[Keith]

Another chapter in the long-running story of bizarre decision-making and questionable management at BBC News -- particularly in relation to issues of recruitment and HR (see also: the 'exiled' five; the Huw Edwards debacle; the high-profile hiring of Yalda Hakim, who loved working at the new BBC News channel so much that she left four months later; etc).

And now:

deadline.com 

This wouldn't be the first time that BBC News have recruited externally, instead of simply opting for an internal candidate.

Surely external candidates are likely to demand a higher salary than an internal candidate. It's also unsurprising why some BBC News staff may be unhappy with them opting for external recruitment, considering the recent redundancies over the couple years.

The 'written test' part if true sounds like a HR attempt to be seen to be fair to everyone. It's probably a generic thing designed to include all BBC News posts, particularly for overseas positions, where English may not be the person's first language. However, it overlooks common sense of looking at the candidate's back catalogue of work, which for internal candidates would surely be easy for the BBC to do.