5 - The News Agenda

Of course every story that I do is being done for a reason.

The news schedule of the day is set by my bosses, who are reacting to events. I am sent out to report accordingly. And every story that I do has an "angle."

But I believe that is no where near as sinister as it sounds. I suppose I would say that! Let me explain.

Today, for example, N.I.C.E finally allowed people with the eye disease Macular Degeneration to get the drugs they need for free on the NHS.
I don't go with an agenda to bash NICE, the law requires me to be as neutral as I humanly can. But my "angle" is to get the human side of that Government announcement. I speak to someone with the disease, and ask their genuine opinion.

Yesterday I spoke about wanting interviewees to be angry.
But actually, my only "agenda" when I do that is to try to reflect the truth of somebody's sentiment off camera as accurately as possible.

So, I might go to interview someone who has lost the only respite care they get for their disable child, and that they desperately need. Or someone whose home was flooded. Or who spent 75 hours on a hospital trolley, or whose home was broken into. The list goes on.

They are all angry in reality, but the nerves and artificiality of a camera pointing at them makes them seize up. So my job is to say to them, "pretend that I am that person from the council/hospital/thieves. I am going to play Devil's Advocate and ask antagonistic questions to make you faithfully articulate you real feelings the best that you can."

Hand on heart, I have never made up someone's opinion about something, or made someone give an angry quote when they don't feel that way.

In fact, I don't know a reporter who has. And that gives me enormous optimism. It gives me faith in the integrity of my industry.

Now, I have seen some scurrilous behaviour. And in every single case, it was done by a reporter from a national tabloid newspaper. Never a broadcast journalist. Draw your own conclusions from that.

That said, I also believe that it is crucial that people question what I report, why I am saying it, and who my sources are.

I am rigorous about questioning every press release, every interviewee, every line of my script. About questioning my morals and what I am doing.

I fully expect the same rigorousness from my audience.

And I never expect them to agree with my conclusions.