'I will never stop fighting for the right of the public'

During Covid, it can be really easy to feel completely disconnected from the world, especially whilst working from home and with lockdown restrictions. So in the form of this column, I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself, and about how and why I got into journalism.

I find it hard to pinpoint exactly when it was I wanted to become a journalist, and I feel that I more stumbled into something I'm incredibly passionate about by accident. As a kid, I could never make up my mind exactly what it was I wanted to do, and as I grew up this went from train driver to professional footballer, and surveyor to working in disaster management. Talk about a jack of all trades!

At my graduation, I met journalism legend Kate Adie, who is chancellor of Bournemouth University.

But I do remember having a love of football from a young age. I'd rush home from my swimming lessons on a Saturday morning to scoff my lunch down and head out with my dad, who was the manager of my town's football team. Whether it be acting as ball boy, playing football with my friends next to the pitch or trading Match Attax cards, week in week out I'd be at the game, even if I didn't watch much of it! And it was going home to watch Ed Chamberlain present the football on TV that made me think that being a football presenter would be a pretty cool thing to do.

From work experience at my local radio station to writing for a football news website, in 2016 when I finished my A-Levels, I started the Multimedia Journalism course at Bournemouth University, still adamant that I wanted to be a sports presenter. But here, my plans soon changed. I immediately fell in love with finding things out that had been hidden from the public - in our first year news project, I did my own research to uncover that more than 100 schools in Dorset had dangerous asbestos.

In my time at the Basingstoke Gazette and Andover Advertiser, I've covered everything from the snap general election to the Covid pandemic.

I found that I had a knack for investigating and a love of crafting my thoughts into an engaging story for readers, and was often nominated by my peers to be editor on our practical newsdays - a job that I thoroughly enjoyed but my stress levels certainly did not!

It is undoubtedly my time at Bournemouth on the BAMMJ course, and the work experience I had, that has turned me into the reporter I am today, learning everything I know from the fantastic lecturers. Whilst I was at BU, I became deputy editor of the student magazine, Nerve, whilst also having a lot of fun presenting a breakfast radio show alongside my friends James, Drew and Kit. Where else other than student radio can you play Mario Kart on air and it be brilliant?!

Whilst at Bournemouth University, I was deputy editor for Nerve Magazine and also hosted a breakfast radio show with my friends.

After three years in Dorset, I remember graduating and feeling like a lost 21-year-old, not really sure what to do next. But by pure chance I came across the job advert of trainee reporter at the Basingstoke Gazette and Andover Advertiser, put in my application, and as they say, the rest is history.

I started two months after finishing my degree and I've been lucky to work alongside some brilliant journalists that has allowed me to develop my skills and gain confidence. From covering the snap general election to the Covid pandemic, and the Camrose scandal to the Taylor Williams murder, there's certainly been a lot going on in my 20 months in North Hampshire.

My true passion for journalism started when I attended Bournemouth University.

But in that time, it's been perhaps the most challenging time for the industry in a generation. The pandemic has changed everything about how we work and interact with the public, and about how the public interacts with us.

The level of abuse against journalists has also skyrocketed, and we certainly have not been immune. Whether it be from court defendants unhappy I've named them or PRs shouting down the phone because I'm exposing truths they would rather stay hidden, the last few months have seen several threats against me and verbal abuse.

I learnt a lot of what makes me a journalist whilst at Bournemouth Uni, including a guest lecture from Jon Snow on how the industry changed in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

You develop a thick skin as a journalist. But these acts of abuse are made even more personal by the fact that I'm working from home, in my living room, isolated and not with the other members of my team. And this often happens simply because I dare to do my job, and do it well, within the legal and ethical boundaries.

Even though the rise in abuse has made the last few months tough, I'm more determined than ever to continue doing our work. Whilst many people wrongly think journalists are driven by page views, what gets me out of bed every day is fighting to uncover what is really going on in Basingstoke and Andover. Whether it be exposing the failings of cladding at Crown Heights, revealing the covenant scandal at the Camrose or telling people what really happened that night Taylor Williams was murdered, this is why I do what I do, and I will never stop fighting for the right of the public to know what is going on.

Ryan Evans

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