A group of Community Reporters from across Manchester attended a series of sessions organised by Jim Clarke, News Gathering Editor for North West Tonight at BBC Manchester.

The sessions, which ran over three weeks from April into May, were held at the BBC studios on Oxford Road.

The first session, which was attended by approximately sixteen Community Reporters, was an opportunity to look behind the scenes of North West Tonight (The BBC’s flagship news programme for the North West). People got an opportunity to either sit in the studio or in the gallery as the programme went out live giving the Community Reporters a real insight into how a news programme is put together.

After the show was broadcast presenter Gordon Burns gave the visitors an explanation of his role in presenting the programme and he explained some of the “behind the scenes” technology that the programme used such as autocues, running orders, back projections etc.

People also had an opportunity to talk to fellow presenter Dianne Oxberry who presents the weather forecast on North West Tonight.

All the reporters really enjoyed their visit to look behind the scenes at North West Tonight and it whetted their appetite for the sessions which started a fortnight later.