Royal Editor (Senior On Air Editor), BBC News Content - Job Ref: 13022 (13022)

The Royal Editor will be a key contributor to the BBC’s coverage of major Royal events, across all output, including being part of the main network event programming. Royal stories are among the biggest which the BBC covers; they are reputationally critically important and require a great deal of experience, expertise and editorial judgement.

This Royal Editor role will cover the daily news stories surrounding the Royal family, such as official engagements, charitable events, family occasions and overseas tours. There is also significant audience interest in stories reflecting personal aspects of the Royals and recent controversies. This role would be expected to report on these stories, ensure that our coverage is fair, impartial and engaging audiences, including underserved audiences, as well as placing the latest news in a wider context with explanation and insight.

In addition, a key requirement of this role will be to provide broader analysis of the considerable issues associated with the UK Royal Family, such as the Commonwealth, the legacy of Empire and its role in constitutional affairs. The role holder will also be expected to examine the role of the monarchy in the modern UK and around the world, including exploring historical and cultural aspects of the institution.

The Royal Editor will be a key contributor to the BBC’s coverage of major Royal events, across all output, including being part of the main network event programming. The role holder will also be expected to interview and build contacts with senior members of the Royal family and the Royal household; and to break stories which set the agenda. They will also, when appropriate, be expected to hold the monarchy to account and represent the views of the audience.

Interest in the Royal Family is growing with international audiences – the Royal Editor will be a key component in plans to grow our global reach through distinctive and authoritative journalism on this important specialist area.

The ideal candidate will have a track record of delivering outstanding, agenda-setting journalism on high profile output. They will have the knowledge and experience to provide substantive, insightful, industry-leading analysis and reporting on the Royal family, the UK constitution and the role of the monarchy.

Key requirements are of the role are:

• Extensive experience of lead reporting on major stories and events on a national media outlet with significant impact and reach.
• The ability to provide high level and engaging analysis and commentary, often at short notice on live output, on matters of huge national interest and importance.
• A track record of building contacts, breaking big stories and setting the national news agenda with original journalism and frontline reporting.
• The skills and experience to deliver outstanding content across digital, television and radio - with a particular emphasis on building audiences on the BBC’s online platforms. The successful candidate will also be expected to have the capability to cover significant Royal stories, live and in packages, on flagship BBC broadcast programmes.
• Specialist knowledge and understanding of the Royal family, its history, the UK constitution and the role of the monarchy in the modern world.
• Experience of contributing to long-form documentary content and live event coverage on a national broadcaster.

Band: Fp

Contract: Permanent – full time

Base: London

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, gym and much more .

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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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