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A night out with the BBC’s Naga Munchetty
BA (hons) Journalism students Bethan Cann, Poppy Doherty and Antonia Fairburn enjoyed a night out with a difference in November, when they were joined by BBC Breakfast presenter and Radio 5 Live journalist Naga Munchetty. Read Antonia’s blog on the evening.
Our evening began at Poppy and Bethan’s house. Naga arrived about 9:00 and we talked for a while about the subject matter of the documentary; how safe it is these days to go out as a young woman in a city. As all of us are student journalists we were starstruck when she knocked on our door.
It was all quite surreal as we jumped into a taxi to begin our evening out in Leeds, chatting like we always do on any evening out - but with Naga Munchetty as part of our girl group! Our first port of call was a Wetherspoons, where we met up with our coursemates, Rosie Brader, Isabelle Holden and Bella Farmer. The pub quiz was in full flow and Naga aced it! Our next stop was Revolution on Call Lane before we ended the night at Tiki Hideaway, about midnight. We chatted about uni and asked the team how they got into their careers. We discussed our final projects and boys and friendships. It was a cracking Leeds night out - with a team of BBC journalists and producers!
But there was a serious side too. Naga was recording a radio documentary for BBC Radio 5 Live focusing on women’s safety, a topic we are all passionate about. Each of us had the opportunity to talk about our own first-hand experiences, telling Naga how we felt going out in Leeds, and more importantly how safe we feel doing so.
Students Bethan Cann, Poppy Doherty, Antonia Fairburn, Bella Farmer, Rosie Brader and Isabelle Ellerington-Holden with Naga
The programme was broadcast on Monday 5 December, and it’s now on BBC Sounds, so you can hear some of our stories and experiences.
To be in the presence of Naga, who is at the top of her field in the media industry, was inspirational. Watching her work, using equipment we are familiar with was awesome. But it also made us all feel like we could do this too. Naga was making the kind of programme we all want to make, using tools we’ve been trained to use. Everyone agreed. Bella described it as “the best opportunity” we’d had on the course.
At the end of the night, after dancing with Naga like no-one was watching, we said our goodbyes. She took the time to hug every one of us and give us some words of encouragement. She told us to “go rock the world”.
“It was such a surreal experience,” said Isabelle, “she was really motivating”.
It isn’t every day that you get to see someone in the industry, as good as Naga, doing the job you want to do with such confidence and ease, allowing us to be a part of the whole experience.
It gave us all the nudge we need to power through our final year and hopefully come out on top the way she has.
Antonia Fairburn
Antonia is BA (hons) Journalism student at Leeds Beckett University.
