Olsen Lecture: Dominic Ponsford

“How good journalism can save the world in the age of generative AI”

We are delighted to welcome Dominic Ponsford as speaker for this year’s annual Tom Olsen Lecture on Thursday 6th July at 6:30pm here at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street.

Ponsford is editor-in-chief of Press Gazette, and this Lecture marks his 20 years at the magazine. A journalist for a quarter of a century, he is also Media Editor of the New Statesman Media Group.

The Lecture will be introduced by Rachel Younger, ITV News Correspondent, who will also chair the Q&A after the lecture. Younger recently reported on the advancement of AI and why it leaves more questions than answers which you can watch here.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already a significant part of journalism.¹ Recent developments in generative AI such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard raise complex questions about trust, accuracy, accountability and bias in AI created content. Ponsford will be addressing how good journalism can allay those fears.

Registration is free, but we hope you might consider making a suggested donation of £10 towards the upkeep and maintenance of this historic building. You can do so at the event or in advance via our donations page.

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We are most grateful to Kaizo – an independent PR and digital agency that helps business and consumer brands thrive in today’s economy – for its continued generous support of this lecture series.

Biography

Dominic Ponsford has been editor of Press Gazette since 2006, sailing the brand through its digital transformation during a time of enormous turmoil in the news industry.

He has led successful campaigns to help save the Freedom of Information Act and stop police from accessing journalists’ call records without consent.

He’s been a journalist since 1998 after studying history at Newcastle University and then taking his NCTJ pre-entry course at Lambeth College.

Ponsford began his career at the Rye and Battle Observer as a district reporter before joining the Swindon Advertiser as a news and features writer.

Last year he was nominated as editor of the year in the 2022 PPA Awards and Press Gazette’s Save Our Sources campaign was a Paul Foot Awards finalist in 2015.

He founded the British Journalism Awards for public interest journalism 2012 as a reaction to the hacking scandal and Leveson Inquiry.

Lat year Press Gazette achieved its best year commercially since the early 2000s.

Today Press Gazette is the leading independent commercial news brand dedicated to covering the news industry globally. Its slogan is: “Fighting for Quality Media in the Digital Age.”

Find out more about the lecture series together with an archive of past speakers and recordings and transcripts on the Tom Olsen Lecture page.

1. The Journalism AI Report, LSE, 2019