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By James Toney, Managing Editor
NEWS ASSOCIATES trainees have been making their presence felt on the national news agenda – to the delight of those in our training department.
MAKING HEADLINES: News Associates trainees found out the value of being in the right place at the right time after an MP interview gave them a string of exclusives
A group of trainees travelled to the House of Commons last week, where they were given a guided tour by Conservative MP David Wilshire.
At its conclusion, he gave a 20-minute press conference, speaking on wide-ranging slate of topics from Tory election chances to MP’s expenses.
"I work 60-70 hours a week some weeks. When you look at what I earn over the year it comes dangerously close to working out as minimum wage,” he said.
"Some of my friends have been pilloried over a packet of biscuits, a pork pie or a tin of dog food."
The following day Mr Wilshire, a fairly low-profile backbench MP, was all over the front of the Daily Telegraph after allegations he paid £105,000 in allowances to his own company.
Suddenly the above quotes had some red-hot news value - and thanks to our quick-thinking trainees they appeared in 11 national newspaper titles the following day - including this well-credited piece in the Daily Mirror.
HARD HITTING: Former Manchester trainee Tamanna Rahman produced a compelling piece of journalism on BBC's flagship Panorama programme
Three days later Tamanna Rahman, who graduated from our 40-week Manchester part-time course earlier this year, was making headlines of her own.
Working undercover for flagship BBC News investigation programme Panorama, she suffered more that two months of racist attacks and abuse on a tough housing estate in Bristol during the filming of Undercover: Hate on the Doorstep.
Tamanna wore a hijab headscarf and acted as if she spoke very little English.
Using a secret camera she filmed being pelted with stones and glass, while on one occasion an 11-year old attempted to steal her purse and threatened to kill her.
It was hard to watch but compelling journalism - and a credit for Tamanna, who was a stellar trainee in Manchester.
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