Campaigns

The plan is to seek working journalists who would like to be considered for vacancies in Wales, Yorkshire, East Midlands or the Multimedia Newsroom and 1Xtra News in London.

Paul Deal, a former newspaper editor, has moved from being a senior journalist in the BBC's Radio Newsroom to the BBC College of Journalism to manage the talent pool.

He says: "We hope that, through their social or ethnic background, or perhaps through their insights into disability, the people who pass our assessment process will help us to reach out to our many and varied audiences.

"The idea is that when vacancies for broadcast journalists crop up in the pilot areas, the people in our pool would compete with candidates who might have applied directly. It would be down to individual editors to choose the strongest candidate although, in line with existing agreements, BBC employees at risk of redundancy would be given priority consideration.

"There would be support and encouragement for journalists in the pool with expert advice on how to give a good account of yourself at a BBC interview. External people would have access to College of Journalism courses and seminars."

One of those profiled on the Journalism Talent Pool website is Satwant Pandher, who spent two and a half years on local papers before switching to commercial radio and then the BBC. She's now a producer on the BBC News Channel.

"I don't think I would have gained such a range of skills unless I had been working at the BBC. It's a very relaxed and diverse environment with people from all walks of life. I think the perception is that there are not a lot of people from non-white backgrounds. But that's not the case. Everybody is treated as an equal and, best of all, every day is different."

The Journalism Talent Pool is a sister project to the Journalism Trainee Scheme which is also being advertised this week.