The Trust will host Barbara Serra for our August masterclass, in conversation with three Fellows about the challenges and opportunities of operating as a journalist when English isn’t your first language. We will discuss language, accent, culture and many more related topics and there’ll be a chance for audience interaction.
Barbara is well placed to speak on this topic, as she was the first non-native English speaker to present at primetime on British television. She’s written extensively on on her substack, ‘News with a Foreign Accent’ and has had an illustrious career as a renowned broadcast journalist and writer, both in her native Italy and here in the UK.
For 20 years she has worked for major international news networks, most notably including Al-Jazeera, Sky News and the BBC. Her documentary for Al-Jazeera ‘Fascism in the Family’ was widely acclaimed and she’s reported extensively on immigration, European identity, the far right and the impact of Brexit.