Journalist (York)

Job Introduction

BBC North Yorkshire covers one of the largest patches in England, spanning from the beaches of Scarborough to the bustling city of York, the spa town of Harrogate to the rural Yorkshire Dales.

We’re now looking for a motivated and multi-skilled journalist to join our team to help tell the stories of this vibrant and varied region.

You’ll need to be a top-class journalist who puts the audience first to tell fantastic people-led stories for multiple platforms. You should be a self-starter bursting with original ideas and have strong communication skills to work with different teams to make sure your stories travel as far as possible.

Every day in this role will be different from potentially covering a court case one day to reading the news on the radio another. Strong online writing skills and an understanding of digital audiences are essential for this role. Experience working in radio is also strongly preferred.

Main responsibilities

• Come up with high-impact ideas for local news stories that serve the BBC Local audience and also have the potential to travel to national and international audiences.
• Originating and producing stories for the BBC News website which can also be used on other outlets, as well as turning round content from wires and press releases. This can include breaking news, court reporting and other stories with legal complexities.
• Originating and producing stories for radio news bulletins on BBC Radio York. You may also be asked to present radio news bulletins.
• Working with colleagues to ensure all our journalism works across digital, TV, and audio platforms including radio programmes and BBC Sounds.
• Tailoring different news treatments for different audiences ensuring that the output reflects the audiences we serve.
• Exercise editorial judgment in developing story ideas and producing fair, accurate, balanced, and impartial journalism.
• The ability to use a range of audio, video, and digital equipment as well as information technology to research, write, assemble, edit, and deliver programmes and bulletins in the most appropriate medium and to the highest professional standards.
• Delivering to tight deadlines while maintaining the highest editorial standards.
• Carry out duties at all times in accordance with the BBC’s Health and Safety policy and Editorial Guidelines.

Are you the right candidate?

To be successful you will …

• Have significant experience as a journalist, ideally with a good knowledge of court reporting and breaking news coverage.
• Be a self-starter who knows a good local story and how to find it.
• Be able to demonstrate a creative approach to story-telling.
• Have effective planning and organisational skills, including the ability to concentrate on several areas of work at one time, delivering consistently to deadlines and reacting positively to changes and conflicting priorities.
• Demonstrate sound editorial and policy decisions based upon a clear understanding of the BBC’s distinctive news agenda, the requirements of news and current affairs coverage and the audience.
• Demonstrate a commitment to improving diversity in the BBC and understand how individual differences can benefit the BBC.
• You will have demonstrable experience of embracing technology, adopting new skills and adapting to the changing demands of a digital working environment.
• Newsreading experience is encouraged.
• Reliability, and a track record of working well on your own and under pressure.
• Teamwork – particularly working cooperatively in a large, and sometimes complex organisation.

Job package

Job Title: Journalist (York)

Job Reference: 21765

Band: C

Salary: £27,300 - £35,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

Contract type: Permanent role

Location: Office Base is York. This is a hybrid role and the successful candidate will balance office working with home working.

Final date to apply: Monday 10th March 2025.

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 and much more.

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 you are on a Worker Contract and have worked continuously for 6 months. If you have worked for less than 6 months continuously or have a break of 3 weeks or more between engagements, you must seek Divisional HR approval to apply for an internal role prior to submitting an application.

If you are unsure which contract you are on, you can speak to your booker or the HR BP, however both a PAYE freelance or Modus Gross contract is considered a Worker contract and covered by the Worker terms found here.

Please note that the application process will require you to upload a CV and complete the online application form with the opportunity to detail your experience, skills and knowledge required for the role.

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.

Please note; If you were to be offered this role, the BBC will conduct Employment screening checks which include Reference checks; Eligibility to work checks; and if applicable to the role, Safeguarding and Adverse media/Social media checks. Any offer made is conditional on these checks being satisfactory.