Showreel

MP Mike Thornton - The Big Interview

This is the third in the series of "The Big Interview", this time with Eastleigh MP Mike Thornton. I am a lot happier with the production of this interview, which is miles ahead of the previous Big Interviews. I feel that it looks much more professional and is in a very natural setting.

The main points I focused on throughout the interview were;
The IPSA announced 11% pay rise for MP's
Immigration - Romania and Bulgaria being granted free ability to enter the country on 1st January 2014
Prime Ministers Questions - is it appropriate how MP's are conducting themselves?





Eastleigh MP Mike Thornton has stated that he will be rejecting an 11% pay rise until his Eastleigh constituents start receiving higher pay themselves. 

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has announced plans to increase MP's pay by £7,600 making their annual pay £74,000 as from the 2015 general election. 

Mike Thornton stated that he will donate any additional pay above 1% to the Mayors charities for the benefit of his Eastleigh constituents.

WINOL - Week 9 - The Budget 2013

This week I went to Westminster to cover the 2013 Budget for WINOL. As the budget was released on the Wednesday this obviously made my deadline very tight as I had to get to Westminster, film, get an interview with MP Mike Thornton, and get back in time to edit my package for WINOL at four. It was a fantastic experience if a little bit stressful, but one I would definitely be keen to re-live.

My Package:

Extended Interview with MP Mike Thornton:

WINOL - Week 6 - Eastleigh By- Election

The Eastleigh by-election was triggered by the resignation of Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne after he pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Fourteen parties took part in the race for the MP seat:
Party - Candidate
Liberal Democrat - Mike Thornton
Conservative - Maria Hutchings
Labour - John O'Farrell
UKIP - Diane James
Independent - Danny Stupple
Monster Raving Loony Party - Howling Laud Hope
Elvis Loves Pets - David Bishop
National Health Action Party - Dr Iain Maclennan
Beer, Baccy and Crumpet Party - Ray Hall
Christian Party -  Kevin Milburn
Peace Party - Jim Duggan
English Democrats - Michael Walters
Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts - Daz Procter
Wessex Regionalist - Colin Bex

However, despite the many parties in the race, the main contenders were the Lib Dems, Conservatives, Labour and UKIP. Eastleigh had been a Lib Dem constituency since 1994, but after the Huhne scandal they had their work cut out to regain the trust of the voters. Prior to 1994 the Eastleigh seat was held by the Conservatives, so the Conservatives were keen to reclaim Eastleigh, making this a real battle between the co-alition partners and threw Eastleigh into the media spotlight. For Labour the by-election was a chance to bring their party policies south as they are typically a party more popular in the northern parts of England, and they were pushing for Ed Milibands "one nation" Labour. UKIP saw this as their opportunity to be taken seriously, as a relatively new party this was their chance to compete against the three big parties and get their policies heard.

As part of their campaign all of the parties brought out the biggest names they could to help appeal to the voters. The Lib Dems brought Nick Clegg, the Conservatives brought David Cameron, UKIP brought Nigel Farage and Labour brought Ed Miliband.

The Conservatives came under some criticism that their candidate, Maria Hutchings, was not in the media light enough and wasn't interacting with the voters. This was something I found to be true as WINOL had a real struggle trying to get in touch with her prior to the election. I managed to interview her at one in the morning, after sitting through what can only be described as the longest housing meeting ever. However she only agreed to the interview out of sympathy for our student dedication and we were warned to only ask her about the housing development. On reflection I should have just asked her about her policies anyway, what were they going to do?

WINOL produced "The South Decides" on the night which was our Eastleigh by-election special. Our show went live at 10pm until 12pm and then it transferred to the radio show until about 1am when the show went live again as the results show.
 For the by-election special I produced a package on housing and I was also the political correspondent reporting from the count in Eastleigh.

Housing package:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2K2K8KNfcU

The OB Team:
Louis, Kirsty, Ellen and myself.

Unfortunately on the night things didn't go quite as smoothly as we would have hoped. Producing live OB's from the count was optimistic but we felt that we were prepared. Originally we planned to link a camera and gun mic to a laptop and use Skype, however we soon learnt that we couldn't get the laptop to register both so we decided to compromise on the visual quality by using a web cam and the gun mic. We tested this system in the news room and it worked perfectly without any hiccups so we were sure it would be fine on the night, we had even practised with the exact equipment we would be using. What could go wrong? ... Everything.

We were the first of the media to arrive at the count, despite one lone BBC camera man and his never ending collection of wires. We decided to set up immediately and make sure everything worked. It didn't. At first we couldn't get the microphone to connect to the laptop so when we tested Skype Nicole couldn't hear anything. We tested all of the equipment and it worked separately, but refused to work together. We believed the source of the problem was the wire which connected the gun mic to the USB port so Lou ran to go and buy another. Once he returned we attempted Skype again and this time the laptop wouldn't recognise the web cam. By this point time was running out and we had been forced to move from our set up point as we were in the BBCs allocated space.

After many failed attempts our only workable solution was to Skype via iPhone... professional. But we made the best of a bad situation and gave live OBs whenever we were thrown to. We also managed to announce the result, although it didn't go as smoothly as production probably would have liked. We were unsure when the results would be announced so we were dependent on rumours and guess work. When Mike Thornton was announced as the winner of the Eastleigh by-election he was greeted with a cheer and a chorus of "we like Mike". We filmed the candidates giving their speeches and we managed to get reaction interviews with all of the candidates except for Maria Hutchings who refused all media interviews.

