"Where do you get the news from?" is a question frequently asked by audiences and the answer is, for the most part, BBC newsgathering. Some news is scheduled and planners and staff, known as news organisers, are able to deploy in advance correspondents, producers, camera crews, and on occasion, the BBC helicopter. Even with advanced warning, meeting the demands of all the BBC outlets can present a challenge for reporters, who might face requests for a two-way - or live interview - in the first minutes of the Today programme just after 06:00, frequent appearances on the News Channel and network radio throughout the day, a piece for the website and a package for the Ten O'Clock TV bulletin, with an update for The World Tonight.
Newsgathering, home and foreign, must also respond to unpredictable events such as murders, floods, transport crashes, earthquakes and wars and rumours of wars. It can be a dangerous calling. Foreign correspondents, producers, camera crews, fixers and translators frequently risk their lives to draw attention to the history of the world as it unfolds.