Another night of rioting in East Belfast

Tuesday 8th January 2013

Belfast

Last night's riot report in full

We were back on the UTV rooftop only fours hours or so after we had finished editing and sending the report and other shot sequences back to London.

We were pleased and surprised to see that a camera and light was already set up for the live broadcasts. There had been some mixup where UTV were not sure if Richard would be arriving with a cameraman. So, Alan, their operations manager had come in early to set things up.

At this early stage of the new contract that UTV had with ITV Daybreak they did not want any avoidable hiccups. 

We did a quick swap of cameras to allow me to use mine. The light stayed up which meant I would not have to use the camera top light.

As well as the broadcasts with Richard there was a guest. Moira Hedron an Alliance party councillor on Belfast City Council. She was to be interviewed down the line by Matt Barbet and Ranvir Singh in the Daybreak studio in London.

Richard getting ready to broadcast

After the first broadcast where Richard linked into the report we had done last night working into the early hours of this morning we were almost apoplectic with rage. The one and a half minute report full of great shots of the action and passionate views of some of the people of east Belfast had been hacked down to just under a minute.

Sometimes we wondered if it was worth the lost sleep and danger involved in getting the shots only for the story to be chopped because it needed to fit a particular time frame rather than sustain the time because of the power of the images.

It is the full unedited edit that is at the top of the blog.

Moira arrived nice and early for her down the line interview. I cabled her up and although she said that she had never done one of these types of interviews before she made her points well.

Moira standing by for her first ever live down the line interview

Viewfinder view of background of the live shot looking over Belfast as the light came up

Richard and I got over our initial rage but, not before he had made our feelings felt.

On most occasions when we send in edited reports and they are re-edited, unless the whole sence of the story is lost we just have to accept that this is the nature of the job. However, when the story has required something extra to get, especially if the something extra is risking injury it does get us rather angry.

This anger is usually, like this morning's, fairly intense but short lived because having reports edited is all part of what happens in a news environment and has to be accepted as part of one of the stresses of the job.

After the morning on the roof Richard and I caught up on a little missed sleep before heading out to get some extra equipment for the potential night of fun and frolics in East Belfast. 

Our safety adviser suggested that we get slightly better head protection than the little bump caps we had with us. 

It was advice offered with a wealth of experience and a nod to what had happened last night.

A couple of my media colleagues had sustained injuries, albeit fairly minor. 

One of these happened right next to me although I was unaware of it at the time being busy concentrating on the action in black and white behind the perceived safety of a viewfinder. 

A bit of rubble launched at the police line by one of the masked yobs had bounced off the road and hit the cameraman next to me quite hard on the knee. 

He limped on for the rest of the nights entertainment but, ended up having to take a trip to the A&E department to get checked out.

The good news was that there was no major damage. A bit of rest should sort it out. 

The other injury was similar minus the need to head to hospital. 

There was a hope that my nice stealth black helmet and knee pads would not even come out of the packaging because we were hearing that things were looking quite quiet. 

We checked out a couple of what are called "white line" protests. These are little pop up protests where a group of a few to a few dozen will stand and block a road for an hour or so.

They are largely peaceful and short lived although there is always the possibility for them to escalate given the right conditions. 

The ones we toured were doing their job of being disruptive but were calm and controlled.

Keeping our ears open for news from all our sources we sat down for a spot of diner. 

We were almost finished when the news of things bubbling up back on the Newtownards Road where we had been last night. 

The new gear was going to get an outing after all. 

Tonight's performance was a lot more subdued and short lived than last night's. 

There were of course a few fireworks, petrol and paint bombs along with bricks and stones of all sizes thrown. 

It was my turn to take a very minor hit from a half brick that was deflected by the side of a Land Rover on to my thigh.

Another large bit of rubble hit the road just in front of me bouncing harmlessly past my left shin.

The main excitement and possibility  of injury was when, in a team effort the boys hurled salvos of golf balls.

They pinged of the Land Rovers, the road, lampposts and walls zipping around us with a potential for pain. 

It was actually quite surprising that no one was hit given the density and speed of the balls. 

A voice from somewhere around us did raise a collective giggle. 

