SPECIAL with Misan Harriman: Under attack from the UK’s right wing press
The Two Matts
The New World
4.2 • 577 Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Matts speak with Misan Harriman, the chair of Britain’s largest arts and culture institution, the Southbank Centre. Misan has been under persistent attack from much of the UK’s right wing media - all for something he didn’t say. It’s an extraordinary and ugly case study in how the press in Britain work. But, perhaps, in Misan Harriman they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Enjoy the podcast - but prepare to have your blood boil.
Produced by Matt Withers
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and happy Tuesday, dear listeners. |
| 0:08.8 | Happy Tuesday, one and all. |
| 0:10.7 | This is a special to Matt's podcast and that voice you just heard cutting in there was |
| 0:17.6 | the great Miss Anne Harriman who's joining us. The great Miss Anne. Welcome, Miss Anne. |
| 0:21.6 | Hello, Jens. Thanks for having me. |
| 0:24.6 | It's an absolute pleasure to have you and it's something I've wanted to get together on the podcast before now. |
| 0:31.6 | But we meet in odd circumstances. The reason we're doing this podcast is that there has been the most extraordinary attack on |
| 0:43.1 | you personally, I think, in swathes of the national media over the last week or 10 days. |
| 0:52.1 | And I thought it would be an interesting moment to get your take on why that's |
| 0:57.0 | happening, what it means, not just for you, but for the broader media landscape and why the |
| 1:06.0 | national press should have seen fit to steam in against you in such a quite, well, a grotesque way and a mischaracterisation |
| 1:14.6 | of what you've done and said. But just in case nobody knows who you are, Miss Anne, would you, |
| 1:22.0 | and the chances of that if you're on social media are marginal, but if you're not on social |
| 1:26.5 | media, you might not well know |
| 1:28.2 | who miss anne harriman is but would you care to modestly explain who you are and what you do |
| 1:33.6 | sure sure i i'm i'm miss anne i i'm an artist and an activist um and the chair of the south bank |
| 1:42.4 | center so i'm known for my photography of iconic faces |
| 1:47.2 | and my now really well-known documentation of protests |
| 1:53.1 | across all the movements that are a reflection of the ills of our time |
| 1:57.8 | from the queer community, Grenfell, |
| 2:00.2 | from Black Lives to Gaza to Iran, to women's rights. |
| 2:06.6 | My lens has been there. |
... |
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