Covering the university row
The is certainly a hot topic in my sister's house - and I suspect in the thousands of houses up and down the country where young people are trying to graduate, and enter the job market for the first time.
So have we covered this story enough? Well the answer is, probably, not quite.
The Six O'Clock News was the only bulletin to package the story last week, but yesterday when the pay offer was rejected both the Six and the Ten did the story in detail.
We plan to lead on it on the One today, which is the result of two things - firstly a big national demonstration that happens before 1pm and gives a good top to the story (plus new comments from employers and government). As well, it's a really quiet news day and it just looks like a decent story to put at the top of our programme.
Sometimes it's hard to gauge when to start doing a story - at what point does it cross the line and make it a "must do" for a national news bulletin? There's often a huge amount of stories all pushing for space... and sometimes we don't get that decision quite right.
Comments
A reasonable account, Amanda. But the thing about this issue is that it's key to young audiences - who we're supposed to be reaching out to?
Or is it only disadvantaged young people we're interested in? If they've got a-levels, are they not for us?
Just to point out that the One O'clock news did a comprehensive piece on the lecturers pay dispute, and the effect it is having on students, back on the 17th May from Aberystwyth University
I'm really glad you led on it - I think this is an important news story, and not just on a slow news day! The impact on graduates, on employers, on the whole education sector (how are post grads going to know whether they can start their courses?) is potentially huge.
Interestingly, academics who teach are considered 'second class' in comparison with academics who lecture. So in university circles the strike is being viewed as a case of the peasants revolting, making the situation doubly unpleasant for those already in the desperate situation of taking action.