Production Journalist in Birmingham

Our News team delivers high quality and trustworthy television and online coverage that regularly attracts audiences in excess of 3.5 million viewers. It’s a fast moving environment with a huge variety of roles and challenges on offer. We operate in 11 main news production centres across England, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Channel Islands. We also have a Political Unit and a Weather centre based in the heart of Westminster. And finally, we produce a range of current affairs & factual programming out of ITV Wales, UTV and ITV Border.

The role

We are looking for an experienced and multi-skilled Production Journalist to join our broadcast and digital news team at ITV News Central, which holds the Royal Television Society award for the best regional news programme and prides itself on editorial excellence. We are a multi-platform operation so you will be enthusiastic about developing an online presence through our website, social media and the ITV Central regional rail on ITVX.

We’re looking for a candidate who is self-motivated and enthusiastic, someone who has lots of story ideas relevant to this richly diverse part of the UK, that will work across digital platforms, and on TV. They should strive for creative production and be excellent in working as a team — essential skills in broadcast news. They’ll have a contacts list bulging with links to different communities and a clear understanding of how to get stories to air and onto our digital platforms. They’ll thrive with a demanding and changing workload, meeting tight deadlines and staying calm and approachable under pressure.

The role is based in our Birmingham newsroom and the successful candidate will already have experience working on television and digital news production. The role involves producing our bulletins during Good Morning Britain, as well as lunchtime, late and weekend bulletins, plus you’ll be curating our website, identifying appropriate stories for social media, and publishing our stories on ITVX, along with story planning. Therefore, it’s expected you’ll have a passion for creativity, strong editorial judgement and excellent organisational skills. You will be brimming with ideas for original stories and a passion for digital curation, producing content that enhances our reputation and engages our digital audience.

You will have excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to demonstrate good working relationships with colleagues and external contacts. You will have excellent editorial judgement and social media skills, and you’ll know what gets the Midlands talking. You will have qualified in media law and have a thorough understanding of the Ofcom Code.

Skills you’ll need (minimum criteria)

• Fully qualified NCTJ, BJTC or equivalent experience
• Working knowledge of Ofcom code, media law and compliance
• The ability to generate, research and develop original ideas and taking a creative approach to storytelling, treatments and production for both on-air and online
• Knowledge and understanding of digital platforms and how to tap into new audiences online
• Excellent organisational skills and demonstrate the ability to plan multiple stories while prioritising tasks
• Strong writing skills for TV and digital (accurate spelling and grammar essential).
• Excellent news judgement
• A strong knowledge of the Midlands and an awareness of the types of stories that engage our audiences

Other things we’re looking for (key criteria)

• The ability to work well in a team environment
• The ability to be self‑motivated and quick‑thinking, demonstrating resilience in what is often a busy newsroom environment across day, early, late and weekend working
• The willingness and aptitude to learn other skills and to be happy to share skills with others
• The ability to work to deadlines
• Able to make decisive decisions under pressure
• A positive attitude to work
• A resilience and ability to thrive working in a constantly changing news agenda
• Excellent attention to detail
• An enthusiasm and willingness to embrace further changes in technology and workflow.
• The aptitude to use the full range of digital newsroom technology
• Clear understanding of and commitment to DE&I and Health & Safety policies
• Able to bring in stories from underrepresented people from across our region as well as underrepresented parts of the Midlands

ITV is for Everyone and we want to ensure that ITV Central reflects our audience both on screen and in our teams. We encourage applications from Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent people and People of Colour to help us achieve our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion goals.

Newsrooms are busy and pressurised environments, involving live news production, which often requires colleagues to make quick decisions under pressure. We also need people who are able to use their initiative and, particularly for editorial roles, know what information might be required and how to research it.

We will always consider any request for reasonable adjustments as part of the interview process, for example sharing key themes when that is requested in connection with a neurodivergent condition, whilst still ensuring that we are able to test a candidate\'s ability to operate in the specific environment of a newsroom.

Please note, this role will be subject to a satisfactory disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)