About Me

I am Managing Director and Head of Communications and Media at the World Economic Forum. The Forum is an independent, international organization incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in Geneva, Switzerland. This is my personal blog and website so the usual caveats apply.

My career was mainly in television journalism, but I’m also an author and academic. From June 2005, I was head of - Britain’s only Graduate School of Journalism at City University London, and I’m still a professor there.

TV journalism

My broadcast news career started with a summer internship at CBS News in 1987, and they started paying me a year later. I spent four of the most exciting years in international news with CBS: the ending of the Lebanese hostage crisis and the Iran-Iraq War; the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall; and the first Gulf War.

In 1993, I joined ITN’s News At Ten which took me from Belfast to Bosnia, and to many other places besides. Three years later, I joined the launch team for Five News. Adrian Monck

Five went on air in 1997, with the British general election that brought Tony Blair to power. It reported the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and took in every story from Kosovo to 9/11 and subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Its reporters and their cameras travelled light, but they reported with distinction from every continent. Adrian Monck

I also turned analogue newsrooms digital, pioneered low-cost news production, and did an MBA at London Business School. Adrian Monck

At Five, I was lucky enough to spend a few years sitting alongside one of the world’s finest broadcasters, Kirsty Young, and a bunch of very creative, youthful (they were then) and talented people which - as all journalists know - “beats working for a living.” Adrian Monck

Along the way, things I did at Five, at Dunblane, and in Bosnia picked up Royal Television Society awards. A report on aid to Rwanda won gold at the New York Festivals and overall Festival prize. Adrian Monck

Before joining City University London, I had a brief but very enjoyable time at Sky News. The British general election in May 2005 - Tony Blair’s last - happened to be my farewell to TV news. Adrian Monck

Writing and commentary

The most recent book - written with my mate, Mike Hanley - is Can You Trust The Media? (Icon, 2008). It has stirred up some controversy. The Financial Times called it “jaunty.” BBC Radio 5 Live called it “fantastic.” Andrew Gilligan called it “nihilistic.” The Observer said it was “startlingly cynical.” Adrian Monck

The Guardian called it “amusingly blunt” and its prescriptions “excellent”, and - in the same paper - columnist Peter Preston said Gordon Brown “ought to sit up and take notice.” Adrian Monck

Mike and I also co-authored Crunch Time: How Everyday Life Is Killing The Future (Icon, 2007) which the Sydney Morning Herald (Mike’s an Aussie) called “warm, witty and inspiring.” Adrian Monck

As an academic I have blogged about the media here at adrianmonck.com. I’ve written for the Guardian, New Statesman, Evening Standard, Scotsman and Press Gazette, and been quoted everywhere from the New York Times to Asharq al-Awsat. Adrian Monck

Consultancy

I have undertaken consultancy on communications in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. I’ve worked with CEOs at FTSE top 20 companies, with government ministers and civil servants, and leading international news organizations. Adrian Monck

I’ve addressed audiences at Oxford, Cambridge, SOAS and the UK Defence Academy. In 2005-6, I was President of the Media Society, presenting David Dimbleby with the society’s annual award. Adrian Monck

In 2008, the World Economic Forum invited me to join their Global Agenda Council on the Future of Media, and I attended the inaugural summit in Dubai. Adrian Monck

The new School of Communications at Madrid’s IE asked me to be a visiting scholar, and I’m the external assessor at the University of Hong Kong’s J-School. Adrian Monck

I have chaired prize juries and judged - amongst others, the British Press Awards, the International Emmy Awards, the BAFTAs, Royal Television Society, Broadcast and many more. Adrian Monck

I’m a member of BAFTA, the RTS, the Media Society and the Royal Society of Arts. Adrian Monck

I read Modern History at Exeter College, Oxford (2:1, if you must know). I edited the university’s newspaper, Cherwell, and was JCR President.

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