A date that is sure to be printed on your mind is 12 December 2019 – General Election Day. Making history for a local television station is KMTV as they will be broadcasting live for twelve hours throughout the night.
Coverage will be from: 22:00 on Thursday 12 till10:00 on Friday 13 December.
Programme will appear on: Freeview channel 7, Virgin Media channel 159
Live stream on: KentOnline, kmtv.co.uk and the KMTV App (available on Apple & Google Play stores)
Keeping you up to date with the outcome, the station will have reporters and student interns at all 11 counts across Kent, bringing live results of 17 different constituencies. From other locations KMTV will also include live cameras and on-screen reporters at four counts, giving live reactions and comments over the phone, on FaceTime or via Skype.
‘One of our core values is to bring more local democracy to Kent and there’s no better way to deliver that than by giving in-depth coverage of Kent’s results at December’s general election,’ says KMTV’s Editor-in-chief Andy Richards. ‘We’ve proven since we launched in 2017 that for a small channel we can produce quality news coverage with our young professional team. This will be no different and we believe we’ll be the first region to broadcast live on television through the night from various locations on a general election night.’
More than 40 students from the University of Kent will be involved, working alongside a team of twelve television professionals, as well as Kent Messenger reporters. ‘It’s such a unique opportunity for our students,’ says the Head of the Centre for Journalism Ian Reeves. ‘Some trainees get to help out on election coverage as runners or as an extra pair of hands, but our students will be directly involved in the coverage, many making live TV contributions. We’ve been training them intensely to prepare as multimedia reporters for the night’s events.’
Joining them on the night will be other students from across the university’s departments including Kent Business School, Politics and International Relations, School of Arts, Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research.
Look out for the special programme at 08.00 called ‘Paul On Politics: Election Breakfast’, hosted by KM & KMTV Political Editor Paul Francis. Paul will also be on the KMTV sofa at various points throughout the night, alongside presenters Louisa Britton and Keilan Webster, as well as political pundits from across the various parties, Kent businesses and institutions.