by Isabel, Loreto student

Loreto’s We Call the Shots (one of the College’s many Enrichments) visited the BBC Young Reporters Day at Media City. It was a great opportunity to learn about the BBC and careers in the Media sector. To kick off the day, BBC producer, Ian Moss gave us a ‘Real News’ talk where he engaged us in the process of spotting real news from fake, with an interesting case study to go along with it.

The next stop was a tour of Coronation Street, guided by AJ, a press officer from ITV. AJ gave a fascinating insight into the lengths it takes to produce a soap (around 300 people for one episode!!) and gave facts about Coronation Street along the way, for example, the original writer, Tony Warren was told the soap simply would not be successful, but it is still on our TVs 64 years later!

Back across the bridge, we visited BBC’s blue room where we learnt about the rapidly improving AI and how easily it can create and copy images, or anything you ask for! To demonstrate this, in a matter of seconds, we created a story, two pop tracks, and a full podcast. We also got the amazing chance to have a go at presenting the weather and seeing in person how a green screen works. We also got to see the BBC Northwest Today studio and learn about how Journalists prepare for the one o’clock news and we got to read off the teleprompter and even sit on the red sofa! While walking over to the studio we got to walk through the office space where Journalists and Researchers discuss and create the news bulletin. This was a brilliant insight into the work that goes into broadcasting the news, and it was a highlight for me.

The next stop was the Dock 10 studios, home to many shows, like CBBC, The Voice, and Children in Need. We learned that the main studio, Studio 1, can fit 177 double-decker buses!

We were also treated to a presentation from Radio One presenter, Nat O’Leary. She answered questions ranging from how she became a radio presenter, to who was the most famous celebrity she had interviewed (Sabrina Carpenter).

The final event of the day was a group interview of four different women from different sections of the media. Katie Stafford, a BBC sports journalist, Molly Eborall, a 3^rd Assistant Director for Coronation Street, Hannah Robinson, a production developer and producer for Dock 10 studios and finally Nat Cadby who is an early careers, digital technology and data schemes for the BBC Academy. It was great to hear about their pathways into their jobs and they also gave good advice for those who potentially wanted jobs in the industry. It was also fantastic to hear more about the apprenticeships offered at the BBC and the process of how they select their apprentices.

Overall, the day was brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable as each part was as exciting and intriguing as the next. It made me set on not only wanting to be part of the media sector, but also on applying for one of the much-coveted BBC apprenticeships.