There was a fantastic atmosphere within the count, the hustle and bustle, grabbing people for interviews, trying to get as much information as we could from people, and being a part of the media scrum. The pressure of speaking on a live OB is the scariest thing I have done and the pressure was like no other. Fighting through the sheer exhaustion and running off of nothing but caffeine really gave us the feeling of being real journalists.

I was also lucky enough to be interviewed by Sky. I expected them to ask me about WINOL or our journalism course but no, they asked me about the election and the parties policies. Fortunately I had been following the by-election religiously so I could answer their questions, but it was unbelievable terrifying. I am currently badgering them to send me the footage, so I will upload it as soon as I get it.

All in all the by-election was a fantastic experience for us and provided fantastic material for us to report on. We were incredibly lucky that it was right on our doorstep, but I don't think I will be rushing to Eastleigh again anytime soon.

An edited version of the South Decides:

Fleet Street Fox visits WINOL

Fleet Street Fox has revealed herself as Susie Boniface and her subsequent lack of anonymity means that she was able to pay a visit to us in the WINOL news room. (We're not that wonky in real life - promise!)

She highlighted the importance of identity as a journalist and the identity of the Fleet Street Fox is structured right down to the colour of her clothes and even to her unique style of eyeliner. Some may consider it to be vanity, but appearance is crucial when you want to be take seriously. Even the simplicity of choosing to wear heels over flats, or deciding to be clean shaven with a tie, as opposed to rough and ready stubble, can really make a difference. Red, white and black- these are the colours of success. Their eye-catching combination is used throughout the industry with the red masthead on a tabloid paper, and even in the Fox's dress sense.  

Make the most of the internet! Twitter is your friend and you should make the most of it. It is important to understand who your audience is and what they will be interested in reading. The same applies for Blogger, Facebook and anything else you can use to your advantage. 9am, 2pm, 4.45pm, 8pm, 10pm.. these are the peak reader traffic times and the moments when you should really be plugging your work!

She was brutally honest when asked about the balance between personal life and journalism life and the forecast did not leave any of us with high hopes! The points she made were valid, but they were also ones few of us had ever considered. The constant dependancy on your phone, incessant nosiness, and never being able to switch off can be very draining on your relationships. The novelty of the journalist life will wear off on others around you. 9-5 hours do not exist in the journalist world but your passport will accumulate an awful lot of stamps. I think it honestly depends on the type of journalist you want to be, but if you want to be one of the big dogs then the family life probably isn't a realistic dream to have.

On the upside there appears to be an awful lot of jagermeister in this line of work.

WINOL - Week 5 - Botley Housing Development

Written Story:

Eastleigh borough Council have given a large scale housing development the green light. The development will see one thousand four hundred new homes being built on farm land and a golf course near Botley. The green belt development will also include a primary school and significant road changes.

Hundreds of people turned up on Monday to hear the verdict on the proposed Boorley Green housing plans. The meeting continued until 12:45pm and many residents were very disappointed when the council announced that the plans had been approved.

The controversial decision has become a key issue in the Eastleigh by-election. The Tory candidate, Maria Hutchings, says that she is disappointed and the council has made the wrong decision.

However the Liberal Democrats, who back the plans, think they will gain the respect of the voters as they make the hard decisions and criticised Maria Hutchings for not speaking up during the meeting. 

Video Report:

Extended Maria Hutchings - Conservative - Interview:

WINOL - Week 4 - Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage

As political reporter for WINOL I will be following the Eastleigh by-election over the next couple of weeks. This week was a highlight for me on WINOL as I was fortunate enough to be able to film Nick Clegg. Lou and I went to film with the vague hope of our own interview but unfortunately our dreams were too big! However I managed to get some fantastic footage.

On the saturday i got up early so I could film the first stage of the UKIP campaign and go an interview with Nigel Farage. Monday I filmed Nick Clegg and on Tuesday I went back to the UKIP campaign as they officially announced their candidate. I managed to get an interview with their candidate Diane James which I use in  my package and I also turned into an extended feature interview for WINOL.

Video Report:

Extended Interview with Diane James:

WINOL - Week 3 - Chris Huhne

WINOL week three I covered the Chris Huhne scandal. The footage for this piece was made up of archive footage, newspaper headline shots, interview, vox pops and my piece to camera. My main issue with this story was finding enough images to hold it all together, as it is a national story and I was unable to get any footage of Chris Huhnes resignation statement.

On the Tuesday I went to Eastleigh to interview Keith House (Lib-Dem) and Ray Finch (UKIP) and to also gather vox pops from residents. Unfortunately, due to technical problems with the camera and sound I was unable to use any of the vox pops I had gathered, or my piece to camera, or my interview with Ray Finch. I then went back to Eastleigh on Wednesday morning to re-do my piece to camera and the vox pops from the public.

After a very stressful morning of filming and editing, I managed to turn it around in time for the bulletin.

Written Story:

Chris Huhne has resigned as the MP for Eastleigh after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Allegations first surfaced in 2010 that Huhne had got his then wife, Vicky Pryce, to take speeding points for him. The Eastleigh MP and his family consistently denied the allegations.

Huhne’s marriage later ended after he had an affair with his PR adviser, Carina Trimingham. The turbulent relationships within his family were highlighted by texts from his son, which were revealed in court.

His constituents showed very little sympathy for Huhne, one resident said: “I think he owes everyone in Eastleigh an apology”.

A by-election will now take place and with Huhne having won his seat with a near four thousand majority, the Lib Dems are confident they can maintain it. Councillor Keith House said: “it’s a great shame that the events that happened, happened, but we move on, go into the by-election confident that we can hold the seat and elect a new MP for our community”.

The date of the by-election is yet to be announced but there is speculation that it will take place in early May so it coincides with the local elections.

Video Report: