Clifton Herald Trip to Bristol 24/7

Our student journalists overcame the challenges of delayed trains and Miss Shaw’s sense of direction to visit the Bristol 24/7 HQ and meet the editor, Martin Booth.

Martin gave the group a fascinating insight into the workings of a magazine and shared his passion for journalism. The students had a sneak peek at the proofs of the next edition and had a go at proofreading.

Martin shared his love of local journalism and detailed some of his career highlights, which include covering the Kill the Bill protests in Bristol in 2021 and being at the heart of an international story in his reporting on the toppling of the Colston statue in 2020.

The students talked about the forthcoming edition of the Clifton Herald and asked Martin about the impacts of AI on journalism. He felt that though some more mundane tasks like formatting and arranging images and text (and ‘churnalism’/press releases!) could happily be performed by AI, the work of a journalist could never be replaced as it so often involves being out in the field doing research.

Huge thanks to Martin for giving up his time to inspire the next generation of journalists!