The judges felt that this entry truly covered the story before, during and after the event. Providing an objective view on the traumatic and dramatic events that took place in Manchester over 24 hours and beyond, there was no small degree of danger involved in bringing this story to listeners. Despite this, the journalism remained cool and restrained and brilliantly painted a picture of the situation, taking on board the views and first hand accounts of everyone involved. Programming took the story on and gave voice to a city in shock.
As you would expect from BBC Radio News on 4, the journalism in this entry was polished and informative. The judges also felt that the human story within the events as they unfolded created gripping radio and painted a picture of the fear and the atmosphere on the ground. A complex situation was expertly explained with all the authority that Radio 4 affords, whilst bringing the listener to the heart of the story with incredible personal testimony.
A superb example of what local radio can achieve. Radio Shropshire clearly knew its audience and articulated and illustrated their concerns about school closures in their villages with skill and sensitivity. Breaking the news to an emotional audience, they moved the story on by becoming a forum for debate, asking questions and challenging every element of the story.
This was a genuinely shocking story that affected a small community. This small news team broke the story expertly and followed the story with a great deal of ambition, including perusing the story to Lithuania. They also articulated the feelings of an entire community on discovery of this gruesome find.
This entry illustrated how the station broke and handled its own story. Talking to a wide range of voices, the story was articulated in different ways throughout the schedule giving voice to many different views, whilst always perusing the facts. Radio London also stood ready to take criticism of its handling of the story from its own audience, building trust and credibility with its community.