In the midst of this volley of balls came a loud shout, "is Rory Mcilroy over there?!"

That was the finale of the night's show. 

Not long after that things eased off and the guys started filtering away having had their recreation for the evening. 

We also wandered away to find out what Daybreak in London wanted and do a little bit of editing. 

In the hotel we watched News at Ten. I was pleased to see that one of my shots from last night, which had illicited great excitement from the folk at UTV when they saw it in our report in the morning was still making the ITV flagship national news programme at night.

After a few phone calls and discussions the plan for tomorrow had been formulated and the night's material was safely in London. 

It was going to be another short shift of sleep before going live using a satellite truck which had come up from the Republic of Ireland to do our broadcasts from outside the City Hall. 

Belfast Riots

Monday 7th January

Belfast 

I arrived at a rainy  Belfast's George Best airport late yesterday evening.  

Airport in the rain

It was just after lunchtime Sunday when the relaxing weekend came to and early end. 

There had been more violent protests on Saturday night over the Union Flag not being flown over Belfast City Hall every day. Loads of things had been thrown, policemen had been injured and lots of arrests made, one for a guy carrying a gun. 

When I found out which airline I was flying over with I prepared my company credit card for the huge hit I was sure that it would take. 

The check-in and ticket desk at Flybe did not disappoint.

I was slammed with a crazy excess baggage bill  for the two extra bags that I was taking on the 40 minute flight. 

Sometimes spending company cash is quite fun but, when it is just a flagrant fleecing it is beyond humorous. 

Richard also had a little flight trouble. In his case though, it was simply a bit of a delay. 

There had been a bit of bother during the night between police and protesters in east Belfast.

Our colleagues from UTV were out covering the events. If things had really kicked off again we would have been dragged out of our beds that we were not really going to be in for very long anyway. 

Thankfully we got almost a full five or so hours under the duvets.

I met Richard in reception in the wet early hours for the very short trip to UTV. 

I set up on the roof for our live broadcasts in the Daybreak news bulletins. 

The UTV staff were just getting used to coping with the very early mornings doing the local Daybreak bulletins after a long break. For quite a few years other companies had been doing them, the most recent one loosing the contract to UTV at the end of last year.  

Richard prepares his script amongst the racks of electronics

The UTV gallery preparing for the Daybreak bulletins..

..from the small green screen news studio..

..what the newsreader sees

On the dark, wet but, thankfully not windy roof we did our broadcasts whilst just below us the small UTV team of four did their bulletins. 

Rainy rooftop camera position

When we finished we went into the city centre to have a bit of a reconnoitre of the area around the City Hall where the planned protest would take place.  

Belfast City Hall bereft of Union Flag

We checked out possible vantage points and escape routes if it, as predicted, turned nasty.

Then it was time for breakfast. 

We had a bit of down time before the night's work. 

There was a protest planned at the City Hall because this would be the first full council meeting since the decision had been taken to only fly the Union Flag on certain days and not  every day.

It was pretty much assured given what has gone before in the previous few days that there would a bit of trouble. So, with this in mind it was with an extra pair of eyes to watch our back and lots of local knowledge that three of us went down to see what would happen.

As we arrived at the City Hall a very small group had gathered sporting Union flag in some fashion, as umbrellas, wrapped round them or just waving them.

It all appeared rather sad until we looked down the road to our right. In the distance large Union flags were being waved by a much bigger group marching up towards us. As they approached the sound of the loyalist songs they were singing got louder.

The protest in front of City Hall

The majority were relatively young men faces swathed in scarves with hoods up. There was also a fair cross section of members of the community.

They made a very vocal protest, getting to the point of giving the gates of the City Hall a good rattling. They marched around the perimeter of being shadowed by a large contingent of police who were inside.

When they got to a solid line of white police Land Rovers barring their way to the back of the building they were once more vocal in expressing their feelings.

One of lines of Land Rovers outside the City Hall

The water cannon would see action later

Filming the police getting geared up to go

The crowd at the police line outside City Hall

Along with the BBC, Sky News, ITN and UTV I filmed the action and Richard did a couple of interviews with the few people willing to be seen on camera.

There were of course the usual accusations that we did not relate the truth or the whole story.

