Planning Field Producer SBJ WS Languages

Job description

WS Languages is a key provider of content for the BBC’s global news operation providing news and content in 29 languages across all platforms for both UK and international audiences.

 

Increasingly we are digital first services – honing video, digital, mobile and social content for our increasing audiences.  We are keen to promote bilingual correspondents and key language content to increase impact throughout BBC News, to ensure that Languages can play its part in delivering the 500 million audience target.

 

BBC Africa provides specialist programming for English outlets including Focus on Africa for World Service News and World News and live pages for bbc.com. Four Africa language services now have TV operations and all services have growing digital presence in online and social media output.

Role Responsibility

You will take a leading role in commissioning and shaping the content and original journalism coming from our bilingual correspondents working closely with Planning Editor BBC Africa in London and Africa Bureau Chief based in Nairobi.

 

You’ll be involved in originating ideas, supporting and shaping pitches from bilingual reporters, focussing and structuring pieces, script editing, packaging, and compiling impactful multimedia material.

 

From your base in Nairobi (for the first 12 months of the job) you will be deployed frequently across the continent to produce TV, radio, video, digital and text based material. You will regularly be deployed at short notice for breaking news stories

 

The work you produce will be appropriate and easily reversionable for other languages both in BBC Africa and in wider BBC News and you’ll work with the visual journalism,  the TVU, the Digital Content Hub and other parts of the BBC to get maximum impact from journalism.

 

You will have established and proven links to key domestic and global programmes and a thorough understanding of how the newsdesks both Language WDEs and News WDES work. You will use these contacts to create cross-commissions and suggest how best to exploit languages content for domestic output.

The Ideal Candidate

You’ll be a highly skilled multimedia field producer – with proven experience  producing stories with bilinguals for TV, video, radio and digital in the field, showing sound editorial ability and creativity.

 

You will need to show how you have adapted to differing audiences and forms of media and working remotely with correspondents to develop their skills and help them deliver to a wider audience.

 

You will be a calm, organised and efficient producer, able to juggle competing demands and be able to deal with constantly changing news agenda and priorities, and be a respected advisor by services in your region.

 

You’ll demonstrate a passion for international news as well as a deep knowledge of political, social and economic stories across Africa, as well as globally and a thorough current knowledge and understanding of current affairs.

 

You will have wide experience in news programmes and output at the BBC, and a good working knowledge of systems across news with an understanding of audiences and output for language services.

 

You’ll supplement this with your demonstrable interest of how to exploit a story for our digital audiences. You will understand the mechanisms and contacts within the news group that will help you make and promote original journalism coming from languages services.

 

You are likely to be able to self-shoot and edit material on deployment and/or have creatively directed shoot/edits to produce exceptional material.

 

Importantly you’ll bring creativity and flexibility to the role, as well as a genuine passion for explaining the world to our specific global audiences. You will be interested in nurturing emerging talent from the BBC Languages Services into domestic and English output.

 

There is an additional question we'd like you to answer

As part of your application we'd like you to answer the following question:-

Which reporters, stories and target output would you be suggesting as priorities in 2016 for your region?

When completing the application questionnaire, you will see some space in question for this answer.

Package Description

Contract - Permanent

Based in Nairobi for the first 12 Months, then based in London.

Grade 8/9

Job share applications are welcome for this role.  Please include details of the proposed arrangement in your application.

This role is also available part-time.  Please include details of your availability in your application.

About the Company

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are very important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below. You’ll be asked questions relating to them as part of your application for this role.