Online journalism students from the University of Central Lancashire have set up a comprehensive website for researchers and reporters covering tomorrow’s (Thurs Nov 23) Preston by-election.

A team of nine has put together www.preston2000.com which covers the candidates, the constituency and local issues in great depth. There is also an online discussion forum where visitors to the site can debate issues raised by the election campaign.

The students are among a group of 20 who are studying for either an MA or a post-graduate diploma in online journalism at Preston.

David Singleton, the site’s political editor, told HoldTheFrontPage: “We all come from different backgrounds. Some of us have been reporters, others have come from PR, marketing and advertising. It’s been good because everyone’s been able to use their skills for a different part of the site.

“On Thursday night, we plan to have the results up on the screen as they are announced. Also afterwards we hope to get reaction from the winners and losers.

“We imagine the site will have a shelf life of about two weeks after the by-election before it becomes moribund, and then we’ll start thinking about our next project.

“We’ve been in contact with the political editor of the Lancashire Evening Post, Kevin Hegarty, who has given us some good advice on covering the election.

“The site has received attention from all over place. BBC Manchester sent us a nice letter congratulating us on our hard work and Charles Kennedy came in to see us working on the site so we got a picture taken with him.”

One of the web reporters, Jenny Green, said: “It was quite interesting interviewing the different candidates because they all seemed to fit their party’s stereotypes!

“We got a lot of the work out the way quite early on, before our course became more involved. There are about 20 of us on the course. The others will probably get better marks because they’ve been able to spend more time on their course work!”

And David’s prediction on the result: “I think Labour will probably win it. They’ve got such a big majority. Bill Chadwick (Liberal Democrat candidate) has been very confident but it’s going to take a lot to overturn that majority.”

The other seven members of the website team are: Oonagh Jaquest, David Schaffer, David Cairns, Moira Steggles, Gavin McLaughlin, Sean McColgan and Michelle Nicholson.

The by-election has been called following the death of sitting MP Audrey Wise.

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