Freelance Segment Producer

Job Introduction

The BBC is the world’s leading public broadcaster and BBC News is at the heart of it. We provide trusted news and analysis output to a global audience of millions per week, making us the largest broadcast news operation in the world.

It is an exciting time right now as we have expanded our teams in North America. We are looking to recruit a Freelance Segment Producer who will mainly act as segment producer for our new primetime evening and weekend news coverage.

Based in our friendly bureau in Washington DC, you will bring the latest in international breaking news and headlines to worldwide audiences on our news channel.

Main Responsibilities

As a Freelance Segment Producer you will act as a segment producer for several hours of daily live rolling news coverage.

The position provides a variety of editorial and production support to the News Editor, Assistant Editor, and Senior Journalists, and is an integral part of a team that will redefine and reimagine the relationship between digital and linear news both on air and online.

You will be responsible for producing nuanced, pertinent, live, or taped news segments involving researching, writing, editing video, creating graphics, and writing questions and talking points for Presenter led interviews with journalists, experts, and key players on the world’s top news stories.

You will also be required to contribute to BBC digital video, text, live pages, and social media platforms as assigned. You will be expected to be on top of and have a thorough understanding of global events that define the editorial brand of the network and make full use of the breadth of the BBC newsroom and field resources around the world.

Our Segment Producers work primetime evenings on a rota system including weekends (until midnight).

Are you the right candidate?

To be successful in this role candidates must be creative, curious, efficient, a problem solver, a team player, and demonstrate experience and understanding of live broadcasting and / or digital platforms.

You are passionate about global news and the importance of impartiality. We are looking for somebody who will bring creativity and innovation to how we serve our audiences, on every platform, worldwide.

The successful candidate must have :

• Thorough knowledge of world affairs, current events, geopolitics, foreign policy, and history
• Strong editorial skills : Ability to recognize stories with high potential for provocative, compelling television
• Strong understanding of social media storytelling and news gathering
• Detail oriented and able to work under pressure and meet multiple daily deadlines both on-air and online
• Understanding of newsgathering and / or newsroom production
• Understanding of the fundamentals of news writing and video editing
• Ability to use technology as required, to gather material for broadcast.
• Understands how a team works effectively.
• Able to build and maintain effective working relationships with a range of people.
• Demonstrates a commitment to improving diversity in the BBC and understands how individual differences can benefit the BBC.
• Effective planning and organizational skills, ability to multi-task and deliver consistently to deadlines
• Positive attitude and ability to adapt to changes and evolving priorities.
• An understanding of health and safety procedures and how they apply to broadcasting.
• Ability to work primetime evenings (up to midnight) everyday including weekends.
• Flexibility to work on other tasks where needed due to output and rota needs

This is a local hire position and eligible candidates must be able to live and work in the US