The Edinburgh Television Festival's advisory chair, Alison Sharman, has put the changes being wrought by technology at the heart of this year's event.
The Edinburgh Television Festival's advisory chair, Alison Sharman, has put the changes being wrought by technology at the heart of this year's event.

Google's vice-president for search products and user experience, Marissa Mayer, is to give a masterclass at the event, as part of a morning of debate on digital advances.

Elsewhere, drama writer Jimmy McGovern will question whether white working class people are a target for ridicule, SouthParkcreators Trey Parker and Matt Stone will deliver a masterclass and writer Armando Iannucci will talk about award-winning sitcom The Thick of It.

Other sessions include a panel on the definition of celebrity, chaired by Heatmagazine's TV editor Boyd Hilton, ITV drama chief Nick Elliott and his BBC counterpart, Jane Tranter, debating the state of British TV drama, and BBC director general Mark Thompson interviewing historian Simon Schama.

Keynote speeches include Charles Allen giving the MacTaggart Lecture, the Richard Dunn Memorial Interview given by Luke Johnson, the Alternative MacTaggart by Al Gore and the Worldview by Rageh Omaar.

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