Jobs at BBC

The African service digital offer consists of websites, mobile sites and social media with all services providing multimedia content in text, video, interactive and audio for radio, online, TV, mobile and social media platforms.

The Breakdown is BBC Africa’s weekly programme offering in-depth analysis of major news stories/events from around the continent.

We are looking for a Journalist with fluent English language skills to join our team based in Nairobi.  This is a continuing contract.

Role Responsibility

You will play a critical role in programme production and coverage of News Review, Analysis, Media Literacy and News Fact Checking content from across the continent.  You will create content to maximise the programme’s impact and potential in Africa.  This will involve researching, interviewing sources and writing reports for radio, TV and digital platforms.  You will make the best use of new technologies to deliver journalism to our audiences.

The Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate will have demonstrable journalistic experience, ideally in a digital newsroom environment.  Fluency in English, written and spoken, is essential.  You will have experience of delivering creative output for online platforms.  The ability to use data to source stories and enhance story telling is important.  You will also have knowledge of local, regional and international news and current affairs.

Package Description

Contract: continuing – local terms and conditions apply

Any offer of employment is conditional upon you having the right to work in Kenya

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 important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below.

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.

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Job Introduction

At BBC Monitoring, we track, translate, summarise and analyse local media sources to offer insight and make sense of what is happening on the ground around the world. Our international perspective means we keep across broadcast, press and social/digital media sources in multiple languages, especially where reliable news and information are in short supply, or where the BBC has no presence in country. Our extensive operation enables us to provide reliable coverage of political, economic, security and media news. Our round-the-clock monitoring of TV, radio, press, digital media and news agencies is also provided to a wide range of users, including commercial clients.

Role Responsibility

• Select, research, create, edit and publish profiles on personalities, organisations and source information from Africa (and any other relevant region) for BBCM’s reference content
• Be proactive and meticulous in making sure that the Reference content is comprehensive and current, reprioritising as necessary, and planning for upcoming events in the creation and maintenance of data
• Produce timely tip-offs, media reviews, news reports and background information based on the monitoring of vernacular sources from Africa and any other country for which you have responsibility
• Play a role in the planning and strategic development of research as appropriate
• Contribute story ideas and new angles on emerging narratives and long-running stories, including from a data perspective 
• Actively seek feedback from BBCM’s users on our research offering; work with the Editorial Leads and the rest of the teams to interpret this and respond in a timely manner
• Work collaboratively with colleagues in BBC Monitoring and across the BBC, on regular output and bespoke products 
• Ensure all output produced adheres to the highest journalistic standards and is consistent with BBC editorial guidelines
• Contribute to development of other researchers through assisting with training and mentoring
• Prepare and compile multimedia elements for publication, for example video clips, images and maps. Ability to learn and use data reference and news production systems e.g. BBCM reference database, MPS Create and CPS.

The Ideal Candidate

Essential Requirements

• An excellent level of spoken and idiomatic written English
• Good French
• Experience of research and reference databases (or very similar)
• The ability to juggle different tasks and competing priorities
• An understanding of the news and current affairs of Sub Saharan Africa
• An interest in international news and media developments globally
• Good interpersonal and communication skills  

Desirable:

• Regional languages common in African media, including Kinyrwanda/Kirundi, Lingala, or other languages found particularly in Francophone Africa (e.g. Bambara, Arabic, Hausa, Fula/Peul etc). Portuguese or Spanish may also be useful.
• Experience of handling data, or tasks requiring a methodical approach and/or attention to detail and accuracy
• Experience using different tools to gather and organise information
• Flexible and comfortable to work remotely with a dispersed team

See also appendix of attached job description 

Package Description

Contract: Continuing

Location: BBC Offices, Nairobi, Kenya

Local terms and conditions apply

Any offer of employment with the BBC will be conditional upon you having the right to work in Kenya.