The virtual celebrations were hosted by Mishal Husain, Presenter, BBC Radio 4 and BBC News at Ten.
This year, the ‘Judges’ Award’ was given to all the technical teams in recognition of the ingenuity, innovation and speed they demonstrated this year to keep journalism on the air.
Sky News’ Political Correspondent has been on the road in the #LewisLorry travelling to towns and cities up and down the country, talking to voters on the ground.
He took a break from the road to speak to us about his sense of election from outside the London bubble.
Opening the discussion, ITN CEO Rachel Corp said diversifying ITN had been hugely important for many years. She explained: “There are some great initiatives going on. I think everyone would agree that our newsrooms and our content are unrecognisable compared with not very long ago. But, clearly, there is stuff that needs to change.”
In the UK, television coverage of general elections came into its own in the 1960s. It would take another 50 years before leaders’ debates finally made their debut on the nation’s TV screens. Even then, they almost didn’t happen.
“It literally fell into place as the election campaign started but it was very, very close. There was a very difficult moment at the end of the process where it looked as if it would fall apart,” recalls Sue Inglish, former BBC Head of Political Programmes and a key figure in ensuring that live debates became part of British political media culture.
Rishi Sunak’s announcement that we would have a general election on 4 July was a big surprise to voters, journalists and even his own MPs. A high-stakes gamble. Though not a surprise for some insiders who are alleged to have bet on the timing.
In TV newsrooms that May morning most eyes had been on an earlier scandal – watching former Post Office CEO Paula Venells finally, for the first time, give her tearful, tight-lipped evidence to the public inquiry. A searing watch on a rainy day.
"Just f***ing start talking”, shouted the legendary ITN studio director Diana Edwards-Jones into the earpiece of a reticent reporter at a constituency count more than 40 years ago as she commanded general election night coverage with great panache.
Over the New Year, a big birthday, celebrated by a return to my childhood home, Guyana. We spent a week in the rainforest, among the red howler monkeys, screaming pihas and spectacled caiman. Under the canopy, it’s a noisy, hostile environment, mostly populated by wild pigs, giant snakes and spiteful, buzzing insects. The gag about my Sunday-morning job interviewing politicians writes itself.
The RTS Student Masterclasses drew a crowd of more than 300 this month to hear four of the industry’s top talents talk about their careers and offer first-hand advice on how to make a start in television.
Inzamam Rashid, a Sky News correspondent based in the north of England, told the packed Journalism masterclass: “I always wanted to do the news, [as] a reporter, a newsreader or [working] behind the scenes.”
The recently departed Head of Sky News was in combative mode as he outlined three recommendations to improve British broadcast journalism.
First, John Ryley said: “Broadcasters should start reporting on the Royal Family with the same rigour as they treat every [other] story on the news agenda.… They are too supine, too incurious, too compliant.
The subject of regulation was highlighted in the second session on impartiality, which heard from the executives Angelos Frangopoulos (GB News), Deborah Turness (BBC News) and Jonathan Levy (Sky News).
