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Partly fself-indulgence, and partly because editors may be reading this (my DMs are v much open!) I wanted to share some of the work that I'm most proud of from my time at BuzzFeed. Our editors let us explore our own ideas and get out on the ground, and I'm so grateful for that.
Soon after I started as a general news reporter, Theresa May surprised us all with a general election!
I spent seven weeks in the north where I covered a whole range of things including the implosion of UKIP: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/ukip-is-completely-imploding-in-its-top-northern-target-seat
I spent seven weeks in the north where I covered a whole range of things including the implosion of UKIP: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/ukip-is-completely-imploding-in-its-top-northern-target-seat
I called the overconfidence from the Tories pretty early on (remember that shock result?): https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/labour-activists-say-the-tories-arent-bothering-in-some
And I reported that the Conservatives had set their sights on North West Durham long before that fateful night in December last year... https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/the-conservatives-are-targeting-labours-strongholds-in-the
I was in Manchester for the election campaign, and remember the call from newsdesk saying there had been an explosion in the city centre. I was at the scene within 20 minutes. It was harrowing and awful but I was there to provide fast & accurate reporting: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/ariana-grande-concert
After a day reporting on the Manchester terror attack I arrived home late, and then another message from newsdesk. There'd been an attack in London. I spent the night on twitter and on the phone, which resulted in this lovely story: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/witness-describes-scenes-of-panic-during-borough-market
And in this piece, @emilydugan and I wrote about the politics behind these terror incidents: https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilydugan/this-former-police-commander-says-cuts-to-community
That horrible summer also saw the Grenfell Tower fire. The worst incident I've been to in my time as a reporter, and something I still think about often.
I remember tracking down the man who wrote the blog warning of the risks, and speaking to him first: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/the-man-who-warned-of-the-catastrophic-fire-risk-at
I remember tracking down the man who wrote the blog warning of the risks, and speaking to him first: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/the-man-who-warned-of-the-catastrophic-fire-risk-at
During my time as a general news reporter I was really proud to write stories that really mattered to women, like this piece on domestic abuse, before Theresa May introduced her flagship domestic abuse bill: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/three-quarters-of-women-fleeing-domestic-violence-are-being
And this piece about women who had been forced into prostitution as teenagers fighting to get their convictions overturned (they won!) https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/a-group-of-women-who-were-sexually-exploited-as-teens-want
I also covered the Barcelona terror attack — I flew out there alone, with no interpreter or fixer, and yet managed to cover press conferences and interview witnesses with a *very* limited grasp of Spanish, and zero Catalan: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hannahalothman/cambrils-witnesses
One of my favourite things I did at BuzzFeed was tell people's personal stories. I would be so nervous on publication day, worrying that they'd hate it, but I never got it wrong. This was one of them: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/this-is-what-its-like-to-find-out-youre-the-son-of-a-child
And another thing we were able to do was give the time to stories that they deserved, and expose really important social issues like this one: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/heres-why-children-in-the-north-are-so-much-more-likely-to
I also worked with @jimwaterson to expose sexual harassment in Westminster. Giving a voice to women who had previously feared speaking out is one of the things I am most proud of: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/ivan-lewis-suspended
We were able to travel, to get up and down the country to meet people. It made us able to tell their stories so much better, like this one from Derbyshire: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/this-womans-family-say-she-and-her-killer-were-both-failed
Also this didn't take a lot of groundwork and any particularly skilled reporting, but it was just something I spotted on Facebook and is my favourite story ever, so I'm going to include it: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/a-little-boy-thought-this-accountant-with-a-white-beard-was
Remember those awful comments about homeless people from Windsor's council leader? I got right to the heart of the story, when others only asked people for their opinions on what he'd said: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/windsor-councils-leader-wants-vagrants-out-before-the-royal
This completely harrowing story took months of research; tracking people down, looking through old documents, trawling messageboards and forums. I think it was worth it: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/this-is-what-its-like-to-be-put-to-sleep-so-you-cant-resist
I am also very grateful to have been able to write about sex work — something a lot of news organisations just ignore. I knew this was a big issue, but it took months to build relationships, gain trust, and find these case studies, but I did it: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/police-forces-are-failing-sex-workers-who-come-to-them-as
I then joined the lobby and started writing about politics full time. Around the same time, I started reporting on antisemitism in the Labour Party, which I never really stopped doing: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/at-least-10-of-labours-sitting-councillors-or-local
I also wrote about abortion quite a bit, including this very nerdy explainer — I was so relieved when legal twitter said it was worth reading! https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/the-supreme-court-has-said-that-northern-irelands-abortion
And I continued writing about domestic abuse. I got so, so many emails from women in similar positions after I published this piece, and this issue was eventually addressed in the domestic abuse bill: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/this-woman-lost-custody-of-her-children-after-the-courts
The issue of rape survivors having their counselling notes used against them in court became a big talking point fairly recently, but I was the first to report it some time before: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/this-woman-is-fighting-to-stop-lawyers-from-using-notes
I think one thing we did really well as a team was show the human cost of policy failings. This story I wrote about failings in adolescent mental health services is so sad, but so important: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/this-is-what-its-like-to-lose-your-daughter-after-mental
This story on welfare funding cuts is another example of that: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/universal-credit-social-fund-crisis-funding
I spent far too long writing about Labour's Brexit position. This piece with @alexGspence exposed the various power struggles within the party: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/labour-row-brexit-liverpool-unions-momentum
I also got to write about the bits of legislation most of the lobby wasn't paying attention to in the midsts of Brexit, like this piece on forced marriage: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/forced-marriage-bill-tory-latham-legal-age-home-office
I promise I won't share anything else on Labour's Brexit position, but I wrote about it for a long time, and I think this was my best piece on it: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/labour-brexit-inside-story
One thing BuzzFeed was really great at was giving young people a voice: which @laurafleur and I did in this piece: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/these-young-people-want-to-vote-against-brexit
And we were pretty good on insider-ey Westminster stuff. @alexwickham & I knew about the Independent Group before it happened, and we even had all the names except one (Ann Coffey surprised us) https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/30-mps-labour-independent-group
Anyway, this thread is getting really long so I'm going to skip all the months of Theresa May losing Brexit votes and fast-forward to the general election. I was the first to write about Labour misdirecting resources (at huge eventual cost): https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/labour-activists-marginal-seats
And after spending weeks visiting towns and cities in the north of England, I predicted that Corbyn's leadership would be what cost Labour the election: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/labour-north-brexit-corbyn
And throughout my time working in Westminster one of the things I think I've done well is talking — and listening — to staff: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/labour-staff-redundant-grievance
