ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a wider historical context by developing a brief historical overview of the platform, charting some of its high and low points. It provides a further contextualisation and critique of the practices that are typical of the profession, as exemplified in the commercial and public-sector radio newsrooms of the United Kingdom. This regulatory body is empowered by law to issue licences to broadcast, as well as to impose guidelines for broadcasters to follow and to ensure that those guidelines are adhered to. Interviewing is an essential skill and one that can help a radio journalist turn a somewhat unremarkable story into something really special. The challenge of modern journalists is to find a way to negotiate the often-competing professional, commercial and ethical considerations involved in finding and presenting news, while adhering to a perception of journalism as playing an important role in society.
