses mobile phone images for news coverage is an example of this. However he rejects the idea of his glass being “half-full."

He said a true journalist possesses the indispensable skills of storytelling, good writing, accuracy, timing and an understanding of their reader. Most importantly they must be “attuned to what’s going on around them."

Adaptable and appropriate

Nick quickly got to “the heart” of the presentation, namely the A words; adaptable and appropriate.

He advised the group to be prepared to adapt to new technology and new media and to readily consider the most appropriate medium for content.

He used Focus to demonstrate how BBC magazines have adapted to new media. The team, without orders from management, created Focus TV, a podcast which receives 8000 downloads a month. This promotes reader interaction, makes more people aware of the publication and strengthens the bond between the consumer and the magazine.

He also showed how BBC Music Magazine devised a digital magazine to enable their readers to hear the music featured in the publication. This provides extra insight for the reader, promotes the content of the magazine, and gives the reader the opportunity to buy music by simply clicking on a link.

His optimistic final comment: “Magazines are particularly well adapted to the digital explosion.”

Nick also told students of the exciting opportunities available working on BBC magazines in India. The BBC owns 50 per cent of The Times of India’s magazine subsidiary, including its best-selling titles, Femina and Film Fare. Indian editions of Top Gear and Olive have also been launched.

The future is bright – the future is magazines!

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Our print and broadcast courses are accredited by the The Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Our MA Magazine Journalism is accredited by the Periodicals Training Council.