Liverpool and the media

10 July 2008

An audience of around 900 people were both entertained and challenged by Sissons' lecture exploring the relationship between Liverpool and the media.

The broadcaster unashamedly championed Liverpool's right to be crowned the 2008 European Capital of Culture and said that the city's renaissance had been achieved in spite of, not because of, the media, which so often relied on tired stereotypes of 'scallies', thieves and work-shy scroungers when describing his home town.

Growing up on Penny Lane, he said that he had no concept of what culture was, except as something unpleasant that grew on the top of the milk. The media industry too was a mystery and initially he believed that it was synonymous with the Liverpool Echo, the Sissons family's much read daily newspaper.

Though rejected by this household favourite when he applied for a job as a journalist, he retains a fondness for the paper, which he described, along with the Liverpool Daily Post, as serving the city well. Liverpool's radio stations too came in for praise as did LJMU Honorary Fellow, Phil Redmond, for extending broadcasting opportunities outside London.

ITV Granada on the other hand was criticised for its Manchester basis though this failure paled into insignificance compared to The Sun and its reporting of the Hillsborough disaster. As Sissons pointed out the paper's apology 15 years after the event was only a shameless attempt to win back readers for the serialisation of Wayne Rooney's biography.

Using his extensive experience as a broadcast journalist, Sissons reflected on wider changes taking place in news reporting today, grumbling about the increasing emphasis now being placed on entertainment and ratings rather than the straight reporting of facts and events.

Liverpool had suffered, he said, when 'the pack descended' to cover local news stories that had made it onto the national headlines, though he felt that over the last three to five years, the tide was beginning to turn, with positive or at least neutral coverage of the city increasing.

Sissons worked for ITN for nearly 20 years, first as a reporter and latterly as the news anchor for News at One. A few years after he started at the station in 1964, Sissons said that he plucked up the courage to ask the then Chairman why he'd been hired. The response wasn't quite what he expected, as Sir Geoffrey Cox replied that ITN had wanted 'a bit of Liverpool rough' to offset the public school boys working there.

After moving to Channel 4 in 1982, Sissons was named the Best Front of Camera Performer by the Broadcasting Press Guild in 1984, receiving the Royal Society's Judges Award four years later. In addition, Channel 4 News won three consecutive BAFTA awards during his time as anchor.

In 1989 Peter joined the BBC, succeeding Sir Robin Day as Question Time presenter. After co-presenting the BBC's Six O'Clock News, he progressed to the Nine O'Clock News in 1994, continuing to present when the programme moved to its new time of ten o'clock. Sissons stepped down from the Ten O'Clock News in 2003 and now presents weekend afternoons on the BBC News channel as well as News 24 Sunday and occasional bulletins on BBC One.

Sissons concluded his lecture by thanking the city for helping him in his career; while the Echo may not have employed him, his experiences as a bus conductor travelling from Lime Street to Bootle on a Saturday night meant that he could handle anything life threw at him.

To listen to the lecture, please click here: www.ljmu.ac.uk/MKG_Global_Docs/peter_sissons-roscoe_lecture.zip

The Peter Sissons Roscoe Lecture was sponsored by Rathbones Investment Management.