News Associates trainees produce coronation coverage fit for a king
After weeks of anticipation and planning our trainees were out in full force to cover the coronation of King Charles III.
We had round-the-clock coverage from The Mall, Hyde Park, Green Park and St James’ Park in London and trainees on the ground at Manchester Cathedral, Parliament Square in Oldham, and at the ‘Coronation Street’ party in Stockport!
Not forgetting our roving reporters around the UK and across the globe, and of course our hard-core teams in based in our London and Manchester newsrooms.
Our trainees were running live blogs, curating social media posts, producing TikToks, sourcing interviews, writing articles, and much more!
Here, part-time course trainee Alisha Dave talks to our trainees about their experience covering the coronation…
London fast-track trainee Eliza Brandreth was reporting for the Londoners websites, sourcing and writing articles, and editing and curating images.
Eliza said: “It was my first time reporting on an event of this significance and I was really curious to see what it would be like.
“I got to write about Prince Harry and the coronation hymns, which was an interesting variety.
“I also brought in a massive Union flag that matched the spirit of the day.”
Fellow fast-track trainee Diarmuid Burke worked on the live blog throughout the day. He said: “We had to take in and react very quickly to what was being said in Westminster Abbey.”
Second year School of Journalism undergraduate trainee Izabella Thornley was part of the social media team in the London office.
She was running the South West Londoner Twitter for the day and editing videos from trainees on the ground for TikTok.
Izabella said: “From the moment I left Waterloo station, to seeing the guards leave their train, to working on the newsdesk live reporting the coronation, I got a real insight to what being a journalist is like.
“There was a buzz in the office, there were times of pure concentration and live commentating, it was a great experience.”
Part-time course trainee Teddy Coward, who camped overnight on The Mall from Friday evening to Saturday, said: “The experience was remarkable, odd and interesting.
“We were camping out through the night with monarchists who love their country, they were there because of their love for the country.”
There was no rest for our Manchester trainees who had spent the previous 48 hours covering every local election count in Greater Manchester! See more here: https://newsassociates.co.uk/trainees-cover-every-greater-manchester-local-election-count/
Manchester part-time course trainee Jack Prince was based in Oldham for a screening of the coronation.
Jack said: “This is one of the reasons I love journalism. You’re always doing something different, it’s almost always a surprise, and you’re never out of the loop.”
Fellow part-time course trainee Kelly Mattison said: “All the people I spoke to were lovely and they were willing to stop and share their opinions with Mancunian Matters.”
After a very busy Saturday doing vox pops and listening to people’s stories, Kelly also volunteered for the Big Help Out.
She said: “I met a lady at the centre who arrived to collect food for her dogs, she agreed to do an interview with me. The interview was an emotional one which ended up making me feel emotional too.”
Ed Spencer, who is studying for his NCTJ on our remote-only part-time course, was based in Sandringham for the day of the coronation.
Ed said: “The atmosphere was very relaxed, quite jokey and informal, but that took a turn when an announcement came that the big screen was out of action, and they didn’t know if they’d get it fixed in time!”
Luckily for the people in Sandringham, the big screen did get back up and running again.
Ed said the highlight of his day was: “The buzz of reporting a changing story. I’d met and interviewed quite a few people and had a nice article lined up, then came the power cut.
“I called into the newsdesk and told them the situation had changed and was on my back to my car to write it up when the cheers told me the screen was working.
“It was a lot of fun just being out in the field reporting.”
Ysabel Cacho, a remote-only course trainee based in Spain, was visiting family in the Philippines during the coronation weekend – where she decided to do some live reporting for us!
Ysabel said: “It was funny to see the WhatsApp group [from London] filled up with pictures of umbrellas and grey skies because it was bright, sunny, and scorching hot where I was.
“Even though I was thousands of miles away, seeing how the coverage came together was amazing. Seeing my article and photos published at the end of the day was surreal.
“The British Embassy in Manila set up screens for the livestream, organised booths for guests to visit, and had live music.”
News Associates journalism tutor Paul Kilbey said: “The timing of the coronation was tricky from a Manchester perspective, as the local elections had just taken place and loads of our trainees had really thrown themselves into that. But they were just as enthusiastic covering the coronation, which was brilliant to see.
“They really got into the spirit of the event and produced some excellent coverage across a lively live blog, social channels, video pieces and written articles. Covering a major historical event like this was a great journalistic opportunity, and it’ll stand them in very good stead for the future careers.”
News Associates course director (postgraduate training) and editor of our Londoner sites Graham Moody said: “I’m on a euphoric high with how the day went with trainees in London, Manchester and around the world, both on the ground capturing images and videos to the trainees in the newsroom looking after the websites and social channels.
“The trainees produced amazing coverage, I’m proud of everyone, especially knowing our Manchester trainees had just finished reporting on the local elections before rolling straight into coronation coverage.”
Read about our trainees’ award-winning coverage of the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II here: https://newsassociates.co.uk/news-associates-trainees-cover-queen-elizabeth-death-in-first-week-of-journalism-course/