When the results of the election are counted and announced at Ingliston on Friday students from Edinburgh Napier University’s journalism school will provide live coverage on Radio ENRG.
Third year BA student, Steven Brown, is Editor with a staff of around 20 students who will mainly be at Merchiston Campus providing eight hours of live radio and articles on the ENRG Debrief website.
Steven said: “We are really looking forward to the event. We have secured a number of interviews already, with virtually all of the party leaders in Scotland agreeing to talk to us. We aim to provide expert analysis too as the results happen.
“It will be a great experience. Radio ENRG and the Debrief website have established real credibility and are treated pretty much like other professional media.”
Edinburgh Napier journalism graduate Nick Eardley, one of the BBC’s leading political commentators, will give his thoughts on the elections in an exclusive interview with ENRG.
Steven said: “This time Nick Eardley will be helping us out. Just ten years ago he was himself a student in these same classrooms.”
Hours and hours of preparation – agreeing the broadcast and online schedules, sourcing story ideas, sorting out interviewees – will be done before even an article is published on the website or any audio hits the airwaves.
The live coverage itself will begin at 10am on Friday 7 May on Radio ENRG and run through to 6.00pm, while the ENRG Debrief website has already begun publishing content.
Steven added: “These events are incredibly inspiring to work on and offer students a unique and invaluable opportunity to learn and gain knowledge and understanding of what it’s like to work as a journalist on huge events. To be able to publish our coverage in two mediums, on the radio and online, will give the event a true industry-like feel. It’s going to be an amazing experience.”
Students taking part come from all four years of the Journalism BA plus the Masters programme.
The Scottish Parliament Election takes place on Thursday 6 May 2021 and the results will be counted and then announced on both Friday and Saturday. As there are fewer members of council staff to conduct the count owing to Covid-19 restrictions, the count will take longer than in previous years. Three Edinburgh constituencies will be counted on Friday and another three on Saturday. There are six constituencies in Edinburgh – Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern & Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh Western. The Lothian Region also includes the three constituencies Almond Valley, Linlithgow and Midlothian North & Musselburgh.
On Friday the results will be announced for Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh Western. On Saturday the results will be announced for Edinburgh Eastern, Edinburgh Northern and Leith and Edinburgh Pentlands.
The results of the regional list vote will be declared on Saturday 8 May.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
