Krishnan Guru-Murthy

Specialist Speaker Krishnan Guru-Murthy is a Channel 4 News Anchor, Journalist and Speaker on Media, Politics, Trust and our Changing World

• One of Britain’s most recognisable broadcasters and a main anchor of Channel 4 News
• More than 35 years’ experience covering politics, global affairs, conflict and some of the defining news events of recent decades
• Presenter and reporter for Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning international affairs series Unreported World
• Host of Ways to Change the World, with guests including Ben Rhodes, Cornel West, Amanda Knox, Gina Miller and Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark
• Renowned interviewer who has questioned prime ministers, political leaders, actors, campaigners and some of the world’s most controversial public figures
• Speaker on journalism, trust, misinformation, political change, social media and the future of news

Speaking

Krishnan Guru-Murthy has spent his career asking difficult questions, reporting from unpredictable places and explaining events as they unfold.

As one of the main anchors of Channel 4 News, he has had a front-row seat on more than three decades of political, social and technological change. That perspective makes him a compelling speaker on the forces reshaping politics, journalism and public trust, from the rise of social media and political polarisation to misinformation, impartiality and the increasingly difficult task of establishing what audiences can believe.

Krishnan also brings extensive experience of reporting from conflict zones and unstable regions. His work for Unreported World has taken him from Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen to Gaza, Syria, Sudan and beyond, reporting on stories that rarely receive sustained international attention. On stage, he draws on that experience to explore how journalism operates when information is contested, how technology has changed political communication and why trust and rigorous questioning matter more than ever.

Speaker Topics

• The Future of News and Journalism
• Trust, Truth and Misinformation
• Politics and Political Communication
• Social Media, Algorithms and Polarisation
• Leadership Under Scrutiny
• Interviewing and Asking Difficult Questions
• Global Affairs and International Conflict
• Media, Reputation and Public Trust
• Journalism in a Changing World

Why Book Krishnan Guru-Murthy

Krishnan Guru-Murthy combines the authority of one of Britain’s best-known news anchors with decades of experience interviewing powerful figures and reporting from some of the world’s most challenging environments. He brings a rare insider perspective on politics, media, trust and how the way we understand the world is changing.

Biography

Krishnan Guru-Murthy began his television career at eighteen, recruited to present the BBC youth discussion programme Open to Question before most of his contemporaries had finished their A Levels. It was an early sign of what would become a defining characteristic: an ability to hold his own in difficult conversations with people who are used to controlling the dialogue.

While studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, he continued broadcasting before joining the BBC, where his work spanned Newsround, Newsnight and the launch of BBC News 24. He joined Channel 4 News in 1998 and became one of its main anchors, covering many of the defining stories of modern times, including the Omagh bombing, 9/11, the Mumbai attacks and successive British general elections. Alongside the nightly news, Krishnan reports for Unreported World, Channel 4’s international affairs strand, which has spent more than 25 years telling underreported stories from around the globe. The programme won a BAFTA for its 2011 episode Undercover Syria and received the International Service award for the Global Defence of Human Rights in 2007.

Krishnan has spoken about the confidence in humanity that comes from witnessing people confronting conflict, terrorism and instability firsthand. He has also expressed concern that increasingly polarised political and social media debate is squeezing important international stories out of mainstream attention. His reporting continues to take him into difficult environments, including Sudan, where he has reported on a conflict that has displaced millions of people. He also presents Ways to Change the World, a Channel 4 podcast in which he conducts extended conversations with figures whose experiences and ideas have genuinely shaped public life. Guests have included Ben Rhodes, Barack Obama’s former Deputy National Security Adviser; philosopher and activist Cornel West; Gina Miller, who led the legal challenge over Article 50; Amanda Knox, who spoke at length about wrongful conviction; and an Anthropic co-founder discussing the potential impact of artificial intelligence.

Throughout his career, Krishnan has developed a reputation as a persistent and occasionally formidable interviewer. His encounters with figures including Quentin Tarantino and Robert Downey Jr have generated headlines of their own, but his approach reflects a wider belief that journalists have a responsibility to challenge the people they interview rather than merely provide them with a platform.

That principle has become increasingly relevant as the media landscape has changed. Krishnan speaks thoughtfully about impartiality, political fragmentation, algorithms and the influence of social media on public debate. At the heart of his approach is a belief in fairness, rigorous questioning and telling the whole story, principles he sees as fundamental to public-service journalism. Away from broadcasting, Krishnan founded the Duchenne Dash fundraising cycle ride and is a patron of Duchenne UK.

To contact Krishnan Guru-Murthy for speaking engagements, conferences, hosting and live events, call a Specialist Speakers agent on 0204 616 0868 or email info@specialistspeakers.com.