A group of students from a Scottish University’s Journalism department are providing live coverage of the Scottish election results.
The students from Edinburgh Napier University have already gained an exclusive interview with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Third-year Journalism BA student Steven Brown is the editor for the event, which will be staged on Friday, May 7 as the results from the previous day’s election are revealed.
Around 20 students will take part in the Merchiston campus event.
It will feature eight hours of live broadcasting on the Radio ENRG platform plus online support 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.”
The event follows the successful live coverage of the US elections back in November.
That ambitious enterprise caught the attention of the BBC’s North America Editor Jon Sopel, who tweeted his support, saying: “Have a great night.
“When I was a journalism student, it was me and Steve Richards (another well-known UK print and broadcast journalist) commenting on the Peckham by-election (of 1982).
“Glad to see you guys starting with the most consequential presidential election in decades.”
This time around, another top BBC journalist will be involved.
Edinburgh Napier journalism graduate Nick Eardley, one of the corporation’s political commentators, will give his thoughts on the elections in an exclusive interview with ENRG.
Steven said: “It was fantastic to get support from Jon Sopel last time.
“It’s great to know that people like him started out in exactly the same way we are.
“And this time Nick Eardley will be helping us out.
“Just ten years ago he was himself a student in these same classrooms.”
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 (May 7) on Radio ENRG and run through to 6pm, 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.
Radio ENRG is a student-led broadcasting platform, organised by Napier’s journalism department.
Since its launch in 2014, it has gone from strength to strength, winning numerous national awards for the quality of its content.
Over the years, the ENRG family has grown to include three websites – Debrief, Sport, and Music & Arts – all of which are led by student editors and publish new content most days.
