Stewart Purvis is Professor of Television Journalism at City University London. He is a former Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive of ITN, President of EuroNews and Ofcom Partner for Content and Standards.

He and Jeff Hulbert are  writing a book called ‘When Reporters Cross the Line’ which will be published in 2013.

Some declarations of interest: Stewart joined the BBC as one its first three news trainees in 1969.In 1972 he left to join the rival news organisation ITN and stayed for 31 years. John Birt records in his memoirs that when he joined the BBC he offered Stewart the chance to return there in a senior role in BBC News but Stewart did not take up the offer.

After retiring from ITN in 2003 he later became one of the BBC’s content regulators at Ofcom and oversaw standards cases involving the BBC.

During his time at City University London Stewart has been on an independent panel set up by BBC Governors to consider the BBC’s coverage of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

It is a matter of public record that he was on the DCMS panel which advised the then Secretary of State about the candidates to succeed Sir Michael Lyons as Chairman of the BBC Trust ,He was also the adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications report on BBC governance.

Currently the BBC Radio Four ‘Media Show’ describe Stewart on-air as one of their ‘regulars’ and he appears as a media commentator on other BBC programmes.

Stewart is employed by City University London and is based there. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which was involved in the Newsnight report on child abuse in North Wales, is also based at City. But the University has no editorial responsibility for the content which the Bureau creates and Stewart has  no personal or professional connections with the Bureau.