Senior Journalist, Newsnight 18303 – BBC (London)
Job Reference: 18303
Band: D
Salary: £39,800 – £51,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
Contract type: 2 x 6-month Fixed Term Contract/Attachment
Location: Office Base – London
We’re happy to discuss flexible working. Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application. There is no obligation to raise this at the application stage but if you wish to do so, you are welcome to. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.
Excellent career progression – the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
Unrivalled training and development opportunities – our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.
Benefits – We offer a negotiable salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 25 days annual leave with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care and gym. You can find out more about working at the BBC by selecting this link to our candidate pack.
If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process please contact the reasonable.adjustments@bbc.co.uk. For any general queries, please contact: bbchr@bbc.co.uk.
Freelancers are eligible to apply for an internal role if they are on a Worker Contract and they have worked continuously for 6 months. If they have worked for less than 6 months continuously or have a break of 3 weeks or more between engagements, they must seek Divisional HR approval to apply for an internal role prior to submitting an application.
If they are unsure which contract they are on, they can speak to their booker or the HR BP, however if it helps – both a PAYE freelance or Modus Gross contract is considered a Worker contract and covered by the Worker terms found here.
Job Introduction
Newsnight is hiring Senior Journalists on 6-month FTC/attachments. We’re about added-value conversation, consequential interviews and gripping debate and discussion. We’re looking for sharp journalists with creative ideas, good contacts and strong analytical skills. This exciting role involves suggesting and booking fascinating guests, preparing interview briefs, and commissioning graphics. For the right candidate there is also the potential to output the programme. We want a great team player with the ambition and ideas who will help us continue to engage with our linear TV audience, on iPlayer and our social platforms. The Senior Journalist position is critical – the successful candidates will work closely with our high-profile presenters and will cope well with tight deadlines.
We’re the BBC’s big news personality show and our interviews are picked up by the rest of the BBC and broadcast around the world. Our past interviewees include the infamous interview with Prince Andrew. Other guests include Elon Musk, Hillary Clinton, Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Madonna, Dolly Parton, Bill Gates, Greta Thunberg, Prime Minister Trudeau, Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Dalai Lama and David Attenborough.
Main Responsibilities
• The senior journalist will work flexibly across daily output, digital content, bidding for guests, and planning.
• Contributing to a dynamic, supportive and creative work culture.
• Maintain personal effectiveness by managing emotions in the face of pressure and setbacks.
• Demostrate an approach to work that is characterized by commitment, motivation and energy.
• Fix and provide briefs for high-impact interviews with fast turnarounds and tight deadlines.
• To engage, brief and produce high-profile presenters
Are you the right person?
The successful candidate must have:
• Great ideas, drive, enthusiasm, flexibility and sound journalistic and production skills.
• Experience of working in a news environment with fast turnarounds and tight deadlines.
• A good knowledge and understanding of the news agenda.
• Experience of output editing TV, radio programmes or podcasts.
• Track record in making impactful output that gets talked about.
• Extensive experience of leading on the day teams.
• Experience of working with high profile talent.
• Plenty of experience of working on News output.
• Strong editorial judgement
• Extensive knowledge of the news agenda and a track record in supporting trends and stories behind the headlines.
• Excellent script writing skills.
About the BBC
The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC for different reasons and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. Priority consideration means for those employees seeking redeployment their application will be considered alongside anyone else at risk of redundancy, prior to any individuals being considered who are not at risk.
We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours here.
Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual’s unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.
We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.
We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.
To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please click here.