The group of around four to five hundred then split up into two smaller groups and started to filter away.

We got in the car and headed for Short Strand where one of these groups would be passing by a Republican area on their way home.

We were hopeful that things might not be too bad. Soon, though, the sirens and blue lights from a stream of the PSNI's white Land Rovers quashed those thoughts.

When we arrived at the Short Strand area after having to take a circuitous route to get there it was clear that there was going to be a bit of bother.

In our separate little groups of three or four we TV crews, now joined by CH4 and the stills photographers slowly followed behind the line of Land Rovers and a water cannon truck as they tried to get the protesters past the nationalist section and into their own area.

Burning barricades 

We filmed through the gaps between the vehicles as the crowd threw bits of rubble, bottles and petrol bombs at the police. We heard and I recorded the crack of baton rounds being fired at the crowd.

Richard did a piece to camera that coincided with the heaviest salvo of petrol bombs, one landing on the front of a Land Rover.

Flaming debris litters the road

All the time we were getting deeper and deeper into loyalist territory with as many people behind us as in front. There was a little moment of concern when we were sandwiched with the police between two large groups. 

As things started to dissipate there were a few arrests some of which I got on camera and then a bit of a discussion between some of the local community leaders and the police.

Things were calmer, we headed back down the road to the car. As we passed little groups they shouted at us, sometimes not very pleasantly.

There is always one bit of humour though, when at the end of a particularly sustained tirade by one guy he ended it by saying, "could I borrow your helmet?"

Back at the hotel we had dome food whilst the material was ingested into our macs and then retired upstairs to edit in Richard's room.

Richard edited the main report and I cut the short pieces that would be used for teases, title sequences and over the news reader's voice.

I also got some of the photographs that Richard had taken. I'd been a bit busy to get my stills camera out.

Editing late into the night

We had it all cut and sent to London by 1:30 am. Time for about three hours sleep before going live from the UTV roof again in the morning.

Training Scheme Scam

Friday 4th January

Aberdeen

The interview shot

No stress today, well for me anyway, just a lot of sitting behind the wheel of the car driving and then doing some simple shots and recording an interview.

Denise our interviewee was the one feeling the stress of having a TV crew, consisting of me and Natalie, the producer who had flown up from London, in her house.

She had been the victim of a bit of a money making scam by a training company. She and her sixteen year old son had been duped into a credit agreement with a company that provided vocational training.

As well as fleecing the pair she found out that any of the qualifications that the company gave out were worth less than the paper they were printed on.

Denise gave me the kind of welcome that is always appreciated after a longish drive, "what would you like to drink" and "have a biscuit".

She said that she was feeling very nervous and underlined it by uttering "my god" when I brought the camera, tripod and lights into the small lounge.

I drank my coffee as I set up the lights and camera, my every action accompanied by a more quietly exclaimed "oh my god".

She might have been a bit uptight but it certainly did not come across in her very articulate and sound bite filled interview.

Before we finished up, the taxi that Natalie had booked to take her to the airport turned up with a particularly grumpy driver none too happy about having to wait. Welcome to Scotland!

Natalie interviewing Denise

The Black Dog Strangler is captured

Thursday 3rd January

Newcastle

Outside the St Nicholas hospital in Gosforth I met Gregg Easteal. 

I quickly set up the camera by the hospital sign and after a couple of takes we had a minute long report on tape about how "The Black Dog Strangler", Phillip Westwater had escaped and then shortly afterwards had been captured. 

Where we did the piece to camera. Not the most exciting shot

Gregg dashed off to Tyne Tees Television in Gateshead to get the tape fed to Daybreak in time for Daybreak's first bulletin at 6 am.

I put the kit back in the car and joined him for a cup of coffee at a nearby McDonalds after the material was safely in London.

We stayed on standby incase the story changed during the programme time and we had to do an update.

Nothing did change so we headed for our homes, Gregg a little way south and me a bigger way north.

The Black Dog Strangler escapes

Wednesday 2nd January

On the road

My long break over the festive period was over.

Time to catch up on various administrative things that needed to by tied up to end last year. 

I had spent a fair part of the day bashing away at the computer with no sign of any stories to cover. 

