Are the Lords listening? Creating connections between people and Parliament - Information Committee Contents


Memoranda by Andy Bell, Political Editor, Five News

  Fundamentally our coverage of the House of Lords is news-driven. That means that we will chase members of the House of Lords for interview, or pictures of proceedings in the House when they are part of a news story. For instance, when the Lords threatens to overturn a bill, as in the case of pre-charge detention, we will use parts of the debate and try to obtain our own interviews.

One other area where the Lords might add to our coverage is in the interviewing of experts. The Lords is full of individuals with expertise that could contribute to coverage of stories which are not necessarily political; everything from foreign policy to stem-cell research. In such cases cross-benchers are particularly useful as they do not come with party political baggage. Perhaps the Lords could provide a form of directory of the expertise of individual members, which could then be made available to the media.

  Also, expanding filming opportunities would be useful—could members do interviews in the Lords' lobby? Could pieces-to-camera be done there too? Those two measures would make the biggest difference to the amount of Lords coverage on Five.

May 2009



 
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