News Associates' Journalism Workshop

Also thought I'd blog about something completely un-music related. Last week, two employees from News Associates came to my university to run a workshop on how to report breaking news. They got us to do an exercise that they normally give students on their NCTJ course after a couple of weeks. We were put in a pretend situation, where we had the task of writing the front page story for the Birmingham Mail. 'Luckily' for us, breaking news occurred just as we were about to start writing, so we were immediately thrown in the deep end. It was tricky to start with, as you only receive minor details of the incident at first, but you have to keep writing so that you don't run out of time and have no article for the front page. Our word limit was 500, although this was upped near the end of the task. We also got a chance to speak to the policeman involved in the incident (obviously not a real one, since this was a fake event) which was great experience for when we'd have to interview people in situation like this.

It was definitely harder than I expected, as there's such tight deadlines and you're constantly getting new updates on the situation, and with an unbreakable word count, it can be tough to decide what needs to go in the article. There's also the issue when you put in some news/assumptions, in ours this was that a bus of schoolchildren were still missing, which is then proved wrong or solved half an hour later, causing the whole article to potentially change. We were given the opportunity to email our articles to the people running the course, and I'm currently awaiting feedback. It was a great experience, and I gained some brilliant tips from it.

Anyway, thought I'd include my efforts on this blog. If anyone's got any comments, they'll be greatly received!

If anyone's interested in the NCTJ course at News Associates, the link to their website is below. They run courses in Wimbledon, London and Manchester.
http://newsassociates.co.uk/ 

A huge gas explosion has occurred at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull, Birmingham at around 2.04pm this afternoon.

The explosion was heard as far as Lozells and Perry Bar, around seven miles from the NEC.

Emergency services arrived on the scene within five minutes. Deputy Chief Constable Andrew Satterthwaite, responsible for operations at the scene, has reported around 60 casualties, with no fatalities. Ten people are said to be in a critical condition.

Heartlands, Moseley Hall and Sandwell and West Birmingham hospitals have all activated serious emergency plans. Alan Richards, present at Heartlands Hospital, has said “it’s like they are arriving from a war zone.”

NEC eyewitness Simon Chiles has described the event as “chaos and pandemonium.” Mr Chiles reported hearing “three or four loud bangs,” presumed to be due to the size of the explosion.

Bus driver John Hodgson described the explosion as “the loudest thing I’ve ever heard.”

The M42 is currently closed between junction 4a and 7 in both directions to facilitate emergency services. The M6, A45 and roads around Birmingham International Airport are reporting severe traffic delays and some closures. Police are advising to not travel unless absolutely necessary.

Future events at the NEC are on hold. Details on rescheduling are available on the NEC website.

Deputy Chief Constable Andrew Satterthwaite has stated that the second incident on the M6 is not connected to the explosion. Possible links to terrorism have been dismissed.

The emergency contact number for those concerned about relatives or friends is 0800 81 2583. Information can also be found at www.west-midlands.police.uk.