Winol 30th November National Strike Special

Warning, this blog post contains strikes of a positive natures and sleep deprivation that some bloggers may find disturbing. This sums up the most exhausting, stressful, but fulfilling two weeks of my times at the University of Winchester so far. November 30th, Winchester News Online plan to broadcast six hours of rolling coverage of the national strike over the changes in pension reform. 

We were filming on location at the Unite the Union Southampton. We were able to get four hours of rolling coverage out and it proved after the last few weeks of preparation and last minute change that we pulled off something that no other Journalism course has ever pulled off and we should be proud of this accomplishment. Now to cover the last two weeks for both my own personal role and the overall Winol output.

Initially my role was to be a OB reporter covering the strikes from Southampton, but it was clear that with the broadcast drawing ever closer three things were important to making the broadcast a success; the OB's, the packages and the guests (which we were lacking). It was decided by both our output editor Julie and Chris Horrie that I would become the Booker or guest fixer (we had thought of using guest editor, but that would be confused with being a guest editor for the broadcast). However, the only problem now was this was now Thursday night and I had a little over four days to book enough guests to cover the possibility of six hours of rolling coverage. But, after feeling a bit downhearted, as I wanted to report on the day, I realised that this was one of the most important roles to make the broadcast work and it would only be given to someone who could be relied on.

I was able to contact every Councillor, union member and potential affected group over the possibility of being a guest during the broadcast. This did mean I was not going to have town to put together a package, therefore I decided that any spare time I had, I would make the most of and helped out other with their packages. By Tuesday night I was confident, as I was able to book 9 in studio guests, as well as three pre-recorded interviews, which would be broadcast throughout the coverage. 

Wednesday was a very long and successful day and there is so many points to cover, so I will try and bullet points the key focus points of the broadcast and the day overall:

* It was a personal success that all, bar one of the guests turned up and were all very comfortable, prepared and gave very interesting interviews during discussion with Jake Gable and gave valid input into the overall coverage.

* The presentation of the overall coverage was very good as we had three presenters reversing every half hour and kept the coverage up-to-date and relevant and George was very good with his constant updates from twitters and Online. It made the coverage feel very professional and looked very similar to coverage you would see from the BBC or ITN on any important news broadcast E.G. General Election/The Budget. 

* Even with the technical difficulties, we continued broadcasting and for a student journalism course to be able to stream four hours of rolling coverage is unprecedented and we should be very proud as we kept going throughout even with the technical difficulties and problem in uploading some of the packages. 

* On a personal note, it was nice to finally get on the screen towards the end of the broadcast as I was able to take part in the final discussion with Councillor Keith House, leader of Eastleigh Borough Council and I felt that I did a very good job as the feedback given was that I was comfortable with my voice and kept the discussion rolling, however again it showed slightly with my non-verbal communication as I still get slightly nervous in front of the camera as it was live. 

This was a very successful project from an idea that was very ambitious and risky. I think that everyone gave 1000% effort from start to finish and that was evident, as everyone did not stop helping each other until we finished and left the Unite building. I think I succeeded in my role, as I was able to book the guests, get the right interviews and used my expertise local government and excelled. I feel that this will be able to help me as I did work well under pressure and when it come to my tutorial feel that I have got idea for which role I would like, which this week has helped me decide.

On a final note a big thank you to everyone who was involved in this project, we all worked together as a team and it paid off and a big thank you to the other universities involved for helping us supply content that helped the broadcast flow. Here is the best bit of the coverage and I feel confident now that the second years are reading to take the reigns from the third years and take Winol to the next level!