Being the editor of a national newsroom is one of the most fun and most challenging jobs around. And the run-up to Christmas heightens it all. After months of relentless agenda-shaping stories, we’ve finally returned to what feels like more normal times for news. A breakthrough drug for Alzheimer’s gives us the chance of a more positive lead on the programme – we jump on it.
One of the best things about being the political editor of a rolling 24-hour news channel is breaking news. Nothing feels as vital or as exhilarating as a big political moment, be it a knife-edge vote or the election of a new party leader, and there’s no greater privilege than being the person to relay that news to viewers and dissect what it means.
In April, I was doing some online research. “Boil the ocean”, “jump the shark”, “blue ocean market”, I read. What are they talking about? Are they advocating moving offshore, I wondered? I was preparing to become CEO of Cardiff Productions, taking sole charge of the indie I co-founded in 2020, and wondering whether I should immerse myself in business books. So, I did what any telly person would do, and jumped on Google.
It’s a burning hot Friday in August, and on a small islet in the Evros river that divides Greece from Turkey, a nine-year-old girl called Aya is dying of a scorpion sting. Her five-year-old sister, Maria, has already died.
Why is no doctor treating them? Because they are Syrian refugees, kicked like a football back and forth between the two countries. “No one hears us. No one wants us,” weeps 27-year-old Baida al Saleh, in a WhatsApp voice message she sends to Channel 4 News.
Whisper it, but wars are good for business at BFBS. Our job as a charity is to provide entertainment and information to the military, especially those overseas. Although (officially) there are no UK boots on the ground in Ukraine, there are now several thousand nearby on Nato’s eastern flank, bordering Russia, and more on their way.
Thanks to the generosity of the broadcasters and rights owners, we give them great TV plus radio, e-newspapers and magazines.
It’s 9:00am, my phone rings. “Hey, Shanequa, can you do a report about dog poo?” Yes, this is my life at CBBC Newsround. But it’s one of the reasons why I love it so much. I’m starting this week by putting on my pink glitter wellies and heading to my local park in Manchester to find as much dog poo as possible, to highlight the rise of mess in public places and speak to some kids who aren’t happy about it.
The accuracy of the fire was surprising,” was the laconic observation of Sky News camera operator Richie Mockler. He was explaining what happened when gunmen, thought to be a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance squad, ambushed Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and his team. They were driving in a rented Hyundai saloon car on a major road from Bucha to Kyiv, about 20 minutes from the centre of the capital.
I’m glad we decided Christmas should come early on ITV Daytime this year. It’s been another tough weekend for the nation, with Storm Arwen ripping through a large part of the country (and taking I’m a Celebrity… off air for the first time ever).
There’s also been a Saturday-evening address by the Prime Minister, setting out new measures to stop the Omicron variant overwhelming the NHS.
I still experience that “back to school” feeling in September, even though my daughters have long since finished their education. This year, it’s magnified as life starts returning to some kind of normal after months of Covid constraints.
I’ll be going to my first industry event for nearly two years, the RTS Convention in Cambridge. I’ve missed the buzz and energy of being in the same room with people, so I am feeling quite exhilarated.
This will be my third time presenting the Paralympics. I was a pundit for the BBC in Beijing. In 2012 and 2016, I was a presenter in London and Rio for Channel 4.
To prepare, I have been updating my knowledge of the athletes. I still play wheelchair basketball at club level. Quite a few of the players, such as Gaz Choudhry and Helen Freeman, who are in the national team, I know well. I trained some of them as they worked to get into the team.
