Amy MacBeath

This week I spent three days down Pacific Quay at STV in their newsroom.  I wasn’t sure what to expect after only having experienced newspapers, magazines and a small amount of radio so I wasn’t entirely sure what I would be faced with.  Within ten minutes of being there and having literally taken my jacket off I found myself being interviewed on camera for the website – an experience I really wasn’t prepared for!  Less than an hour later I delightfully found myself being filmed again but luckily I was part of the editing of this and avoided online stardom this time. 

The newsroom itself was mixed in with the five thirty show and with the endless introductions it becomes very clear just how much work goes into producing these bulletins from news gathering to production.  The team were all very pleasant and patient with a beginner like myself and there was so much to take in in the small amount of time I was there – I gave it my best shot!  In the mornings I helped with John MacKay’s blog before grabbing the chance to go out most of the rest of the day to film anything from traffic accident, assault and abductions scenes to an extremely fat dog and comdian Karen Dunbar reciting Tam O’Shanter to me from a throne.  In three days I think I saw more of Glasgow than ever before.  It was also a good chance to watch the editing of the packages before watching the production process for the 6 o’clock news.  Seeing the finished process after observing the work that goes into it gave me a whole new insight into the world of broadcasting.