A bit about me…
First things first a bit of general housekeeping. This personal blog began at the start of my journalism training. It’s charted where I’ve come from Journalism School to the real wide world of broadcasting. So I must take this opportunity to say – the musings on these pages are all my own, and not those of my employer.
Right now that’s out of the way…
Presently I find myself working as a Broadcast Journalist in Birmingham, which is definitely keeping me on my toes. It isn’t what I originally set out to become, as until life threw me somewhat of a curveball, I was well on the way to becoming an architect.
Not that journalism has taken me by surprise – just that I hadn’t considered it. Thankfully I now know that meeting and talking to different people everyday and turning their stories into engaging and inspiring television and radio, is much better suited to me than being stuck in an office drawing plans, sections and elevations.
After completing my Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism at Cardiff University, I’ve managed to get my first break in the industry working for ITV.
For this I’ve treacherously had to swap my East Midlands roots for a West Midlands lifestyle. It’s going to take time for some of my Nottingham friends to forgive me. ‘It won’t be too long before you get a brummy twang’, they’ve warned.
Day to day my job involves writing the scripts and editing the footage that become ITV Central News bulletins. I decide the running order, pull it all together with the help of the reporters and presenters, and it then gets broadcast.
This means I must be able to cope under pressure, work to tight deadlines and be able to count backwards from 10 so we make it on air at the right time. I’m doing okay with the first two – counting backwards from ten could do with a bit of brushing up if I’m honest!
So I hope you enjoy the blog, and if you ever find yourself sat on the sofa and ITV Central News comes on the telly, think of me and my struggle to count backwards!
- Daybreak bulletins at 6:15am, 7:15am and 8:15am,
- Lunchtime at 1:55pm
- Central Tonight at 6:00pm
- Central Tonight late bulletin at 10:25pm after ITV News at Ten
Chris Halpin
