Thoughts on political reporting

Over on the BBC editors blog,Gary Smith muses on his ten years at Millbank and poses a few questions form his experience

• When is it ok to turn up at 0630 with a camera outside a politician’s home?

• When is it legitimate to investigate a politician’s private life? For example is it right to broadcast a story about a Labour Cabinet minister sending his or her child to a private school?

• On short TV reports on policy matters should we always include clips from all three main parties?

• Why do the best political stories tend to break in the newspapers?

• Is pre-briefing on government or party announcements a good or bad thing?

• When the BBC uncovered a story from good sources that a senior politician had a serious drink problem - but the politician’s spokesperson totally denied it - should we have gone ahead and run the story?

• Should political correspondents get out of London more, or is their job to report on what’s happening at Westminster?

• How do you tell a political correspondent they need to brush their hair, or wear a better coat?