Senior Media Officer - National Media Team

Context and Background

The NSPCC is the leading charity focused on preventing child cruelty in the UK. We believe that together, we can stop child abuse and neglect. Creative, effective communications that reach a wide audience, build relevance, and enhance our reputation are crucial to delivering our vision and goals. The NSPCC’s sector-leading press office plays a big part in this work by raising awareness of the organisation’s work to influence politicians, fundraise and provide services for children and their families. Week-in-week-out the busy team provides journalists with powerful proactive stories and quick-off-the-mark reaction that generates consistently high levels of media coverage across local, national, consumer and specialist print, broadcast and online outlets.

This role is to be part of the National Media Team, working closely with a Media Manager, another Senior Media Officer and a Press Office Assistant to promote the NSPCC’s major policy-change campaigns and priorities, predominantly via national print, broadcast and digital media. Key areas of focus will include child protection and children’s social care, child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, online safety, early years, education and children’s experience of the justice system. The successful candidate will be expected to develop a network of contacts within the national media, using these relationships to ensure the NSPCC is at the forefront of coverage related to child abuse and neglect. They must be ready to respond quickly to opportunities to comment on stories while building the evidence base for the next big proactive story.

Job purpose:

• To lead with the other Senior Media Officer on the media delivery of the charity's major public influencing campaigns and priorities.
• To deal with relevant media enquiries as they come into the Press Office.
• To develop and produce press releases, quotes, articles, Op Eds and operational notes to achieve national press coverage.
• To support key spokespeople with media opportunities, including full pre and post interview briefings.
• To develop key stakeholder relationships both internally and externally, particularly with the NSPCC Policy and Social Media teams and national media.
• To help with the management of the Press Office Assistant.

Key relationships - Internal:

• Reports to the National Media Manager and works closely with the other Senior Media Officer and the Press Office Assistant.
• Works closely with other colleagues in Communications, Childline, the helpline, Policy and Knowledge and Information to implement communication initiatives.
• Engages with staff in other NSPCC functions, in particular frontline staff to continually learn about the organisation.

Key relationships - External:

• Wide range of media contacts, in particular in national print, broadcast and digital.
• NSPCC Real Life Story volunteers.
• Individuals and representatives at a similar level from a range of agencies that have an interest in or a view on NSPCC’s activity.
• Other charities, government media departments and organisations such as trade bodies, think tanks, universities, the police, health authorities, local councils etc.

Main duties and responsibilities:

• To deliver regular national media coverage for the charity using a variety of skills and tactics.
• To use your own experience and initiative to source the evidence needed to create powerful stories that will grab the attention of national print and broadcast journalists.
• To develop strong working relationships with key internal and external stakeholders.
• To be committed to furthering the interests of the charity and of children and to always be willing to go the extra mile to deliver or help others deliver on key projects.
• To continuously be looking at ways to grow and improve as a communications professional.
• To engage with and develop relationships with new media platforms and outlets, including podcasts.
• To uphold the principles and values of the NSPCC in whatever you do in your day-to-day job.
• To effectively monitor and track performance using media monitoring technology.
• Responsibilities for all Staff within the Communications Directorate.

There is a set of responsibilities for all staff within each directorate:

• A commitment to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.
• To actively participate in regular department and team meetings, contributing to planning, discussions and decisions which will be beneficial to NSPCC’s communications activities.
• To maintain an awareness of own and others’ Health and Safety and comply with the NSPCC’s Health and Safety policy and procedures.
• To take personal responsibility for keeping up to date with NSPCC work to end cruelty to children, including securing updates on project and service developments and general NSPCC news.

Person specification:

1. Journalism experience and/or significant experience of working in a complex press office or equivalent in the corporate, charitable or political sector with a full understanding of all media disciplines and the external media environment.
2. An ambitious, confident, creative and motivated self-starter who can operate independently and with guidance with a willingness to get the job done.
3. An excellent understanding of the national media and political landscape.
4. An excellent eye for a story and a first-rate understanding of what makes something newsworthy.
5. Experience of supporting and promoting major campaigns, plans and strategies within a national media context and an understanding of how media work dovetails with other functions as part of an integrated campaign.
6. Experience of crisis communications.
7. Experience of developing and managing good relationships with stakeholders including journalists, and colleagues across a large and complex organisation.
8. The ability to organise and plan own work to deliver projects/initiatives to agreed deadlines, often with conflicting priorities.
9. Excellent communication skills. Ability to write and verbally present complex, sensitive information to a range of audiences in a clear, accurate and confident way to achieve desired outcomes.
10. Successful experience of offering media advice and guidance to colleagues at a senior level.

Safer Recruitment

As an organisation, we are committed to creating and fostering a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children and adults at risk.

Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work with our children and adults.

The recruitment and selection of our people will be conducted in a professional, timely and responsive manner and in compliance with current employment legislation, and relevant safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance.

Our principles:

• Always seek to recruit the best candidate for the role based on merit including their skills, experience, motivation and competencies. Our robust recruitment and selection process should ensure the identification of the person best suited to the role and the organisation.
• Committed to diversity and equality of opportunity and will interview all applicants (internal and external) who self-declare at application as having a disability and who meet the minimum requirements in the person specification of the vacancy they are applying for.
• We will make reasonable adjustments at all stages of the recruitment process in order to enable successful candidates who declare disabilities to start working or volunteering their time with us.
• Any current member of staff or volunteer who wishes to apply for vacancies and is suitably qualified will be considered and addressed fairly and objectively based on their merit.
• As an organisation committed to safeguarding, we will ensure all under 18’s joining the organisation will have ongoing risk assessments to ensure their role and activities are safe and appropriate.
• All documentation relating to candidates will be treated confidentially in accordance with the GDPR legislation.