WESTMINSTER NEWS BEHIND THE SCENES

My behind the scenes look at Westminster News Online ...

ADDICTED TO TECHNOLOGY?

An International Technology Conference claims that people are becoming increasingly addicted to technology. Here's my report for WNOL ...

CHINESE NEW YEAR

My WNOL report on Chinese new Year at the Islington Chinese Association...

WNOL REPORT ON DRINK SPIKING

A charity that helps victims of drug rape is warning that the new smoking ban may lead to an increase in drink spiking...

ELTON JOHN'S 6OTH BIRTHDAY

My slightly 'tongue in cheek' entertainment report for Westminster News Online to mark Elton John's 60th Birthday.
Turns out the rock star is originally from pinner - just up the road from Westminster's Harrow Campus - so I went to explore his roots...

WNOL is launched!

The course has just launched Westminster News Online or WNOL.

It may look a little familiar!

Apologies for being rather redundant from the blog recently- WNOL has been keeping me on my toes. My first package to go online is "addicted to technology" and you can watch it on the front page of the site.

It's a little rough round the edges- we are very much learning on the job. I had no idea how difficult it was to find a story, get the interviews, film the stuff and edit all in one day for a 4 0'clock interview! Especially when I no longer have the novelty of ringing up interviewees and saying i'm calling from the Andrew Marr programme!

Welcome to the Davos Conversation

Parliamentary debate in the House of Lords could soon be redundant as politics becomes more and more about a global conversation online.

The Davos Conversation provided daily news, videos, comment and debate from politicians, journalists and the general public across the globe during the World Economic Forum. This site is the most convincing response to anyone questioning the political power of blogging that I have come across.

A very early Sunday AM

On Sunday I was up at 4.45 and standing outside waiting for my BBC car (oh yes!) as several drunken undergraduates were stumbling back from the Undercroft Bar.

Work starts at 6am on a Sunday and everyone arrives promptly dressed in their Sunday best clutching a goblet of coffee and all the papers. We go straight into a meeting- What stories have broken overnight? Have any angles not been covered? Are the cars ordered for guests... and are the drivers awake? Have we remembered to get soya milk for the foreign secretary?

The three hours before the programme fly past- everything is timed like clockwork and it is truly amazing how the simple things (like forgetting to order soya milk) can be fatal.

I began by meeting the paper reviewers- Kevin Maguire and Sarah Sands. We went through the papers and make sure they had a good balance of stories between them and a light hearted tale to finish with. I then had the incredibly important task of drawing around each story in the trade mark red pen.

I then met David Davies found him some coffee "with as much sugar as will dissolve" and went to check that Lesley Phillips (a lovely man, very warm and funny) had found his way into make-up. I then prepared the dressing room for the arrival of Margaret Beckett and her extensive entourage. There were a lot of bodyguards lurking around in unexpected places carrying very large retro-style mobile phones.

The foreign Secretary arrived once the programme was on air, escorted by her husband Leo. Sunday AM had spent a day last week shadowing Beckett and made a short 'day in the life film' which was aired before her live interview.

At the end of the programme we all went for a big BBC breakfast (which apparently was actually slightly smaller than last week following the license fee settlement). Still, sitting at the breakfast table with the foreign secretary, shadow cabinet member, world famous actor and highly admired journalists as I tucked into a poached egg was quite memorable Sunday morning.

Calling on the bloggers...

I have been asked to research what effect blogs/vlogs are having on Politics and the surge of political internet TV (as in 18 Doughty Street).

It’s possible that we may be making a short film about it next week for Sunday AM and then having a discussion in the studio.

Any ideas? I know that Iain Dale’s blog is a wealth of links.

Any thoughts on interesting things to film- aside from people blogging at a computer?

Creative input most welcome.

The Work Foundation Media Awards

Just been to The Work Foundation Media Awards At BAFTA.

I have to admit that I have never been that hot my business journalism- I tend to read that section of the paper last once I've studied the TV guide and read everybody else's horoscopes. Poor show. But after watching/ listening to the work of the award winning business journalists I am embarrassed to admit that in labelling business journalism 'dull' and 'boring' I have shown prejudice worse than Jade Goody.

There was some really interesting work- including Radio 4's documentary 'Life after Rover' and the impact that redundancy had on its 6000 workers and the expose of corrupt traffic wardens by BBC's Inside Out. Bill Emmott, editor of the Economist, also won the lifetime achievement award.

A very witty Alan Rusbridger gave the opening address and not surprisingly gave his views on the hottest topic for every journalist right now- Where is journalism going and how do we adapt to new media?

In short he said he found the future of journalism "terrifying" (always reassuring to hear this from the Guardian's editor) and emphasised the power of the blog and user generated content. He did however warn of the dangers of citizen journalism and the need for professionals to check sources (see the infamous Bitterroot Forest Fire picture that was circulated under many guises).

It was also said that it was very possible for business journalists to turn their hand to political journalism but almost impossible the other way round. There is no doubt some truth in this and as I sipped my champagne and chewed happily on a canape I vowed to read the entirety f the business supplement on the tube tomorrow.

BBC, BB and BAE

Spent the day chasing Jade Goody's agent and trying to track down specific footage of the BB house- the BBC has started archiving all its footage digitally through a system called Jupiter and nobody seems to know how it works.

Have volunteered to go on a quick training session next week so I can learn how it all works and then pass it on to the producers who's lives are hectic enough.

Researched Sunday's guests- Ken Russell's life and times in the BB house and Campbell's criticism of the decision to drop the BAE arms deal investigation.

Had a snoop around the main newsroom- met Natasha Kaplinsky and saw the News 24 studio. It's right in the middle of a newsroom- people's desks are virtually on the set and I'm amazed that poor unsuspecting people don't inadvertently wander across the screen more often. Apparently the weather person is forever shouting to people to keep the noise down when they're on air and I now see how the infamous interview with Guy Goma the computer expert/ taxi driver was possible!

Meeting the team!

I spent the majority of my 3rd day here attending the BBC News and Sports festival. Apparently it’s all Chatham House rules- so I can’t say much but there were some interesting discussions.

Saw Huw Edwards interviewing David Mannion about the future of ITN and what he really thought of BBC news- David Mannion came across really well he is very committed and enthusiastic about what he does and has big plans to re-brand ITN. However, until they get more resources to raise their game in multimedia I can’t really see them making much of an impact on the BBC or Sky News.

I then listened to a talk on the future of blogging chaired by Evan Davies. It was a very interesting discussion there were many pro-bloggers but it was also clear that there is a strong wave of old school BBC opinion that think it’s a bit of a joke and still only done by a few grey nerds in a windowless room somewhere.

In my opinion this is a dangerous attitude. The internet was started by a small group of ‘nerds’ and look were it is 15 years later. I don’t think it’s wise to make judgements based on such a short term analysis of blogging.

I also listened to some insights into the way Litvinenko was reported and saw Mark Thompson interviewed by Jeremy Vine in front of a disappointed BBC news team following the license fee announcement.

It was vaguely bizarre to be seated amongst Huw Edwards, David Loyn, Alistair Leithead, Frank Gardner, Helen Boaden, Jeremy Bowen and Fergal Keane to name but a few…