When it comes to breaking exclusives in the digital age, accuracy is crucial

This is no time to rest on our laurels or become complacent, especially given the relentless nature of 24-hour news

It can be hard to keep abreast of everything in a fast-paced rolling news environment.

As assistant news editor I’m required to perform a number of roles, be it commissioning and editing stories, managing those articles on the website or coming up with fresh and interesting angles to move them forward.

As news breaks, working out the quickest, most effective and accurate way to tell that story to the reader can be challenging. But as a journalist, there is no greater feeling than knowing that you are ahead of your rivals.

A titbit of information can be the difference between a good story and a great one.

Get things wrong at your peril, however. Once we lose a reader's trust, it is incredibly difficult to get it back. Accuracy is crucial.

The pace is different when you work for a newspaper or an app like The Independent.

You spend a whole day building to the crescendo of the front page, when ultimately a decision is taken on what the best story of the day is. And unless something huge happens, it stays that way.

TV news, meanwhile, is often dictated by logistics, whether a team can get into place, or a satellite link is available.

So it is only when I take a step back that I realise how far we have come as an organisation in the two years I have been here.

The team has come on in leaps and bounds. Encouraged to think, they are consistently breaking exclusives, which is hard to do given the relentless nature of 24-hour news, when there’s always another story to cover.

The addition of some exceptional foreign correspondents has bolstered our already excellent international coverage and many of our long reads have been exceptional.

I can't speak highly enough of Paul Tierney’s report about the “Bambini del Diavolo” gangs in Naples.

Having already been to Downing Street, our Final Say campaign continues to grow.

That said, this is no time to rest on our laurels or become complacent. There is always more news to break.

Hopefully, if we continue to do that well, you'll keep reading.

Yours

Henry Austin

Assistant news editor