On 19 November and 26 November, the University of Portsmouth and The News were delighted to offer a live broadcast of the election hustings for Portsmouth South and Portsmouth North constituencies respectively, ahead of the General Election in December.
The hustings were covered live from Eldon Building by students in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, namely from the BA (Hons) Television & Broadcasting (TVB) and BA (Hons) Journalism courses. The TVB students had the opportunity to test their skills in a real working environment with the pressure of a livestream transmission. Everything went smoothly thanks to the lecturers and technicians’ supervision and the state-of-the-art equipment the University provided. At the same time, Journalism undergraduates reported live from the hustings with constant updates, as well as full articles following the events. This also provided them with great professional experience as they had the chance to interview the candidates before and after the hustings.
Not only was this a great opportunity for members of the public to see our talented students in action on a live broadcast of the debate with our local MPs, but the content was then televised nationwide. The footage captured by the students from the School of Film, Media and Communication was covered by major national and regional TV channels. BBC TV South ran a report highlighting the event and the University’s involvement.
My number one priority for Portsmouth if re-elected as MP is to make sure our public services are protected and standing up for Portsmouth employment.
This was also the very first time the University of Portsmouth has appeared in the ITV News at Ten programme which has an average of 8 million nightly viewers, and it was also featured in the ITV's online news article. Both news programmes captured the buzz and excitement of the lively evening of hustings run by CCI staff and students.
The students’ votes are really important because they are the next generation of people who are citizens of our country. They’re the people who have got their whole future in front of them.
If you missed the Portsmouth Elections Husting held in Eldon Building, the Q&A sessions are available to watch on the CCI TV Channel, for both the South and North constituencies.
You can also read the Portsmouth News article about the hustings for the hotly-contested Portsmouth South seat with five candidates, and for the Portsmouth North seat, featuring Penny Maudant for the Conservatives and Amanda Martin for the Labour party.