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Huge credit to Dominic Casciani, the BBC’s Home and Legal Correspondent who was in court for his colleague Huw Edwards’ sentencing last week. Speaking afterwards about the experience he said:
1) Don’t forget what the public expect you to be doing. My opinions (assuming I have any) on Huw Edwards are irrelevant to our audiences. What matters is that I inform the readers, listeners and viewers, so they can make their own mind up. That means … treating the Edwards sentencing like any other major court story.
2) Get the facts out and get them out quickly. There are now no end of conspiracy theories out there about the BBC which I’m not going to dignify by repeating here. But one can only hope to correct the record by throwing everything at reporting facts. In this case, it meant as full as possible coverage of the court proceedings.
3) Type quickly and type a lot. That’s the modern digital way. Journalism is a craft that requires practical skills. I bashed out about 3,000 odd words this morning to feed our Live Page of coverage. Not all of it was perfect – but it is what the public seem to want.
4) Look for the nuance – and you’ll tell a better story. The truth can often be more complex than headlines suggest, as Huw Edwards’ sentencing reveals. His offending, the court concluded, was closely associated to periods of his mental ill health. It is important for a reporter to report, where possible, all the factors. If we do not report them, how can the public make sense of the sentence handed down?
5) The most important thing I think I want to say is… report a story close to home without fear or favour. Remain impartial and objective. For how else can any news organisation be credible if it does not?
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