File 29 - Andrew Sparrow

1 mp3 (32.5 MB) and 1 WAV file (571 MB)

Interview with Andrew Sparrow, Guardian political correspondent. Conducted by Guardian Foundation assistant archivist Charlotte Im on 6 May 2021. Recorded remotely using Zencastr and Google Meet software.

Summary contents of interview (with rough timings):

00:20 Introduction to his role writing the Guardian's daily politics live blog and political articles
01:30 The process of writing the politics live blog including covering UK political news as it happens
04:15 The separate teams covering international politics and occasions when he covers international political news
05:20 Discusses Covid-19 as the biggest issue over the past year including the development of the UK Covid live blog
07:26 Other issues he has covered over the past year including local elections, Scottish independence and Brexit
08:50 Discusses working as part of the House of Commons lobby
10:20 Working alone on the blog but posting contributions from colleagues on the live blog under their names
11:10 How he found it relatively easy to adjust to working from home during the coronavirus pandemic
15:00 Using pagers for communication earlier in his career and more recently WhatsApp
20:40 Discusses covering Brexit
25:25 Interacting with readers through blog comments and Twitter
28:50 Thoughts on what may change in his role in the next few years
32:00 Discusses covering the announcements of the national lockdowns as highlights of the past year

Duration: 34 minutes and 39 seconds.

Creator: Guardian News & Media Ltd (2006-)

The 'archive access' WAV recording is available via the GNM Digital Repository. The master Google Meet mp3 file is closed.

Copyright: Guardian Foundation*