John Newbigin
John Newbigin works as a free lance journalist, and a strategic consultant for the cultural industries.
John joined Channel 4 Television as Head of Corporate Relations in January 2000. Channel 4 was created by Act of Parliament in 1982. It is a publicly owned corporation whose board is appointed by the television regulator - OFCOM - in agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. Unlike the BBC, Channel 4 receives no public funding, but is funded entirely by its own commercial activities.
Prior to that, John was Special Adviser to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Rt Hon Chris Smith MP. His previous jobs have included working as an executive for David Puttnam’s film company Enigma (1992-97), Policy Adviser to Neil Kinnock, then Leader of the Labour Party (1986-92), journalist and youth worker.
John is also Chairman of the 24 Hour Museum, which provides an online gateway to Britain’s cultural sector including news and listings for more than 3,500 museum, galleries and heritage sites.
In addition, John is a board member of First Light. First Light is funded with National Lottery money from the UK Film Council, and gives young people between the ages of 5 and 18 the opportunity to make films – 700 have been made in the last 4 years.