Job package

Job Title – Senior Journalist – Disinformation Africa
Job Reference: 18969
Band: D
Contract type: Fixed Term Contract or Attachment until October 2025
Location: Lagos, Abuja (Nigeria), Nairobi (Kenya), or Johannesburg (South Africa) – local terms and conditions apply

Final date to apply: Sunday 27th October 2024

Given the time-sensitive nature of this role, the successful candidate will already be located in Lagos, Abuja, Nairobi or Johannesburg.

Any offer of employment with the BBC will be conditional upon you having the right to work in the country where the role is based.

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.


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 and a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance. You can find out more about working at the BBC by selecting this link to our candidate pack.

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.

Job introduction

Challenging disinformation globally is a strategic objective for World Service Languages.

The World Service Languages Disinformation Team works in multiple languages to observe, report and investigate disinformation trends, verify and debunk misinformation, and create digital material to help people recognise and avoid 'fake news'.

Fact-checking asks ‘what is right/wrong’; disinformation journalism also asks who is spreading the bad information, how it is getting it to you, and why they want you to believe it.

The Global Disinformation Team uses data-driven research and cutting edge forensic and OSINT techniques alongside traditional journalism, to bring audiences these stories in an accessible, engaging format – in English and local languages.

The team produces outstanding, acclaimed original journalism showing how disinformation campaigns and the bad actors behind them cause real-world harm.

We are looking for a talented Senior Journalist to focus on production of disinformation stories in Africa.

Main responsibilities

• Overseeing systematic tracking of spread of disinformation across Africa’s digital platforms
• Identifying trends in spread of disinformation content using OSINT techniques, analytic tools and traditional journalism techniques
• Producing and commissioning human interest stories that have a local perspective but global importance and show the impact of disinformation and conspiracy theories on people’s lives
• Encouraging and supporting language services to pitch story ideas that inform audiences about the global threats of disinformation
• Coordinating planning, production and publication of joint editorial projects between Disinformation Unit and other teams across Content and Output and the pan BBC community of disinformation journalism
• Producing accurate, fast-reaction reports to debunk viral misinformation that matters to language services and their audiences
• Creating engaging video, audio and text formats that enable audiences to see transparently how we do our reporting
• Planning for coverage of big news events which might give rise to fake news
• Going on air to share editorial insights with our audiences
• Working closely with editorial teams to improve collaboration in content production and sharing resources
• Explaining complex data stories through graphics, charts and other visual journalism tools
• Using audience participation tools and collaborating with Marketing and Audiences, Global Digital, Impact teams, etc. to be aware of our audiences’ needs and interests and engage with them

Are you the right candidate?

• Excellent written and spoken English, and the ability to communicate effectively
• Fluency in at least one African language is advantageous
• Experience in live and pre-recorded reporting/presentation of complex stories to diverse audiences
• Experience of reaching new audiences on social and knowledge of social media best practice
• Success in translating complex, often data-heavy stories into imaginative and compelling multi-platform content
• Strong track record of using and leading the use of OSINT and other forensic tools and techniques and data-driven research to produce news-making content
• Demonstrable success of significant involvement in complex, high-impact disinformation investigations, including experience of working with Editorial Policy, Legal, High Risk and other BBC teams to ensure stories are covered in a safe and responsible manner
• A successful record in digital news production, with experience of writing text and producing video content to the highest editorial standards, and experience of using that content to create reversionable assets for other BBC platforms
• Proven ability to successfully work with colleagues remotely on complex editorial projects
• A self-starting individual – you will be able to come up with ideas, get them commissioned made and delivered efficiently and picked up by teams and platforms across BBC news
• A clear understanding of the needs and profile of our target audiences across World Service and the ability to translate these into imaginative and compelling multi-platform content
• The ability to plan and organize time and resources effectively and to manage projects to conclusion according to deadlines
• The ability to work fast, accurately and under pressure

About the BBC

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.