Senior Journalist Reporter

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 competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 26 days (1 of which is a corporation day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.

Job Introduction

BBC Stoke is looking for a multimedia political reporter with a track record of breaking stories and who can bring politics to life for audiences in creative, engaging and relatable ways.

You’ll be passionate about serving audiences in Staffordshire and understand how to tell stories that cut through on digital and linear platforms. And you’ll need to be comfortable on both sides of the camera, as well as having strong radio skills.

As a senior journalist reporter, you’ll be expected to regularly deliver original journalism that travels across the BBC News website, our social media platforms, Midlands Today, Politics Midlands, Radio Stoke and the wider BBC.

We’re looking for a journalist passionate about Staffordshire’s fantastic communities and who can use their skills and creativity to tell stories that reflect the varied lives of everyone across the county. The ability to explain in engaging ways how local politics affects every audience member is crucial. You’ll also need to have the drive and enthusiasm to build good relationships with colleagues across the BBC.

Main Responsibilities

Working in a digital-first way, you’ll play an important role in editorial planning and output, bringing in stories from the world of local politics and explaining the impact of decisions on real people. You’ll know what stories cut through on social media and what people talk about at the bus stop. Your stories will need to contribute to growing our digital audiences.

Daily tasks include gathering content for all platforms, which can be promoted in creative ways on social media. You’ll write stories for the BBC News website, gather images, video and interviews, provide material for radio bulletins, make pre-recorded packages and report live into Midlands Today, Politics Midlands and Radio Stoke.

You'll work alone on your own initiative, as well as being an integral part of Staffordshire’s local story team based in Stoke-on-Trent. Reporting to the Staffordshire senior journalist team manager, you’ll also have a close relationship with the regional story hub, other West Midlands-based political reporters, our political editor, producer and the planning team. You’ll regularly appear on Radio Stoke across all its output and will work closely with presenters and producers to plan and deliver great content. You’ll need a proven track record in news judgement, an understanding and detailed knowledge of BBC Editorial Guidelines and a heightened awareness of the need for due impartiality.

In this role there’s a strong emphasis on originality and on breaking new ground. It’s about telling the stories of people most directly affected by decisions made by their councillors, regional representatives and MPs, in the most engaging way possible.

Are you the right person?

You’ll put impartiality and the BBC’s values at the heart of everything you do. You’ll have a background in journalism – ideally political reporting or production – and broadcast experience is desirable. You’ll have good writing skills, a strong, confident on-air style, and an ability to communicate often complex political stories in a simple, straightforward and engaging manner. You will have a good knowledge of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines.
You’ll be keen to quickly get to know the patch and its local communities. You’ll already have an awareness of our audiences and will have plenty of ideas about how to engage them.
You’ll have a strong sense of how to adapt your journalism for a digital audience and how to broaden the political news agenda to reach audiences traditionally underserved by the BBC. You’ll be confident reporting into news programmes on TV and radio as well as making sure all stories reach a digital audience.
You’ll have the skills to build strong relationships with key political stakeholders and will be the first point of contact for local MPs and councillors.
You’ll be able to demonstrate an ability to adopt an informal, conversational tone in your reporting and establish good on-screen relationships with all presenting teams, especially at Politics Midlands.
The demands of our business are such that there will be a requirement to work unsociable hours, sometimes in the evenings and at weekends, and there will be a degree of unpredictability. There will be limited opportunity for working from home.