{"id":5643,"date":"2020-06-12T12:17:53","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T12:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?p=5643"},"modified":"2020-06-12T13:44:20","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T13:44:20","slug":"asking-the-difficult-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2020\/06\/12\/asking-the-difficult-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Asking The Difficult Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the Science Editor for ITV News<\/em>, Reading graduate Tom Clarke is at the forefront of reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic. Tom tells CONNECTED why it\u2019s so important he asks those difficult questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom is co-leading ITV\u2019s coverage of COVID-19, putting him in front of the politicians and digging deep to get the answers the public want to know. Tom speaks to CONNECTED about how he went from pretending to be a mosquito at Reading, to reporting on a worldwide pandemic.<\/p>\n

A fascination brought to life<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Tom\u2019s fascination with the natural world led him to study Zoology at Reading, before embarking on his career in science reporting. He tells CONNECTED:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI was one of those kids who collected skulls and dead things on the beach and tried to smuggle them home. Zoology was a natural choice for me. The course at Reading was fascinating, taught by a cast of very colourful characters.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOne of my long-lasting memories was a field trip led by the then Dr Amanda Callaghan (now Professor), where I tried to disguise some dodgy data we had collected on mosquitoes by giving a performance presentation, involving myself and my fellow students dressing up as mosquitoes and buzzing. I certainly made some great memories during my time at Reading.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cLike most of my smartest moves my route into TV was completely unplanned and chaotic. After graduating from Reading I went to study a PhD in entomology at Louisiana State University in the US. I wasn\u2019t a very successful lab scientist and during the long and lonely hours in the lab I realised I preferred writing about science instead of doing it. I was then lucky to get a place studying science journalism at New York University, and via a couple of \u2013 thankfully paid \u2013 internships I landed a job at the science journal Nature<\/em> back in London. After three years there I became a science reporter at Channel 4 News<\/em>, until 2018 when I moved to my current job.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Tom didn\u2019t initially plan for a career in TV, he\u2019s grateful to Reading for the springboard it provided him.<\/p>\n

He said:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI love my job and my science background from Reading has been enormously important in helping me to achieve what has turned out to be an exciting, fulfilling, and surprising career.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIn normal times my reporting covers everything from particle physics to climate change \u2013 a range of topics I have no specific expertise in. But my Zoology degree has given me an understanding of how the process of science works, and what the characters who do it are like, and this has really helped me in my career. Above all, what I\u2019ve learned is that it\u2019s not actually my job to be the expert \u2013 it\u2019s simply to know what questions to ask the experts on behalf of our viewers or readers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reporting on COVID-19<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"Tom\u2019s role as ITV News<\/em> Science Editor has thrust him into the centre of reporting on the pandemic, which is like nothing he\u2019s ever experienced before.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIn 2014 I travelled to West Africa to cover the Ebola outbreak \u2013 the danger of that virus was staggeringly different to COVID-19. Ebola is spread by contact, making it easy to avoid. We also had the knowledge that, unlike for the people living in West Africa, it likely wouldn\u2019t reach our shores.<\/p>\n

\n

“Watching COVID-19 approach the UK, and then reporting on how it has turned all our lives upside down, has been strange and disturbing \u2013 and like nothing I\u2019ve ever reported on before.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cITV\u2019s Health Correspondent Emily Morgan and I have been leading ITV\u2019s coverage of COVID-19. I\u2019ve been really pleased that my editors put their specialist journalists at the forefront of this really complex and fast moving story. I\u2019ve been asking questions of the government at the daily COVID-19 press briefings and I even went to Number 10 in person at the beginning of the UK\u2019s outbreak.<\/p>\n

\n

“Number 10 is normally the fiercely guarded domain of the political journalists, so it\u2019s been gratifying to be reporting on the pandemic and using my science background to get to the heart of the issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Not only has the pandemic given Tom a completely different experience in the type of story he\u2019s reporting on, it has also overhauled the way he works.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cBefore COVID-19 we would always try and get to where the story is in person, but of course we can\u2019t always do that now. Fortunately for TV, along with the rest of the working world, online video call platforms are making it possible to still speak to the people we need to. When we do interviews in person we\u2019re having to remain aware of social distancing using an awkward array of tripods, poles and longer lenses to capture footage that before COVID-19 was incredibly easy to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proud to keep the public informed<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Tom feels the responsibility that comes with his job to keep the public up-to-date and to hold politicians to account \u2013 and he is proud to do so.<\/p>\n

He said:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt has been an honour to be part of a team of people keeping everyone informed about what\u2019s going on in these uncertain times. I\u2019ve never been more aware of the fact I\u2019ve got a real responsibility to do that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a massive responsibility to hold government and various agencies to account at difficult times like this, and ask the difficult questions they\u2019d rather we didn\u2019t ask. It\u2019s also been a real privilege to be one of the few groups of people permitted to travel freely at the moment \u2013 to see different parts of the country in this strange and eerie time.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cBut I\u2019d give it all up in an instant to put this disease behind us and get on with reporting on all the other fascinating, inspiring and important stories that science and our natural world have to offer!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Discover more<\/a> about how our inspirational alumni are contributing in the fight against COVID-19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Science Editor for ITV News, Reading graduate Tom Clarke is at the forefront of reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic. Tom tells CONNECTED why it\u2019s so important he asks those difficult questions. Tom is co-leading ITV\u2019s coverage of COVID-19, putting him in front of the politicians and digging deep to get the answers the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":5663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[54,85,34,96,83],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAsking The Difficult Questions - Connected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the Science Editor for ITV News, Reading graduate Tom Clarke is at the forefront of reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2020\/06\/12\/asking-the-difficult-questions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Asking The Difficult Questions - 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