Placements: Day One

Today was our first day of the trip with our cultural placements. I'll be spending most of my time with a local newspaper, The Down Recorder, but they can't have me there until Thursday. For today and tomorrow I'll be at Stormont, which is where Northern Ireland's government operates. We were there yesterday just to see the building, but I got a much more in depth look today and was able to get my full news and politics fix (for now).

Alessia, another Young Ambassador, and I were dropped off at the building this morning, where we met up with Susie Brown, Stormont's head of communications. She and some of her staff showed us around the basement, where a previous speaker of the Assembly banished all media years ago, thinking they wouldn't bother anyone. In addition to the government having its own communications office that does public relations and coordinates with media outlets, it has production studios that monitor activity everywhere in the building sessions are taking place. News organizations like the BBC and local newspapers have their own offices and small studios there as well.

Getting a feel for how the media operated within the building took up most of our morning. We had lunch with two members of the outreach office, which works to make the government more accessible and of interest to the general public here in Northern Ireland. They provided a lot of insight on the political situation here now, and some of the history. It was exciting to hear so much about a political climate that I still feel I know very little about, but it was almost too much to take in at once. I'm personally having a tough time keeping the main political parties straight because, unlike the U.S. where two parties dominate the political scene, there are several here that are very active in the Assembly. Alessia and I later said we should have been taking notes for future reference.

At lunch we also met Eamonn Mallie, a veteran political journalist. He was quite the character and provided us with even more information on politics within Stormont, as well as his own opinions on the Catholic Church's handling of abuse scandals in Ireland. Long story short, he doesn't think it's been handled well. I may get the chance to meet with him and talk some more tomorrow.

Eamonn arranged for us to watch the BBC's Monday and Tuesday (the days the Assembly is in session) live political broadcast, "Live from Stormont," from the studio as they broadcast. We were only there for about half an hour of the 75-minute show, but it was amazing to see them in action. The crew was so efficient and made the job look effortless.

Later on we had tea with BBC broadcaster Martina Purdy and got to sit in the Assembly chamber as debate was going on before it was time for us to leave.

Overall it was a great day and I'm looking forward to tomorrow!