Lucy Manning has worked at Channel 4 News for almost three years. She has been at ITN since 1996, starting on a graduate trainee scheme when she finished university, later working on 5 News for a year and then at ITV news for four years where she was the Westminister producer.

Lucy has answered ten questions about reporting the news.

The text answers below are summaries of the answers Lucy gives in the attached video clips.

Question 1|

Q: How do you find out that something is going to be a big story?

A: Lucy finds out about stories in three ways: through contacts, by reading newswires and through the press releases and announcements she receives.

Question 2|

Q: How can news reporters avoid the accusation of ambulance chasing, that is reporting one story while it is hot and then moving on and forgetting about it?

A: Lucy says that ambulance chasing is a problem in news coverage since a story will dominate the headlines and get a lot of coverage but then may become less important as other breaking news comes in. She says that Channel 4 News deals with this by following up on stories, especially at the one year anniversary of an event.

Question 3|

Q: Should areas of ongoing concern such as poverty and war feature more highly on the agenda each day? Why don't they?

A: Lucy says that Channel 4 News does cover war and poverty; the war in Iraq for example is featured regularly on the bulletin, as was the Live Aid concert, and there is regular coverage from Africa. Due to the nature of the news there may be periods of time when there is more coverage of war and poverty than others but generally Lucy says that they try to have a mix of serious and light items on each programme.

Question 4|

Q: Do advertisers have an impact on the kind of news quality transmitted at peak viewing time? Channel 4 appears to put more emphasis on broadsheet type news than some other channels. Is there a constant battle to avoid the dumbing down of news, even on Channel 4, in the pursuit of higher audience figures or more profitable advertising?

A: Lucy says that advertisers don't affect how a news programme covers news; each programme knows the audience they are aiming for and produces the programme for that audience. There are different types of news programmes and Channel 4 News is one that happens to follow a broadsheet format. It reports on different topics such as the environment, poverty, and the arts. Channel 4 doesn't 'dumb down' news but does try to cover a mix of hard news and lighter stories.

Question 5|

Q: Is it getting more and more difficult to carve out and maintain a niche for a news programme like Channel 4 with so much competition - terrestrial, satellite and increasingly digital? How does a news team keep and maintain a clearly-defined branded programme like Channel 4 News, known for its quality and in-depth reporting?

A: Lucy says that Channel 4 is diversifying by starting up More 4, but it has a very strong brand that people recognise and associate with in-depth analysis of topics. It has a reputation for being quirky and has a strong viewer loyalty; people usually watch Channel 4 because issues are investigated from different angles and are delivered in a more interesting way.

Question 6|

Q: Have you ever been personally affected by a story and how did you manage to disguise this in your scripting and delivery?

A: Lucy was on holiday in India when the tsunami hit last December and she was asked to report about it. The circumstances were very disturbing since she was surrounded by the smell of dead bodies and by people who had lost their families. She says that she dealt with it by getting into work mode and thinking about the logistics of what had to be done, like doing interviews, writing scripts and getting a satellite feed. When she came back to London she had the chance to reflect on the horrific event that she had just witnessed.

Question 7|

Q: Have you ever believed that the stance Channel 4 News has taken on a story is morally wrong and how did you address this issue?

A: Lucy has never thought that Channel 4 News took a morally wrong stance on a story. The journalists that work at Channel 4 are very experienced and take an impartial role when reporting on stories. However, any concerns about the way in which a story is being presented can be brought up and addressed during the morning or afternoon meetings.

Question 8|

Q: What report are you most proud of and why?

A: Lucy is most proud of her report about the tsunami. She had to work on her own, find a cameraman, etc. in a region where a major disaster had just occurred while only being prepared for a holiday. Generally, the reports she is most proud of are the ones where she has really pushed herself and given it her all.

Question 9|

Q: How often do you work on stories that don't make it into the final bulletin?

A: Lucy will occasionally work on a story that doesn't make it into the bulletin, but she says that it's usually because another major event has happened at the last minute. She is not put off because she knows that the audience needs to see the latest news.

Question 10|

Q: Were you working when the London bombs went off? What was it like?

A: Lucy was in the office working the early shift when the London bombs went off. There was a power cut in the Channel 4 newsroom and soon afterwards she started getting calls from colleagues telling her something had happened on the Tube. Lucy was asked to make the first piece about the bombings and had to sit in an edit suite with an editor, trying to make sense of the pictures coming in and putting together a report.