The evening banter over a curry with friends was halted abruptly by a call from the Carol on the Newsdesk. 

The "Black Dog Strangler" had escaped from a psychiatric secure unit in a hospital in Newcastle.  

He was called "The Black Dog" strangler when whilst serving time in another secure unit in Liverpool for attacking someone with a knife, he strangled another inmate because he thought he was a black dog. 

I would need to head to Newcastle to do live broadcasts, probably from the hospital. 

The only slight problem was that ITN's Daybreak satellite truck was already assigned to a flooding story on the east coast near Bridlington. So, another truck would need to be found. 

I was put on standby until a truck was confirmed. No point in setting off if no there was no truck to do the live broadcasts. 

Getting close to 10 pm all the places that could provide satellite trucks had been contacted and replied. 

None were available. No live broadcasts. 

I started to think about bed when I got another call from Sam on the overnight team to say that a recorded piece to camera was needed that could be sent back from Tyne Tees in time for Daybreak's first news bulletin at six o'clock.

So, I set off down the A1 getting to my hotel in Gateshead a while after midnight with the prospect of four hours in bed. 

More cans...in Crook

Thursday 29th November
Crook County Durham

The first job of the morning was to get some shots of the Co-operative truck that was bringing a stack of cans to be sorted and distributed from the Salvation Army centre in Crook in County Durham.

It did not take too long to do a few shots of the brand new truck that had been brought in especially for this morning's event. 

Proud driver..

..of the nice new truck

Then it was time to get set up for a few live shots, teases and one main broadcast. 

It was a little hectic with a large cast of helpers but there were no major problems. 

Sorting the cans

DunCan keeping the kids amused..

..whilst sound recordist Pete finds time for a bacon roll

Group pic outside..

..and inside

We were soon saying our goodbyes and heading off in our separate directions. 

I set off north, Pete on sound along with the truck went south west and the guys involved in tomorrow's broadcasts went south in a combination of cars and trains. 

John Boshop and Sheridan Smith in "Panto" and more canny capers

Wednesday 28th November

Sunderland

Yesterday was a pleasant day enjoying the talents and chat with Daybreak's Richard Arnold, stand up comedian,  sometime serious actor, writer and producer John Bishop and the lovely multi talented Sheridan Smith as we did a little behind the scenes filming in Lancaster. 

Panto, a comedy drama written by John Bishop will be shown on ITV on Boxing Day was being shot in the Grand Theatre in the town.

The film truck village beside.. 

..Lancaster's Grand Theatre

The stage becomes the set of "Panto"

Director Chris takes a some stills of Sheridan and the dancers.

Nice nosh from the drama crew chuck wagon.

Matt the sound recordist has been ribbed by his mates for years because of his resemblance to Ralph Little, Sheridan's co-star in Two Pints of Lager.

What do you think?

After the day "on set" I drove up and over to Sunderland to overnight prior to this morning's instalment in the You Can Help appeal. 

We only had one  broadcast to do from the Salvation Army Centre in the city. 

The good news was that because of having no little teases to do and the satellite truck not being able to get to the location until later than usual we got an extra hour in bed. 

Well at least the others did. So would I if I had seen the text sent late last night that was on one of my phones before I got in the car ready for the usual start time. 

Things were stress free and once again we had some on and off screen fun with producer Chris cavorting around as DunCan. 

Gethin and producer Natalie talk scripts..

..whilst DunCan and Co' pose for producer Christina's camera

Getting the cans set up for the live broadcast

Gethin has time for a quick tweet before the group photo.

We also got away early because the truck had to leave to get to another job for ITN. 

So it was time for a relaxing breakfast back at the hotel, an hours kip and a crew trip to a golf driving range before the relatively short journey west to the flooded city of Durham. 

We were lucky that our hotel, the Radisson Blu  was in action. Just the day before, the level of flood water from the river had come right up to the entrance of the hotel. 

The river Wear still high but, not as high as yesterday

 The silt and other flotsam left by the water as it receded was clearly  visible on the pavement and roads by the hotel. 

Durham's famous Cathedral from my hotel bedroom window

Tonight's crew meal.