By Christina Zaba
STARTING in 2005, the annual Bristol NUJ Benn Lecture has been a series of to live debates in which the community, our colleagues and a guest speaker discuss the most pressing media issues of our times.
Back in 2005, when jobs were being lost at the Bristol Evening Post and the Western Daily Press, the branch decided to create some kind of free forum in which our members could talk and reflect on journalism matters alongside the Bristol public.
So branch executive member Tony Gosling approached Arnolfini Director Tom Trevor, who kindly agreed to host, publicise and support the series in the South-West’s most avant-garde art gallery.
The lectures have been a fantastic success and have become an established part of Bristol NUJ’s calendar.
In 2006 Tony Benn spoke with passion about truth-telling and lies. In 2007 Andrew Gilligan revealed his role in the David Kelly affair and the Hutton Report. The following year, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown candidly talked about being a pioneering Asian Muslim woman columnist on a UK national title.
The lecture usually lasts for around an hour, with the second hour devoted to audience questions and answers, and more hours still in the bar.
In 2009 the Benn Lecture was given by bestselling and award-winning investigative journalist Nick Davies spoke on “Bad news: What’s wrong with the press?”.
NUJ Bristol branch is grateful to Tom and the Arnolfini for their hospitality, and to Tony Gosling for having taken this initiative. Most of all we thank our Benn Lecturers themselves, who travel a long way and receive only expenses and a small honorarium, for sharing their insights and experiences.
In more recent years, Benn lecturers have included Suzanne Moore, then a Guardian columnist and later a writer for the Telegraph.
The year after the Levison Inquiry into phone hacking we hosted a panel debate which included testimony from Christopher Jefferies, the retired Bristol schoolteacher vilified in some sections of the Press as a suspect in the Joanna Yeates murder case.
Other events have included a panel event on the state of local media, with representatives from the BBC, ITV, the Bristol Post and several independent media outlets.
The most recent event was a screening of No Stone Unturned, a film by Northern Ireland journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, about the failure of police to investigate a mass killing thought to be the work of Loyalist gunmen. Instead of investigating the film’s evidence, police turned on Birney and McCaffrey, leading the NUJ to support both men in a legal battle which ended in significant compensation for the pair. Incidentally, the union has only in 2023 received recompense from the police for the large sum it spent in legal costs on the case.
This article was written by Christina Zaba in 2009 and updated by Paul Breeden in 2023.
Archives
2009
Preview to the 2009 Benn Lecture, to be deliverd by Nick Davies
2008
Pictures from the 2008 Benn Lecture, featuring Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
2007
Pictures from the 2007 Benn Lecture, featuring Andrew Gilligan
Read the full report on the event
2006
Pictures from the inaugural Benn Lecture, featuring Tony Benn