Landing his dream job as a reporter for The Sun means Liam Coleman is covering the biggest national stories alongside some of the UK’s best journalists.
Liam Coleman
It’s taken Liam less than five years since graduating with a master’s in Journalism from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) to work his way up from local newspapers to the UK’s best-known red top tabloid.
The 28-year-old from Ashington in Northumberland said: “I’ve always wanted to work for a national newspaper and it’s a bit of a dream come true to work for one as big as The Sun. I absolutely love it.”
Three months into the job and no two days have been the same for Liam, who has worked on serious stories such as the Sarah Everard case and the Kill the Bill protests, as well as more fun and light-hearted stories.
“We work different shifts with day ones involving going into the office and reacting to breaking news, while night shifts involve more covert jobs, working on tips and building stories with other reporters,” he said.
Articles by Liam published in The Sun
Seeing his name printed in The Sun for the first time has been just one of many highlights to date.
He said: “My first exclusive was the chance to speak to the famous Buckingham Palace ‘prowler’ Michael Fagan, who featured in the latest season of The Crown. I literally got to sit and chat with the man who sat at the end of the Queen’s bed, at the end of his bed. It was great.
“Recently I also had one of my favourite ever stories published. In the run-up to the Euros this summer I got to speak to a football mad sticker fan who has completed every World Cup and Euros sticker book since the 1970s. I’ve always loved writing about what I’m passionate about and this was definitely one of those stories.”
The pandemic’s impact has been felt deeply by journalists across the world, limiting crucial face-to-face interactions and referred to as ‘career-defining’ by many news editors known to Liam.
Liam's favourite published story to date
“Despite the challenges, the pandemic has also meant that a lot of journalists are more valued than ever before. In the last year we have seen the rise of fake news, and how important trusted news sources are, so in some ways it has also helped to shape a better future for journalism,” said Liam.
After graduating from DMU in 2016, Liam worked for the Loughborough Echo for two years before moving to London and securing a job at the Romford Recorder.
He said: “I absolutely loved working at the Echo and I learnt a lot in the first few years of being a journalist. The Recorder was a great patch to cover after moving to London for the first time and it’s where I also got to cover one of my biggest stories so far.
“I was the first journalist to report on the murder of 17-year-old Jodie Chesney, who was stabbed to death in a park. The following day the story was on the front page of every national newspaper, but as the local paper we were the first to cover the story and to break the news. I think that speaks volumes about how integrated we were in the community and how important local news still is.”
Interviewing Lord Coe
A year later, Liam made a significant career move to the Evening Standard, one of London’s biggest newspapers.
“I loved the team and everything we worked on. I covered a lot of crime and spent almost every night at a murder scene, covering stabbings and shootings. I also spent a lot of time speaking to families of the victims, but it was important to give them a voice,” he said.
“At the same time I got to visit some of the wealthiest areas of the city and got to go to red carpet events where I met huge Hollywood movie stars including Penelope Cruz, Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan and Kim Cattrall, so it was a real mixed bag of work every day.”
At the start of the pandemic, Liam was furloughed and he eventually started working freelance shifts at The Sun. He said: “After half a dozen or so shifts, they asked me if I wanted to come on full-time and the rest is history.”
Before his MA, Liam also completed a joint honours English Literature and Journalism undergraduate degree at DMU.
“Without studying journalism I would never have been able to work in the industry, so I have DMU to thank for giving me the best possible start,” he said.
“Learning invaluable skills like shorthand and media law have set me in good stead throughout my career and I’ve even ran into a lot of friends from my course who are working in newspapers too.”
During his time at DMU, Liam was a member of the men’s football team and took on roles at Demon Media, the university’s award-winning student-led media group.
He said: “The football in particular has always helped in everything I’ve done, including making friends and learning from others. I made a lot of really good friends at DMU who I’ve kept in touch with - it all hit home recently because we lost a close friend from our football team and we’ve all been able to support each other.
“I was also a manager of one of the men’s football teams and it taught me a lot. Although we may not have been the most successful team in DMU’s history, I wouldn’t change that for the world.”
Posted on Wednesday 26 May 2021