Ruth Addicott hears from journalists about what it’s like to live and work in Newcastle
Newcastle W
hether you’re crossing the Tyne by train or sprinting over the bridge with 57,000 others on the Great North Run, there aren’t many cities like Newcastle. With its world-renowned heritage and
industrial past – at the start of the 20th century, half the world’s ships were made in the north east – the city is now a leading cultural destination and was named one of the top 20 second cities in the world last year by Rough Guides. Famous for its football, its eponymous brown ale and unforgettable nights out, Newcastle also has a long tradition of newspaper publishing. The Chronicle dates back to 1764, The Journal was founded in 1832 and they remain the city’s daily newspapers today. Additionally, there’s Sunday Sun, England’s biggest-selling regional Sunday. All three are owned by Reach and feed the website ChronicleLive. They also employ the biggest editorial team in the region.
Further afield, there is the Shields Gazette, Sunderland
Echo, Hartlepool Mail and The Northern Echo based in Darlington.
Press agency North News & Pictures also has a base in the
city with a small team of journalists, photographers and videographers supplying stories to nationals. Lee Ryder was born and bred in Newcastle and is chief
Newcastle United writer at The Chronicle. A devoted football fan, he’s interviewed local legends such as Sir Bobby Robson, Kevin Keegan, David Ginola and Tino Asprilla. One of the most memorable interviews was with
international goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon when Newcastle
played Juventus. He was happy to talk but answered in Italian. “A local restaurant worker at one of the pizza places on the
Quayside helped us translate his quotes and it made for a great story,” he recalls. “I’m probably a bit biased being a Geordie, but it’s a newsy
patch – there’s always something going on whether you are a news or sports writer.” One of the biggest challenges for local sports reporters is getting face-to-face access to players and managers. This was an issue even before the pandemic struck. “When Mike Ashley was the owner at Newcastle, he would not speak at all, so we had 14 years of checking and clarifying with people around him,” says Ryder. “On a brighter note, the new ownership has made a great start with Amanda Staveley giving us an interview within hours of buying the club.” The city is also a big base for broadcasting. BBC Newcastle
produces TV programmes Look North, Sunday Politics and Inside Out and, across the river in Gateshead, Tyne Tees produces ITV News Tyne Tees. Tyne and Wear TV is another local TV channel for Tyneside and Wearside. As well as BBC Radio Newcastle, there are a number of commercial radio stations. Metro Radio and TFM (operated by Bauer) moved to new studios on Grey Street in the city centre last year. Global has a base in the centre and produces regional news bulletins for Capital, Heart and Smooth. Radio Tyneside, Spice FM and Pride FM are community stations, run mostly by volunteers. The two universities, Newcastle and Northumbria, both offer media and journalism courses and various other initiatives such as hyperlocal publication Jesmond Local and the Civic Journalism Lab (CJL), a forum for student, community and professional journalists. The CJL was started by freelance writer, editor and podcaster Ian Wylie, who saw an opportunity while teaching
10 | theJournalist
Spotlight on... ©COLIN MCPHERSON
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