This is not a title with which I feel particularly
comfortable – I am not in any sense a journalist by ambition, inclination or
training. It’s not a label I would ever use for myself. If someone were to ask
me what I do for a living, I would never say “I’m a journalist”. And certainly
not a reporter. Which I realise might seem odd when you consider that for
the past 17 years, my full-time paid employment has been working in a BBC
newsroom. But for much of that time, my primary occupation has not been mainly,
or at the very least not solely, concerned with news. Mostly, I have been a
producer – although admittedly for many years producing programmes which had a
news section in them. A facilitator of other people’s journalism, perhaps. That’s a different skill, though. I did enjoy working on
those 5pm drive time news hours, getting the stories of the day to air,
particularly if something was breaking, things were changing, and it was up to
me to ensure we had material about it on the air, accurately and
professionally. But that’s not the same as actual newsgathering – it’s a
production skill, a craft skill if you’ll allow me to go that far. And I was
good at it, too. I’m not a reporter, but I am good at helping reporters
get their material onto the radio. But I have never had the desire to be out there pounding
the pavements myself, with a card reading ‘Press’ tucked into the hatband of a
trilby, asking the questions that need to be asked and speaking truth to power
and all that. I lack the gumption and the drive for that sort of thing; I am a
much more timid character. I’m far happier speaking to people who actually want
to be talking to me. Admittedly, over time I did get much more used to the
idea of doing news interviews, especially during the years when I would
regularly stand in as drive-time presenter. I could handle it, when I had to. Even
then, though, I was usually doing the interviews from the comfort of the studio.
I am very much an ‘inside broadcaster’; I never really enjoyed working on
outside broadcasts, even on fun occasions for lighter shows. Producing in the
studio, I felt much more in control of everything. I knew what I had to do and
more importantly how I could solve any problems. Not so easy to be confident
about when you’re outside on location. However, in the decade or more I spent regularly
producing weekday drivetime shows, in one form or another, I did occasionally
end up actually going out into the world on a reporting job. Usually these
would be the ones within walking distance of the studios – I don’t drive – and
more often than not they would be for softer, more feature-y items which are
much more my natural environment.
Covering a teaching union protest in February 2023
Even more occasionally though, these assignments could be
relatively ‘hard’ news stories – taxi drivers blocking city centre roads in
protest, for example, or teachers demonstrating en masse outside City
Hall. Although those sorts of protests, where there isn’t really any threat of
violence or confrontation, are actually relatively easy to cover as there are
lots of people all gathered in one place, many of whom will be very keen to
talk about their cause or grievance. I wouldn’t necessarily go so far as to say I ‘enjoyed’
covering those sorts of stories, but there was always the sense of satisfaction
afterwards in getting it done, getting it done relatively well, not letting the
news editor down, and doing a professional job of it. The more enjoyable part
for me was getting all the raw material put together once I was back inside;
the ‘craft’ element which is generally what I’m better at than being out on the
street doing an impression of a reporter. My main aim on those sorts of
occasions – and with any out-and-about recording really, even for the documentaries
and features I’ve made – is always to do the least bad job possible of that bit,
so I have something I can put together well in the edit.
All of this comes to mind because on this Saturday just
gone, I actually went out and about doing a bit of reporting again for the
first time in a little while. I suppose I did cover a book launch back in
January, but this was a bit above that. It actually entailed going to another
city, for a start. Inevitably, of course, it involved Doctor Who. I
mean, come on – this wasn’t going to be actual news, as I hope I’ve already
made clear! But I’d seen that Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery were having
the official opening of their new Doctor Who exhibition on Saturday,
with Peter Purves doing the honours. I thought it would make for a nice package
for our shared Norfolk-Suffolk-Cambridgeshire daytime show for the day after,
which handily is presented by my friend Thordis, who was very happy to take a
piece. I knew I could do a good job of it; the museum were happy for me to come
along; I established that nobody from Radio Cambridgeshire itself was going; so
on Saturday morning off I went on the train to Peterborough.
