Our reporters get to heart of Bristol communities

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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This is Bristol

The Bristol Evening Post has 19 reporters, whose job it is to make sure that what happens in the city and the surrounding areas is reported in its local newspaper.

We cover stories that people are talking about and that will get people talking, everything from murder trials in Bristol Crown Court to a couple celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary in Bedminster.

Our aim is to be at the heart of the community and focus on real people, some who have done ordinary things, others who have done extraordinary things, but who all deserve to feature in their local paper, which is read by more than 100,000 people across the city every day.

Each of our reporters covers up to four different areas of the city. In newspaper terms, these are called patches.

Our reporter Marc Rath, for instance, would cover the story about the diamond wedding couple in Bedminster, because Bedminster is one of his three patches.

Every day, at least one of our reporters is based in one of their patches, talking to residents, local groups, shop owners and all the people who make it a community, in order to ensure that the stories and issues they want to be covered are featured in the paper.

The Post's deputy editor Rob Stokes said: "Some of the best stories we publish come directly from our readers.

"We can get more of those stories by sending reporters out into different areas of the city and speaking directly with people in these neighbourhoods.

"There is no substitute for going out and meeting our readers face to face."

Here is a list of Post reporters and the patches that they cover:

● Dan Evans (Crime reporter) – Brislington/St Philip's/Little Stoke/Bradley Stoke.

Telephone: 0117 934 3315

Email: d.evans@bepp.co.uk

● Dominic Harris – Westbury-on- Trym/Filton/Emersons Green.

Telephone: 0117 934 3324

Email: d.harris@bepp.co.uk

● Emily Koch – Patchway/Henleaze/Coalpit Heath.

Telephone: 0117 934 3412

Email: e.koch@bepp.co.uk

● Heather Pickstock – North Somerset.

Telephone: 01275 857 269

Email: h.pickstock@bepp.co.uk

● Ian Onions (Political editor) – Stockwood/Hanham.

Telephone: 0117 934 3322

Email: i.onions@bepp.co.uk

● Jacqueline Steele – Windmill Hill/Knowle/Hengrove.

Telephone: 0117 934 3319

Email: j.steele@bepp.co.uk

● Julie Harding (chief reporter) – Winterbourne/Knowle West/Keynsham.

Telephone: 0117 934 3315

Email: j.harding@bepp.co.uk

● Linda Tanner (Education reporter) – Pucklechurch.

Telephone: 0117 934 3317

Email: l.tanner@bepp.co.uk

● Liz Webster – Downend/Horfield/Shirehampton.

Telephone: 0117 934 3240

Email: e.webster@bepp.co.uk

● Lynne Hutchinson – South Gloucestershire.

Telephone: 01454 417 758

Email: l.hutchinson@bepp.co.uk

● Marc Rath – Fishponds/Bedminster/Staple Hill.

Telephone: 0117 934 3637

Email: m.rath@bepp.co.uk

● Martin Booth – Clevedon/Bedminster Down/Stoke Gifford/Bishopston

Telephone: 0117 934 3238

Email: m.booth@bepp.co.uk

● Sam Rkaina – Kingswood/Hartcliffe.

Telephone: 0117 934 3318

Email: s.rkaina@bepp.co.uk

● Tom Morris – Henbury/Whitehall/Whitchurch.

Telephone: 0117 934 3313

Email: t.morris@bepp.co.uk

● Vicki Fitzgerald – Weston-super-Mare.

Telephone: 01934 528 436

Email: v.fitzgerald@bepp.co.uk

● Vicki Mathias (Health reporter) – Sea Mills/Broom Hill.

Telephone: 0117 934 3413

Email: v.mathias@bepp.co.uk

In addition, we have one reporter, Geoff Bennett (g.bennett@bepp.co.uk), who spends every day reporting trials at Bristol Crown Court; and two news features writers, Suzanne Savill (s.savill@bepp.co.uk) and David Clensy (d.clensy@bepp.co.uk), whose job it is to write in-depth and often more colourful stories, that usually fill a page or sometimes two.

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4 Comments

  • Profile image for This is Bristol

    by Chris Mitchell, St. Paul's, Bristol

    Saturday, May 16 2009, 9:16AM

    “Whilst echoing the comments of Stacy on the drought of inner city reporters and ChrisB on the PR rewriting sausage machine, might I make a practical suggestion?

    If this article had links to the email addresses of the named reporters, it would be rather useful.”

  • Profile image for This is Bristol

    by ChrisB, Ashton

    Tuesday, May 12 2009, 3:03PM

    “This makes me laugh, when Post and sister title Western Daily Press are imminently making reporters redundant. Those left will have no time to cover their community beats, only time to retype press releases.”

  • Profile image for This is Bristol

    by Stacy, Easton

    Tuesday, May 12 2009, 1:01PM

    “What about inner city Bristol ... Easton, Lawrence Hill and St Pauls? There's loads of really positive work going on by people living in these areas to improve their neighbourhoods. It would be good to get this reported to show the positive side to areas which often get a bad press.”

  • Profile image for This is Bristol

    by gerry, bristol

    Tuesday, May 12 2009, 11:59AM

    “19 Reporters? when are they going to start printing news, what do they do all day ?”

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