John Mair is an Associate Senior Lecturer

Lecturer

Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...

 in Broadcast Journalism

Broadcast journalism

Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. Broadcast methods include radio , television , and, especially recently, the Internet generally...

 at the Coventry University Department of Media and Communication

Coventry University Department of Media and Communication

The Department of Media and Communication is part of Coventry School of Art and Design in Coventry University. It is located within the Ellen Terry Building, which is a £7 million refurbished 1930s cinema in the centre of Coventry, UK....

.

John is a former BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 current affairs

Current affairs (news format)

Current Affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast....

 producer

Television producer

The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 who has also worked for Channel Four and ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

. He helped invent Question Time

Question Time (TV series)

Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...

 and Watchdog

Watchdog (TV series)

Watchdog is a BBC television series that investigates viewers' reports of problematic experiences with traders, retailers, and other companies around the UK...

 at the BBC.

Academic Background

He has taught at Coventry University

Coventry University

Coventry University is a post-1992 university in Coventry, West Midlands, England. Under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992, the institution's name was changed from Coventry Polytechnic to Coventry University...

 since 2005 where he invented the university's best known brand, The Coventry Conversations. He has published five books on journalism and frequently appears in print and broadcast talking about the media.

John’s latest two books are Mirage in the Desert: Reporting the Arab Revolutions, which focuses on coverage of the 2010 Arab Spring

Arab Spring

The Arab Spring , otherwise known as the Arab Awakening, is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010...

, and Investigative Journalism: Dead or Alive.

Coventry Conversations

John has invited household names such as Jon Snow

Jon Snow

Jon Snow is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.-Early life:...

, Kirsty Wark

Kirsty Wark

Kirsteen Anne Wark is a British journalist and television presenter best known for fronting the BBC Two's news and current affairs programme Newsnight since 1993, and its weekly arts annexe Newsnight Review which is now relaunched as "The Review Show".-Biography:Wark was born in Dumfries to Jimmy...

, Jeremy Vine

Jeremy Vine

Jeremy Guy Vine is a British author, journalist and news presenter for the BBC. He is known for his direct interview style and exclusive reporting from war-torn areas throughout Africa...

, BBC Director General Mark Thompson

Mark Thompson

Mark John Thompson is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4...

, Trevor Philips and Baroness Amos to take part in Coventry Conversations and address students at the university. The ‘Conversations’ were lauded as “the best speaker programme in any British University” by Professor Richard Keeble of Lincoln University.

John, who has more than two hundred broadcast credits to his name, has worked as a producer or director on every BBC General Election programme since 1979 alongside covering several World Leader summits.

Media Advisor

Having being born in the Caribbean, John introduced a professional regime at the region’s state broadcaster. He has also had the distinction of being a media advisor to three presidents of Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

: Cheddi Jagan

Cheddi Jagan

Cheddi Berret Jagan was a Guyanese politician who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964, prior to independence. He later served as President of Guyana from 1992 to 1997.- Biography :The son of ethnic Indian sugar plantation workers, Jagan...

, Janet Jagan

Janet Jagan

Janet Jagan was an American-born socialist politician who was President of Guyana from December 19, 1997, to August 11, 1999. She previously served as Prime Minister of Guyana from March 17, 1997, to December 19, 1997....

 and the current leader, Bharrat Jagdeo

Bharrat Jagdeo

Bharrat Jagdeo is a Guyanese politician who has been President of Guyana since 11 August 1999. Prior to his presidency he was Minister of Finance and became President after Janet Jagan resigned for health reasons; subsequently he won two elections, in 2001 and 2006.Jagdeo was born in Unity Village...

.

On October 4, 2011, John will give expert evident to the Lords’

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 Communications Committee on the state of Investigative Journalism

Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

.

Achievements

Associate Fellow Warwick University

Associate Fellow Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies

Visiting Professor Zheijiang University of Media and Communications, China

Senior Lecturer Media and Communications Coventry University

Editor (with Professor Richard Keeble) in the production of:-

Mirage in the Desert; Reporting the Arab Spring (Arima October 2011)

Investigative Journalism: Dead Or Alive (Arima September 2011)

Face the Future; Guyana and the New Media Revolution (July 2011)

Face the Future; Tools for the Modern Media Age (Arima April 2011)

Aghanistan, War and Terror; Deadlines and Frontlines (Arima September 2010)

Playing Footsie with the FTSE: The Great Crash/Financial Journalism (Arima 2009)

Do We Trust TV (Arima 2008)

Events Director, The Media Society

Council Member, The Royal Television Society

National Judge, RTS TV Journalist of the Year 2010

RTS Journalism Award Winner

Society of Editors Journalist Award judge

Muslim Young Writers Award Judge