BBC documentary featuring Newry Times to air tonight at 10:35pm | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

BBC documentary featuring Newry Times to air tonight at 10:35pm

Newry Times team during filming for BBC Spotlight

Earlier this month Newry Times announced that we would be taking part in a BBC Spotlight documentary. The documentary, which airs tonight on BBC One at 10:35pm, is presented by Mark Carruthers, who uncovers the challenges facing many of today’s young people – for ‘Lost Generation’, the first in a new series of Spotlight. The film has followed the fortunes of a number of young people, both graduates and non-graduates.

Mark told Newry Times, “We wanted to find out what the reality is for young people. Recent figures show that almost one in five is out of work and youth unemployment has doubled since 2008 – for this film, we wanted to put some faces to some of the statistics.”

The initial success of and story behind Newry Times prompted the BBC to get us involved. Newry Times was set up by three unemployed graduates – Declan McAteer, Paul Malone and Emma Taylor – and since its launch at the end of November 2012 it has accumulated hundreds of thousands of views and tens of thousands of weekly readers.

Speaking at the filming in Grounded Cafe, the Newry Times team spoke of the struggles facing young people in Ireland in 2012. Emma Taylor said,  “Times are tough. I never anticipated that finding work would have been so difficult. Newry Times has provided a unique opportunity for us to develop our skills and start up a great business venture together which we hope will continue to achieve great success.”

Newry Times film with the BBC

Newry Times editor Paul Malone

Commenting on the situation, Newry Times Editor Paul Malone said, “Youth unemployment is at an all time high and it is something all of the Newry Times team feel passionate about. All three of us have degrees yet find ourselves in the Dole queue and in thousands of pounds of student debt and it all seems to be in vain. We hope our story will provide inspiration to all other graduates out there currently unemployed. I’d also like to thank the local community and local businesses for their overwhelming support so far, it truly has been incredible.”

Declan McAteer added, “It is a fantastic opportunity for us to be working with an organisation such as the BBC, especially on an issue such as youth unemployment. Being an unemployed graduate, I understand the struggle a lot of young people in this country have when it comes to getting a job, this kind of programme is a great opportunity for those young people to have their say.”

The programme also features Newry Times editor Paul Malone. He told Spotlight how the  paper carries reports about young people leaving the city, through its section called Lost Generation. He explained how some have gone to Canada, Australia and even Bangkok.

Ronan Madine on BBC Spotlight

Local Newry man Ronan Madine (24) also appears in the Spotlight documentary. Ronan worked as a labourer for six months before he got a job as a quantity surveyor, his degree subject. But he had to move to London to find it. He told the programme, “Even if I was offered a job back home tomorrow, I don’t know if I would take it or not, because I am with a very good company at the moment and I am working on big projects. I don’t know if would get that experience back home.”

Spotlight – presented by Mark Carruthers – is on BBC One tonight (Tuesday January 31st) at 10.35pm and is repeated tomorrow night (Wednesday February 1) at 10pm.

Related Article: Newry Times team to be featured on BBC Spotlight documentary

To read our weekly feature – Newry’s Lost Generation – click here: http://newrytimes.com/category/newrys-lost-generation/

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=4732

Posted by on Jan 31 2012. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Leave a Reply







Find us on Facebook

Log in | Designed by Gabfire themes