Matt Frei Keynote Speaker

Matt Frei is an award-winning journalist renowned for his fearless frontline reporting and global perspective. As Europe Editor and lead presenter of Channel 4 News, he anchors the flagship 7 p.m. bulletin and spearheads special coverage from conflict zones, most recently a month-long broadcast from Jerusalem and Gaza.

Born in Essen and raised in London, Frei has spent nearly four decades chronicling history as it unfolds. He reported Italy’s seismic political upheaval in the 1990s, covered the Hong Kong handover, and served as BBC Washington Correspondent (2002–2011), where he launched the flagship programme BBC World News America.

Since joining Channel 4 in 2011, Frei has filed dispatches from Kyiv’s front line, Washington’s corridors of power, and the heart of the Israel-Hamas war, earning repeated honours from the Royal Television Society and International Emmys. A compelling storyteller, he pairs eyewitness reporting with razor-sharp analysis, interviewing presidents, popes, and protestors with equal finesse. His weekly LBC radio show and acclaimed books Only in America and Italy: The Unfinished Revolution demonstrate his gift for decoding complex events for wide audiences.

In 2025, Frei fronted the Channel 4 documentary Can Elon Musk Rule the World?, examining the tech billionaire’s growing political influence. He also delivered the 2024 Christopher Hitchens Lecture at the Hay Festival, offering an in-depth look into America’s political landscape.

On stage, Frei offers clear-eyed insight into the forces reshaping geopolitics, media, and society. Audiences value his ringside perspective on European realignment, U.S. elections, disinformation, and the human cost of war—delivered with wit, humility, and the seasoned judgement of a reporter who has seen history unfold first-hand.