Tara Conlan

JOURNALIST / WRITER / EDITOR

“Tara worked incredibly hard, and when other journalists gave up she was always there”

(Greg Dyke’s autobiography Inside Story)

Tara has been writing news and features about media for The Guardian and the Observer since 2005 and was previously the Daily Mail’s TV Editor and TV columnist. She has also penned columns for The Observer Media & Business section and Grazia and worked on the Evening Standard and Daily Mail city desks and Londoner’s Diary.

Other newspapers and broadcasters she's contributed to about media and the arts include The Sunday Times, The Independent, Radio Times, Variety, The British Journalism Review, Journalist, Radio 4’s The Media Show, The Media Podcast, the Today programme, BBC Ten O’Clock News, ITV’s News at Ten, BBC News Channel and LBC.

Tara began in journalism on The Stage newspaper and was a reporter and news editor for Broadcast magazine, which she still contributes to.

She has hosted sessions at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, for BAFTA and TV conference Content London. Tara is also a juror and writer for the Royal Television Society, a committee member of the Broadcasting Press Guild and has been a consultant for the newspaper industry’s marketing body Newsworks and TV industry body Screenskills.

Her interviews with many of TV's famous faces include Michael Palin, Emily Maitlis, David Mitchell, David Attenborough, Robert Webb, Adil Ray, Susanna Reid, Helen Mirren, Matt Lucas, Hugh Bonneville, Ant & Dec, Jimmy Akingbola, Mark Rylance, Bella Ramsey, Lyse Doucet, David Frost, Ed Balls, Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness - as well as leading writers such as Peter Kosminsky, Sarah Phelps and Steven Knight and TV executives from all the main broadcasters and streaming services.

Exclusive stories range from revealing Holly Willoughby's latest move, the first review of the new Top Gear line-up, exposing the BBC wasting £100m on a doomed digital project, revealing the axing of Top of the Pops, campaigns to improve diversity on TV, uncovering BBC plans to become online only and moving the market by revealing a planned takeover of ITV.

In 2015 Tara contributed to the book ‘Is the BBC in Crisis?’ and the revelations in her chapter were picked up by BBC Online, The Independent, The Sun and overseas outlets.

She has also been a reviewer for Mr & Mrs Smith, the UK Club Guide and the London Restaurant Guide and, tangentially, was once lauded in The Independent for running the London Marathon in time to cover the BAFTA TV Awards the same day.

Early in her career Tara worked at financial and corporate PR firm Square Mile, where her work included account managing the sale of Stoll Moss Theatres, the reputation of CIA Media and the relaunch of the Flying Scotsman train.

Tara is a content adviser to children’s positive psychology app Coggi and helped launch award-winning, climate-conscious paint company Paint the Town Green.