Portsmouth daily teams up with university for election hustings

The News in Portsmouth has teamed up with the city’s university to host two election debates this month.

The University of Portsmouth will host the debates for the city’s two constituencies, Portsmouth South (currently Labour) and Portsmouth North (Conservative). Both seats are expected to be hotly contested.

The News editor Mark Waldron will chair both events, and all candidates have agreed to take part, including former Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

Journalism students will report from the hustings, producing video reports, audience vox pops, live tweets and blogs on the night to be used by both the university and JPI Media-owned The News.

Meanwhile film and TV students will help to run the broadcast, which will be livestreamed from the university’s TV studio to The News’ website.

Journalism course leader Ian Tapster said: “This is an exciting opportunity for the university to team up with The News in hosting these two hustings.

“It’s a great opportunity for our students to be involved in filming and reporting these important debates.”

Since 1997 Portsmouth South has been held by MPs from the Lib Dem, Conservative and Labour parties. Its hustings will be held on 19 November.

The debate for Portsmouth North, which switched from Labour to Conservative in 2010 when Mordaunt won the seat, will be held a week later on 26 November.

Picture: University of Portsmouth