Three months in Broadcasting House: my stint with the BBC

I recently spent three months on secondment at BBC News in BBC Verify at New Broadcasting House (which is the iconic building most people think of when they think of the BBC). From my very first day, I was immersed in a fast-paced environment where I was:

• supporting on the usage of data to populate the BBC News website, which is the largest news site in Europe
• fact checking claims in real-time
• supporting on the range of TV and radio shows the BBC produces

The role

The different tasks and pieces of work tended to fall into 3 main categories.

1. Assessing newsworthy statistics releases each week

This involved using a web scraping tool to pull statistics from GOV.UK and ONS release calendars. I would highlight statistics with headline potential or ones which could be linked to something already in the news.

2. Consulting on data use on the website, in a podcast episode, or on TV

Journalists would ask me for advice on interpreting and presenting figures in their pieces. I would work with them to ensure accuracy and clarity, which could involve:

• advising on survey design or Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
• helping them avoid misleading uses of figures
• helping them create effective data visualisation

3. Longer-term projects and coding

Beyond the day-to-day requests, there was scope to develop longer pitches for story ideas based on emerging data patterns on areas of interest. For me, that was on first time homebuyers.

I also spent time helping to improve and debug code developed to automate chart creation. This would allow for a quicker turnaround for charts for TV and the website when new data releases came out.

Highlights from my time at the BBC

One of my first tasks was drafting ‘copy’ (or text to form part of an article) on annual population statistics when they were released. This was because they related to migration, which was always a topic of interest. I wrote quick, concise lines of text and sent these to editors and the online team. My lines were then quickly pulled into a full article on the main site, which I was pleased about as it was nice to feel I had made an instant valuable contribution.

Soon after this, I did some more detailed analysis, fact-checking claims about crime rates among different nationalities that were dominating news cycles. I worked with colleagues and dove into demographic datasets to provide a more robust assessment of what the data showed, compared with what was dominating the debates. I then drafted an explainer piece which went online and copy for my boss who went on the radio to provide this much needed context for audiences.

Why I would recommend this secondment

If you’re considering spending time with the BBC, I would highly recommend it, as you will gain:

• the ability to work at pace — my Civil Service role is geared towards longer term projects, but my secondment gave me an opportunity to pick up new pieces of work very fast, research them and draft copy to be used immediately, which was very engaging
• coding experience — I gained exposure to tools and code infrastructure the BBC team had built in R to create charts on demand, which allowed me to build on skills I already had and learn best practices for reproducible analysis
• the opportunity to see the communications process from the other side — I have previously worked closely with press office to answer questions from journalists and fielded FOI requests, so it was interesting to see this process from the media perspective and understand the purpose of their requests
• storytelling practice — drafting copy for broadcast and online features sharpened my ability to frame complex figures in an engaging and succinct way

Final reflections

Whilst the BBC and Civil Service have some things in common, working in the News Room felt like a major and exciting change from my day job. If you are considering doing the secondment, you should go for it!

Find out more about how to apply for a secondment to BBC News.