Sir
Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador to the United States, will
speak to members of the law school community. The event is free and
open to the public and is hosted by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy.
Ambassador Meyer, who previously chaired the Press
Complaints Commission in the UK, will speak about the regulation of the
news media, international law, and his new documentary entitled "Network
of Power." He will also talk about the phone hacking scandal at News
Corp.
Sir Christopher Meyer, Honorary
Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, was educated at Lancing College, the Lycée
Henri IV, Paris, and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he read History. After
Cambridge, he spent a year at the Paul Nitze School of
Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy.
Sir Christopher joined the Diplomatic Service in 1966. After two years in
London, he was posted to Moscow from 1968 to 1970, and then to Madrid from
1970 to 1973. He became speech-writer to the Foreign Secretary. In this
capacity he worked until 1978 for three Foreign Secretaries. On
returning to London in 1984, he spent four years as Foreign Office Spokesman
and Press Secretary to the then Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe
(Later Lord Howe of Aberavon).
In 1988-89 he spent a sabbatical year as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard
University’s Centre for International Affairs. He served for two
years Government Spokesman and Press Secretary to the Prime Minister. After
serving as British Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from
March 1997 to October 1997, Sir Christopher was appointed Ambassador to the
United States from October 1997 to February 2003, the longest period since
the Second World War.
Sir Christopher became Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission in March
2003. Sir Christopher was made Knight Commander, Order of St Michael and St George in
1998. In 2005 Sir Christopher published a book of memoirs entitled “DC Confidential.”
In the spring of 2010, Sir Christopher became the first taught Honors 353, “Empire and Diplomacy,” with UNC Professor Theodore H.
Leinbaugh OBE.
For directions, see
http://www.law.unc.edu/about/location/