Latest TV: Latest TV’s Mhairi Beveridge talks
When I had my first interview for Latest TV News, Tim Ridgway asked me what kind of stories I wanted to cover. I said that eventually, I’d like to be embedded in the Middle East as a war correspondent. So on my first day, I was sent out on my first big scoop, only to find out I was covering a “butterfly counting event”. Hardly the preparation I was looking for. But like Mr Miyagi in The Karate Kid, he was teaching me a valuable lesson – that
no reporter is above a story. Especially when it comes to local news.
18 months later and I’ve been enjoying my new role as a news producer and occasional anchor. What a privilege it is to produce the news, and what a challenge. To decide what goes in and what stays out, to guide reporters as they work, to determine how to present stories most effectively and to shape the way news will unfold. There’s an awful lot of detail and pressures that influence those decisions day to day. News production is challenging in ways I never imagined. I’ve learnt how to prioritise tasks, how to manage people efficiently and how to smash out a local theatre news script on a Tuesday.
Of course there’s the more outrageous challenge of trying to broadcast live news from a music bar on one of the busiest streets in Brighton. Some days we’ll have a four-piece Spanish band sound checking as the live news comes to a close. Other days a family of seagulls will come to roost on the roof our studio, screeching over the chat show.
