Taite Johnson
Taite Johnson reports on live events, community stories and entertainment for WalesOnline and associated local titles, with a focus on how news and culture play out in everyday life. Johnson’s coverage ranges from real-time reporting on major concerts and city events to detailed accounts of local incidents, consumer warnings and public safety alerts. Across music, sport and human interest pieces, Johnson brings together straightforward news writing and clear summaries of what happened and who is affected. In March 2023 Johnson publicly announced a community reporting role at the masthead, inviting readers to send in stories and tips.
Live coverage of concerts and city events
Johnson covers major nights out with on-the-ground updates and practical information, including detailed listings for Bonfire Night firework displays and related events in Cardiff in 2025. The Metallica M72 tour date at Principality Stadium in Cardiff is handled in a rolling live update format, following metal fans as they flock to the show and capturing the scale of the event.
In the Bonfire Night guide Johnson stresses that tickets are selling fast and urges readers to book quickly, underlining a service-driven approach to entertainment coverage. Reporting on superfans buying the iconic Gavin and Stacey house in Barry adds a cultural layer, showing how television and fandom shape local places and experiences. This strand of work situates music and entertainment firmly within everyday planning, focusing on dates, venues and access rather than long-form criticism.
Breaking local news and public safety
Johnson reports serious incidents in a straight news format, including coverage of a crash in which a six-year-old boy died and a 39-year-old man was arrested. The crash article sets out the age of the child, the arrest, and the time of publication, reflecting an emphasis on verified police information and clear chronology.
Johnson has also reported on the recovery of a man’s body from the River Tawe in Swansea, sharing the development as a live update to inform local readers quickly. Consumer safety sits alongside crime and incident coverage, with a piece warning parents to keep children away from a toy that has been formally recalled.
The warning combines recall information with explicit instructions for parents, aligning safety advice with news reporting and reinforcing Johnson’s role in conveying urgent, practical messages.
Community and human interest reporting
Johnson frequently writes human interest stories that trace the impact of events on families and communities, adding emotional context to the news agenda. One recent piece focuses on a father’s last words to his daughter before a parasailing tragedy, highlighting the family’s experience and grief. Another reports on a hotel reopening after a period of use for temporary housing, explaining how the change affects local residents and the business as it returns to normal operations.
Johnson also pulls together death notices from across Wales, presenting families’ tributes and basic information about those who have died as a quiet community record. In sport-related coverage Johnson co-writes about the personal struggles behind performance, such as Team GB diver Freddie Woodward’s battle with pornography addiction that began when he was 12, connecting elite sport with wider conversations about mental health and relationships.
Across these pieces, Johnson keeps focus on ordinary people rather than institutions, consistent with a community reporting brief.
Local entertainment, shopping and cross-beat work
Johnson’s articles appear across news, sport, entertainment and shopping sections of the masthead, linking everyday life, leisure and consumer issues.
The Bonfire Night guide sits within the “What’s On” offering and is framed around helping readers find and book events across Cardiff. The toy recall warning is published in a shopping context, connecting product news with clear guidance for families.
Johnson’s sport feature on Freddie Woodward runs in the sports section while still centring personal and psychological themes, illustrating how the reporter carries a human-interest lens into different verticals. Alongside freelance-indexed work for the South Wales Echo, this pattern shows a portfolio that moves between music events, community news, safety information and personal stories while retaining a direct, accessible style.
4 more music journalists.
Abigail Kellett
Abigail Kellett is a news reporter at the Halifax Courier who stands out for visually led coverage that shows how culture, nightlife and local life play out on the ground. She documents gigs, festivals and major live shows at venues such as The Piece Hall through curated photo sets that capture atmosphere, crowd and setting as much as performers, and she uses extensive image galleries to tap reader nostalgia for nights out in Halifax town centre. Her beat spans arts, entertainment, going out, heritage, books and literary events, along with community life, people stories, local challenges, milestones, transport, regeneration, lifestyle and food. She reports through photographs, checklist-style features, reader-driven lists and roundups of most-read stories, turning announcements, programmes, author events, festivals, shop lists and everyday characters into stories about place, shared memory and how people spend their time.
Adam Lyon
Adam Lyon is a digital audience and content editor whose news beat sits at the intersection of Ayrshire’s cultural life, business environment and public affairs. He works for the Ayr Advertiser and as Digital Audience & Content Editor for Newsquest in the west of Scotland across multiple weekly titles. He covers Ayrshire news with a strong thread of music and local culture alongside business, courts and public affairs. He reports on music when it has a clear community or national hook, treating songs as news events rather than reviews. His business work explains how local firms and retail policy shape town centres. His court coverage uses round-ups of sheriff court cases to show patterns and outcomes. He also fronts video previews and is active in a football supporters trust community.
Adam Maidment
Adam Maidment is a senior What’s On and LGBTQ+ reporter whose work links big-name gigs, new venues and cultural flashpoints to everyday fan culture and inclusion. He covers music, nightlife and the wider cultural scene for the Manchester Evening News, focusing on how concerts, openings and immersive events land with real people and communities. His beat spans live music, arenas and stadiums, new restaurant and bar openings, food reviews, exhibitions, street art and nightlife infrastructure, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ audiences and neighbourhoods. He reports on venue ambitions and problems, cultural institutions and equality issues, and franchise-led experiences, using straightforward, on-the-ground reporting and clear description. Drawing on a background in community reporting, he looks for underrepresented perspectives and uses social media, analytics and local sourcing to find stories where culture, identity and place meet.
Alex Rigotti
Alex Rigotti is a freelance music and culture editor and journalist who joins fast-turnaround music news with detailed reporting on artists, fandom and politics. They report breaking stories and live music updates for NME and Paste Magazine, covering pop, rock, club music, underground scenes and cultural debates around art and identity. Their live-music beat includes setlists, tours, festival appearances, cancellations, ticketing, venues and onstage collaborations. They previously served as a contributing editor for NME’s Radar section, supporting coverage of emerging artists and new scenes. Rigotti also writes features on rap lyrics and criminalisation, Eurovision and politics, queer feminist bodybuilding, astrotherapy and contemporary art. Their reporting is direct and specific, using clear quotes, concrete details and artists’ own words to explain what happened and how music fits into wider cultural and industry trends.