diff --git a/swh/storage/backfill.py b/swh/storage/backfill.py
--- a/swh/storage/backfill.py
+++ b/swh/storage/backfill.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 from typing import Any, Callable, Dict
 
 from swh.core.db import BaseDb
-from swh.journal.writer.kafka import KafkaJournalWriter
+from swh.journal.writer import get_journal_writer
 from swh.model.model import (
     BaseModel,
     Directory,
@@ -520,7 +520,8 @@
         )
 
         db = BaseDb.connect(self.config["storage_dbconn"])
-        writer = KafkaJournalWriter(
+        writer = get_journal_writer(
+            cls="kafka",
             brokers=self.config["brokers"],
             prefix=self.config["prefix"],
             client_id=self.config["client_id"],