The Reith Lectures 2004 - Climate of Fear

The Reith Lectures aim to advance public understanding about significant issues of contemporary interest. The 2004 lectures are delivered by Wole Soyinka.

The Reith Lectures were inaugurated in 1948 by the BBC to mark the historic contribution made to public service broadcasting by Sir John (later Lord) Reith, the corporation's first director-general.

He maintained that broadcasting should be a public service which enriches the intellectual and cultural life of the nation. It is in this spirit that the BBC each year invites a leading figure to deliver a series of lectures on radio.

This year's Reith lecturer is Nobel Prize-winning poet and playwright, Wole Soyinka, who was imprisoned in Nigeria for his opposition to dictatorship.

The series of five lectures run from 10 April to 8 May :

• The changing mask of fear
• Power and freedom
• Rhetoric that binds and blinds
• A quest for dignity
• I am right: you are dead

Lectures from previous years - 1999 onwards - can be viewed on the BBC website. Audio files for all lectures are available for download.

The current series of lectures can be heard live on the website.

Follow this link for The Reith Lectures 2004 - Climate of Fear (opens in a new browser window)