by Frankie Haresign, Broadcast Journalist

How We Covered Local Elections 2026

Friday the 8th of May was a seismic day for British politics, and for me it was a thrilling, albeit mad day of radio news.

It was one that reminded me no matter how much work you do in advance - the predictions, the interviews, the endless trolling through projection polls - anything can change in an instant.

The Build Up

In the weeks before I was interviewing councillors, prospective candidates, experts and members of each party.

Apart from the odd technical hiccup - a Zoom meeting freeze here, and a webcam breakdown there - it was one of my favourite aspects of our coverage.

Reading projection polls is one thing, but having those directly involved reflect what their communities were feeling allowed us to provide fair and, importantly, equal coverage of each party.

During this time I also interviewed those working in social care, education and road maintenance. It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the party lines of election days, but I didn’t want the voices of those who these results really affect get lost in the conversation.

Results Day

Coming into the office we had a sense of what was happening, with some counts taking place overnight. It was far from the full picture though, and that would be coming thick and fast in the next few hours.

At this point, we’d liaise with our reporters at election counts to make sure they were settled and ready for what was undoubtedly going to be a very, very busy day.

For me, I was almost immediately preparing for our one-hour special election programme. Whilst I had some content ready in advance, the vast majority of it was to be written, recorded, and edited just before it aired.

Our fantastic reporters put together 4 to 5-minute packages covering their local authority. Some of them attended the most consequential local election in that region’s history and the responsibility of putting that across was certainly not lost.

We welcomed our guest expert, and with the results piling up, we headed into the studio.

When all is said and done...

To have put together a one-hour programme covering a rapidly evolving and historic day of news was no mean feat. But from minute one it was all about working as a team.

From those in the office, constantly editing audio and writing copy, to those asking the hard-hitting questions at the counts, it was the team who really brought the programme to life.

Our guest expert Ed also added so much deep analysis in an entirely accessible way, I definitely learnt a thing or two throughout our various chats.

Heading home I was immensely proud of how the programme came together, but more so of the teamwork that allowed it to happen.