Covering the Beirut explosion

On August 4th the Lebanese capital Beirut was hit by a man made disaster. An explosion so devastating great swathes of the city were destroyed. In this strange mid-pandemic world deploying to a disaster isn’t as straight forward as it used to be 2 flights and 2 covid-19 tests in 24 hours and I was finally there to join the gathering team. This was the first major foreign deployment since the pandemic started and we were all feeling our way through it.

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A remote edit – Police brutality in India

Due to the lockdown as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic the world of newsgathering has changed dramatically. Social distancing, quarantines and lack of worldwide travel has meant that we are relying more and more on Zoom, Skype and Facetime for interviews and verified UGC for a good portion of our meaningful content. This is an example of many stories from around the world that we are having to cover from afar.

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Into the blue – A documentary

This was one shoot that I’m particularly proud of and very lucky to have been asked to contribute to. BBC News Correspondent Sophie Raworth traces the story of her pioneering grandfather who was one of the brave pilots who flew in the RAF during the First World War. I had the pleasure along with Julius Peacock of filming some elements of this lovely documentary directed and produced by the amazing BBC correspondent Robert Hall.

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Spin Room Politics

Here is a glimpse into last night’s ‘Spin Room’ at Sky News where Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn were grilled as part of the “Battle for Number 10 programme”. It was my first time anywhere in the Sky campus and it is a pretty impressive setup. Our main political correspondent was Ben Wright and it was our job as a team inside the Spin Room to provide live’s and ENG material for News Channel, Radio, the Ten bulletin and for a BBC Breakfast package in the morning.

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From the Dockyard to the Scrapyard

Last Wednesday I was tasked by BBC News to cover the final departure of the Royal Navy Aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious from her home port of Portsmouth as she sets off for a scrapyard in Turkey. She has been sold for a measly 2 million pounds and will follow the fate of her two sister ships and be broken up for scrap metal.

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Battle of Hastings 950th Year

Yesterday I was sent down by BBC News to the lovely town of Battle to cover a reenactment of the Battle of Hastings, commemorating the 950th Anniversary of that fateful day. I arrived at about 2pm to find that Tim and Duncan had organised a mock battle just for me to film for our piece and the action made up a major part of our edit.

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