journalism

"Politics isn't just a story. It's something that genuinely affects people's lives": Sky News' Beth Rigby on covering political pandemonium

Beth Rigby in the studio

Starting with the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and tunnelling through to the government implosion of 2022, we’re on a whistle-stop tour of all the political drama she has covered as a lobby journalist over the past 13 years. It’s quite a sight. It takes serious patience to keep up with the volatile world of British politics, but Rigby has been laser focused on the beat since 2010.

Journalists under fire: the challenges of covering the war in Ukraine

Hind Hassan in Kharkiv (credit: Vice News)

As the Ukraine conflict again demonstrates, war reporting requires brave, experienced, and knowledgeable reporters and crews in the field, alongside exacting judgements and guidance from editorial and production teams back in the UK.

Channel 5 News presenter and erstwhile Dr Sian Williams - who has reported on wars, disasters and other major news events - who hosted the RTS discussion “The fog of war: Ukraine – broadcasters on the front line”, pointed out that, in the first three weeks of the war, five journalists had been killed and 35 injured.

The Fog of War | Ukraine: Broadcasters on the Front Line

A panel of BBC, ITN and Sky journalists examine the challenges of covering the war in Ukraine. BBC's Paul Adams, ITV's Rachel Corp, VICE News’ Hind Hassan and Sky News’ Jonathan Levy, chaired by Sian Williams, discuss how broadcasters and journalists deal with safety issues, access, verifying material and the difficulties of 24-hour news driven by social media and online coverage, all while remaining impartial, keeping their sanity, and not falling victim to propaganda.

The bedrock of the BBC: Peter Taylor's Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture

In his stirring Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture, “Integrity in television: 50 years through the lens”, award-winning journalist Peter Taylor offered a powerful defence of the BBC.

Before he began, Taylor paid tribute to Hewlett, a “former colleague and friend, who produced two of the films of which I am most proud: The Maze: Enemies Within and Remember Bloody Sunday. He was great to work with. Tough minded, sharp and meticulous.”

BBC's Marianna Spring on creating your own path in journalism

At just 25, she has reported on conspiracy theories and online abuse for the BBC’s news programmes, Newsnight and Panorama. 

“I was one of those slightly weird kids that, aged eight, [watched] BBC World News on holiday because it was the only channel in English,” Spring recalled. At school, university (Oxford, studying French and Russian) and during a year of study abroad, she wrote for local and student papers, and, post-university, worked shifts at the Guardian.

Clive Myrie on his love for US politics, the impact of Covid and breaking into the industry

“From a young age, seeing Sir Trevor McDonald on the TV who looked like me and spoke a bit like me, I thought, ‘if he can do it and he’s black, maybe I could do it too,’” he explains.

Myrie’s heart was set on a career in journalism but that he had to have a “good degree” to fall back on for his parents.

“My parents are first generation immigrants from Jamaica, they didn’t travel 6,000 miles for me to be a bum,” he laughs. 

After completing a law degree, Myrie chose to pursue his childhood dream and earned a coveted place on the BBC journalism training course.