The reason I mention any of this at all is because for
the first, and probably last, time in my career I sort of accidentally found
myself being a ‘multi-platform’ reporter; that is, covering the same story for radio,
online, and indeed – uniquely for me – for television. Something which most reporters
do all the time these days, but as I’m not a reporter was a new experience for
me.
I had thought that there might be a decent online article
in it, so had suggested that I could perhaps put one together for them, but in
the end was asked to do two – one on the exhibition itself, and another focused
on the interview with Peter Purves which I was hoping to get. This I was also
fairly confident about – I am not a regular News Online writer but I have often
contributed features for them before, usually tied-in with one of my
documentaries or radio packages. I’d never really done an ‘on the day’ story
for them, but I was pretty confident I could do a decent job. I know the style,
and although I am not a natural writer of such pieces, I can do a good enough
impression of one to make life relatively easy for those actually putting it
online.
But I also found myself being asked to help out the
weekend TV team by filing some pictures for the Saturday Look East bulletin,
so they could cover the exhibition opening with what they call an ‘OOV’ – an item the
presenter reads ‘out of vision’ over a few shots of whatever the story happens
to be about. Now, if I am not really journalist, I am certainly not a video
journalist, which is a very specific skill. I was doubtful of being able
to file anything broadcastable, especially as my phone can’t shoot video in anything
close to broadcast quality. It’s also an Android, so only shoots in
30 frames per second anyway, which isn’t really any use to anybody.
However, for a few seconds’ worth they could just
about get away with it. I did my best to try and take some shots which moved, so were better than still photos, but didn’t pan
around wildly or wobble all over the place. Just to show what a 21st
century kind of guy I am I filed the shots back to Norwich while I was still in
Peterborough, so they had plenty of time to have a look and see if they could
salvage anything useable. And, rather to my surprise I must admit, they were actually
able to use a few shots, marking my debut – and doubtless, swansong
– as a television newsgatherer:
In fact, I ended up being so pleased with my efforts that
the next day I put my own little video together from the various bits I’d shot,
and stuck it up on YouTube:
Anyway, then it was back to Norwich on the train to be
congratulated for my new-found television skills, and a few hours writing the
two online features, putting together the radio package, and sorting some news
bulletin clips for my colleagues at Cambridgeshire (where the event took place)
and Suffolk (where Peter Purves lives). I also eventually ended up cutting the
Peter Purves interview as a straight ‘head-to-head’, as we call it, for another
show, and a version of the radio package for BBC Sounds.
Any actual BBC journalists reading this will be
rather bewildered that I am bothering recording all this at all, given that
they do this sort of thing day-in, day-out, each and every day. TV, radio,
online – it’s just what you do as a BBC reporter these days. You cover it all. I
am not expecting to be applauded just because I happened to be in a position to
have a dabble at it myself. But it was a useful reminder of the work that goes into
these things. And this was a self-chosen story, on a very soft subject about
which I know a very great deal and feel very comfortable discussing, taking
place at a fun event on a nice day with plenty of friendly and receptive people
willing to talk to me and no really restrictive time limit for filing. I can
only imagine how difficult it must be when you’re sent to cover a story in the
middle of nowhere in the pouring rain, with very little knowledge about what’s
taken place other than some people’s lives have just been ruined, nobody wants
to speak to you and you’re up against a very tight deadline, with a producer or
an editor anxious to know where the material is. It’s certainly not something I would want to do for a
living. But I do still enjoy doing it on the odd occasion when I have the time
and the opportunity to pick and choose something I would like to cover. Not
something which happens very often – even on Saturday, although I was working,
I was working on my own time, if that makes sense, as I wasn’t actually on-rota
or being paid for doing it.
But it was fun to do, I’m glad I did it and managed to
cover it for everybody, and it was nice to dip a toe into that ‘multi-platform’
reporting world.
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