When I arrived at the Adrian Flux Arena to shadow EDP Sports journalist Gavin Caney, it became evident that preparation is a key part of any reporter's job.

An hour before the tapes were due to go up on the big speedway meeting between King's Lynn Stars and Poole Pirates, Gavin was already armed with statistics, rider knowledge, historical facts and news about the visiting team.

Talking to Gavin about the report he was expected to write that evening, he explained that he already knew the amount of words he would have to write and the layout of the article, as the page template had been set up earlier in the day by the EDP designers.

Only minutes into the evening it became clear that social media also plays a major role in modern day journalism. As we got closer to the start of the meeting, Gavin was keeping Twitter followers of @GavinCaney up to date with latest team news and track conditions. Preparations still didn't stop there. The heat-by-heat update page for EDP website users still needed some finishing touches before going live.

It made me think about the impact that social media has had on journalists. Gavin and I discussed how social media has given everybody a voice, the chance to be a journalist, and to publish 'stories' 24 hours a day.

That leaves Gavin always feeling like he has to check his phone, separating fact from speculation and even translating stories and tweets from foreign countries! Gavin admitted, 'Sometimes I just have to ignore twitter and forget about it for a while. In a way, social media has made my job harder, as it means there's another thing to keep my eye on.'

Then came the bombshell.

Gavin suddenly had to rush down to the pits, to interview some of the world's top riders and get quotes from the team managers. He was on the phone to the sports desk, to inform them of the news and he was waiting to hear if he'd need to change the length of his article - all this whilst keeping his Twitter users up to date.

There was also time for a quick chat with his colleague, EDP photographer, Ian Burt to check there were enough suitable photos to accompany his article.

Gavin then took the decision to pack up, and finish his article from home - giving him a chance to listen back to his interviews, and consider his thoughts on the night's controversial events.

What was the bombshell you may be wondering? Well, thanks to the 'Great' British weather, the meeting was rained off. So there was no speedway, but still an important story to write!

Click here to follow Gavin's sports updates, and listen to his new speedway podcast, EDP Home Straight.Emily Oxbury, 15, Thorpe St Andrew School