ìPolitics is something that affects each and every one of usî says graduate Alasdair Rendall on why he jumped at the chance to work for BBC Parliament.

The former Postgraduate Broadcast Journalism student left UCLan in 2004 and spent two years working for a local commercial radio station in Northamptonshire before moving to the BBC to become a Researcher for the Parliament channel.

His job is split between two roles of researching and captioning. For research he looks at forthcoming debates in Parliament, contacts MPs and members of the House of Lords and also works on the production of BBC Parliament’s weekly round-up show The Record Review.

His captioning role is a more ìhands-on technical job.î

Alasdair said: ìI’ll be in the gallery whilst the channel is transmitting live coverage of the Commons or as-live coverage of the Lords, putting up captions saying which MP or Lord is speaking, as well as writing captions summarising the main points of the debate. You need to be really on the ball for this, as well as having an encyclopaedic knowledge of backbench MPs.î

Alasdair says he has always had a strong interest in politics and wanted a way to combine this with his journalistic training.

Fascinated

ìI’ve been fascinated by the political process for as long as I can remember. Being where I am now, I’m there to witness things that will have a massive effect on the whole country, such as major reform of the House of Lords, and of course the expected handover of power from Blair to Brown.î

He has already worked on live coverage of the Commons for high profile events such as Prime Ministerís Questions and the announcement on super casinos and feels like he has settled in well.

Alasdair said: ìThere is a great team of people who all really know their stuff and are all ready to help out.î

He is hoping to become more involved in producing as the job progresses, particularly working on political documentaries and working on forthcoming elections.

ìI’m looking forward to being involved with BBC Parliament’s coverage of the local, Scottish and Welsh elections in May – as there’s nothing that beats the adrenalin of live broadcasting.î

Alasdair also commended the course at UCLan.

He added: ìItís great that the course has a strong technical aspect, as the job here involves a lot of technical work, so it’s good for students to get a good grounding in that aspect of journalism as well.î

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MA Broadcast Journalism
PGDip Broadcast Journalism
BBC Parliament

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