LANDING the role of North-East correspondent at GB News felt like falling in love for Rachel Sweeney.
“When you know something’s right, you know,” she said, “like falling in love.”
Rachel, who spent 13 years at Tyne Tees, was the first regional reporter appointed by the new 24-hour news channel.
“Although I feel I have a great relationship with North-East viewers I don’t think their voice is loud enough. GB News was looking for someone in this patch, to give it a voice and I just felt this is my calling, this is my time to help them shout about what they’re doing,” she said.
“I think on a regional level our news is excellent but you rarely see North-East stories on national news unless it is about benefits or something and there is more to the region than that.
“People are starting to look at the North-East in a different way for the first time, I’m really proud to be in a place that celebrates that.”
She was proud to report on 14,000 new jobs being created at electric vehicle giga factories and being the only national reporter with a local accent to interview business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng at Sunderland.
And she was delighted to prove Hartlepool United fans wrong by ditching her planned story and spending the night on the Marina, to cover the club’s play-off win and promotion to League Two with presenters Darren McCaffrey and Kirsty Gallagher instead.
Okay @Official_HUFC fans, I heard ya and I've changed my story tomorrow so I can be here for @GBNEWS 👋 I'll be live from 6am talking about that dramatic penalty shoot out! You better not be too hungover to watch! 😂 #HartlepoolUnited https://t.co/lWDhPtTgNB pic.twitter.com/wxwSKwMixR
— Rachel Sweeney (@RachelSweeneyNE) June 20, 2021
Rachel Sweeney with GB News colleagues Colin Brazier, Simon McCoy and Dan Wootton
She said: “When GB News said a priority was to represent the regions – I was in.
“If I say a story is worth five minutes, they say okay and trust me to represent this region.
“They refer to us in editorial meetings as representatives not correspondents, which I love, the bosses respond so positively to our accents, they want us to be ourselves and bring our local humour to stories.
“They are letting us champion where we are from – as someone who is incredibly proud of her roots I’m just so happy to be there.
“I feel really relieved that I have found a national job that allows me to stay in the North-East, I cannot think of another national TV reporter who lives in and represents this region.
“North reporters are always sent up from London, we are lumped in with the North all of the time but we have our own agenda, own unique problems and things to shout about. They don’t give us any time, everything is so London centric.
“The region is changing so much, I want to tell people all over about it.”
Rachel with comedienne mam Sue Sweeney and enjoying having her voice heard from an early age
Rachel, 35, is from a mining family and went to Framwellgate School in Durham and, although she loved her three years studying broadcast journalism at Cheltenham, she couldn’t wait to return.
Her parents are comedienne and radio presenter Sue Sweeney and former footballer Ian Sweeney and three years ago she married Chris, an electrician, and they have a two-year-old son, Archie.
Rachel's family
In its first few weeks, GB News has faced criticism – labelled as poor quality and right-wing, ridiculed for technical difficulties and has lost major advertisers.
“We’ve had some technical problems but, for me, that’s going to happen. We are a start-up business," she said.
"The studio was nothing, just a floor, but they’ve built this incredible set. There’s 150 people who work for GB News and we’re competing against channels with thousands of employees.
“We have a lot of responsibilities as individuals, but together we are making it work. You can forgive a couple of sound problems when they’re given this much time to regional stories.
“So for me, we are human, we are doing our best and we will get there. I ask people to stick with us because great things are happening and I truly believe in this station.”
As for claims it is bias and right-wing, she doesn’t agree.
“Everyone has their view and is entitled to it, I've never had a political conversation with a colleague and I watch and I just don’t think that’s the case.
“I’m focused on my patch, the people here and bringing their stories to people across the UK, and I’m grateful to GB News for giving me that platform.”
However, Rachel is not impartial about her passion for the region and its people.
She said: "We're built on shipbuilding, steel making, coal mining. We make things and make things work for us. Our main resource is our people, we are built of strong stuff.
"And generous – the extreme lengths people will go to for charity consistently amazes me. We make the least and we give the most and that is so special.
"You wouldn’t get that anywhere else.”
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