Jon Snow, the veteran broadcaster and the face of Channel 4 News, is to deliver the keynote speech at this year's Edinburgh International TV Festival.

Snow, who has led the presentation of Channel 4's award winning news since 1989, will deliver the MacTaggart Memorial Lecture.

He will speak about the "past, present and future" of news at the event on August 23.

Snow said: "I'm both delighted and honoured to have been accorded such an opportunity.

"These are exceptionally complex and challenging times, but amid the digital revolution this is also one of the most exciting times to be in television - laced with opportunity.

"I greatly look forward to August 23rd in Edinburgh."

Diederick Santer, advisory chair of the festival said: “Jon Snow is one of the leading creatives in our industry.

"An award-winning journalist who over the past forty years has brought his distinctive approach and great knowledge to reports of monumental events and interviews of world leaders.

"As the centrepiece to the festival, this will, without doubt, be engaging, entertaining and inspiring.

"Bringing his trademark brilliant analysis, Jon will share with us all something we didn’t already know."

Jon Snow has been honoured with a number of industry awards including a BAFTA Fellowship, the Richard Dimbleby BAFTA-award for Best Factual Contribution to Television (2005) and Royal Television Society Awards for Journalist of the Year (2006) and Presenter of the Year (2009).

He has fronted some of the biggest news events of recent years and helped Channel 4 News win the Royal Television Society’s News Programme of the Year award three times in the last five years.

Lisa Campbell, the director of the festival, added: "Jon Snow is nothing short of a broadcasting legend.

"His decades of experience combined with his enthusiasm for new ways of working has garnered awards as well as an enormous fan base of younger viewers in the UK and overseas."

The MacTaggart Lecture has been a key part of the festival since 1976.

Previous speeches have been delivered by Dennis Potter, Rupert Murdoch, Kevin Spacey, Ted Turner, Janet Street-Porter, John Schlesinger, Marcel Ophuls, Elisabeth Murdoch and Armando Iannucci.