If there's anything the modern journalist must excel at, it's multi-tasking.
I was live on air for a BBC Radio Scotland segment about pensions. I'd only come off air for BBC Radio Five Live at 1am so was delighted to receive the call before 8am asking if I could talk about my failure to save adequately for old age.
Presenter Kaye Adams opened the discussion by asking me my age, which we all know one never asks a lady, and it went rapidly downhill from there.
While talking about the fact I'll have to work til I'm 80, I was checking my emails. A press release dropped from First Bus. The subject heading caught my eye.
Wait, did that say First is cancelling the night bus services? I had just taken a night bus home a couple of nights before, around 3am, and sure, it wasn't as busy as back in the day, but night buses are an essential service. No?
The Herald is a strong digital-first operation and this was big news - the readers needed to know and now. I grabbed the story and, while simultaneously telling Kaye Adams I'd prioritised clearing my student loan debt over opening a pension pot, filed it for heraldscotland.com. One of the most vivid changes to filing online - rather than waiting for the next day's paper - and promoting stories on social media is the instant feedback; we can see in real time how many people are reading our stories and hear immediately the thoughts of our readers.
Phew - folk were furious. So, as I say, I grabbed that story and I clung to it. It's not good enough to be first - we have to be thorough and we have to be best and I knew there was a lot more to say about the bus story so I kept on top of it throughout the week, with multiple follow-ups and exclusive stories.
Glasgow's public transport is a constant focus as an issue that lets down the city and hinders it from becoming the thriving, metropolitan alternative capital city it could be.
Bus coverage, though, can be sometimes lacking. This week I recorded the Talk Media podcast and we discussed public transport coverage in terms of middle-class media professionals who overlook certain forms of public transport purely because we don't use it. It was an interesting issue to reflect on.
But I use the buses and I know how important they are for so many interconnected issues: health, poverty, recreation, arts and culture access and on.
I put in a bid for an interview with the MD of First Bus, who agreed to speak exclusively to me. As soon as Duncan Cameron suggested bar staff might drive the night bus at the end of their shift I knew I had a talker, and so it proved. I was invited to discuss the story on radio and TV and, while obviously good for The Herald, the story was important in keeping people discussing this issue.
That's what we plan to do - keep a focus on the future of the night buses. The Herald has a Scotland-wide perspective but that doesn't stop us focusing on and championing local issues.
It's one of the reasons I love what I do, and why I won't really mind if I'm still doing it when I'm 80.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
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