Ethan Davies

I’ve been a journalist for three years. My career has taken me from council meetings in Cheshire to (very) minor internet fame thanks to Jackie Weaver and Handforth Parish Council — and then on to stand-offs in Bolton, murders in Manchester, and political exclusives from Liverpool. Throughout that period, I’ve immersed myself in newsroom culture, from the ‘get-out-and-go’ of live news to schmoozing contacts. I’ve always tried to sympathise and empathise with every person, group, or organisation I’ve covered.

“Town and out” — Vox pops are the bread and butter of any journo, and this story is the product of a fortnight of voxing, speaking to residents in Manchester city centre, plus those living in the suburbs. After a report suggested Manchester’s rapid development was resulting in a new tower block being built every two months over the last five years, we wanted to understand how it impacted the Mancunian populace. Having gone out with photographers over two weeks, we then compiled a list of positives and negatives residents told us about, working out where there seemed to be a consistent, tangible issue. We then put those lists of concerns to the council press office, while I worked on several contacts in the city centre to provide more background information on what the feeling was among those steering the city’s development. The result was this feature, co-authored with weekend editor Chris Osuh, which was the splash for the M.E.N. on Sunday edition when the Conservatives came to town for their annual conference. It was discussed at length on Times Radio that day. Casinos — This story took months of hard work to complete, starting by playing slot machines to get a feel for how they can hook people into gambling. I visited two casinos and one adult gaming centre twice on different days to record colour on what it was like inside. After that, I found the director of an NHS gambling clinic who gave the story much-needed authority on how slot machines lead to addiction. From there, we approached the very-media-hostile gambling industry for comment, and having secured the relevant replies, I finally found an addict who had beaten his demons and was candid about how gambling ruined his life. The story was read widely, and praised by other journalists. It’s set to be the blueprint for other investigations into social ills the M.E.N. undertakes. Tourist tax — Contact-building has been a key focus of mine while working the city patch, and this story shows that’s paid off. A councillor tipped me off that a tourist tax was to be introduced, and after doing some digging in a BID’s publicly available documentation, found another contact who could stand it up. With the story double-sourced, we ran it — and months later, secured an exclusive interview with the new accommodation BID boss, which collects the tax. The story was quickly picked up by the BBC and the main nationals, with the Daily Mail featuring it on its front page.