The Community Channel : London 360

On Friday, the Flavour Team headed down to City Hall in London Bridge for an afternoon of inspiration, speeches, screenings, celebrity interviews and laughter.

The Community Channel, run by the Media Trust, is an online channel which is also on Sky TV and Freeview. The channel is run by columnist and broadcaster Jasmine Dotiwala and gives young aspiring reporters the chance to represent their community by delivering the latest news locally in London.

The event is backed by celebrities such as Noel Clarke, Alesha Dixon, Chipmunk, Trevor Nelson and others. The channel gives scope to display a positive image of real life London, not just delivering the negative side of urban London like mainstream media does oh-so-frequently.

We took to our seats to see Jasmine, Trevor Nelson and the young budding reporters take to the stage to deliver some endearing, funny and at times serious speeches about the project; where we learnt how drastically the programme has changed some young people’s lives. Jasmine said many of her reporters who worked on the first series went on to “work at Sky, ITN and even The Jeremy Kyle Show!”

We then watched clips of the programme, showing Boris Johnson and many others speaking about young London and the issues that affect us all. Discussions ranged from the elderly, the needy and even the dangers of Rickshaws in Central London.

In the audience was Adam Deacon, Sway and Bashy amongst other influential public figures.

Once the screening was over, the Flavour Team went to speak to Trevor Nelson, Princess Nyah, Bashy, Adam Deacon, Sway and DJ Manny Norte to see what they thought of the project and what their thoughts are on the youth today. Keep posted to Flavour Mag to see these video interviews – coming online soon.

I left City Hall feeling warm and happy; you couldn’t help it after seeing the immense positivity and motivation in these young people. It was a realisation that the next generation hold all of the power – they will shape our country in the years to come. This is what makes projects like The Community Channel so very important; young people certainly need more outlets like this to exercise their positive ambitions. A very hopeful, innovative and inspiring project, I will be looking out to see what these guys do next.