Brighton TV boss highlights prospect for local jobs

Brighton TV boss Bill Smith shared insights into the future of journalism in a lecture in London this evening (Tuesday 27 November).

Mr Smith, who runs Latest TV, said that 20 local television stations were starting up in the coming few years, creating dozens of jobs.

And with up to 40 more stations in the pipeline after the first wave of stations, more journalism jobs were in prospect.

He said: “I wrote in 1982 to the Prime Minister of the time asking to open my own TV station.

“I didn’t even get a reply so I opened a magazine. I started it in my front room.

“I’ve had to wait 30 years to get my own TV station.”

He urged his audience of student journalists at City University in London to be entrepreneurial and even to turn themselves into brands.

Latest TV is expected to start broadcasting next September.