Senior Press Officer

Senior Press Officer; London; 1 month; £250/day

My client is looking for a Senior Press Officer, initially on a one month contract with a possibility to extend. They require a candidate who is available immediately and already has one of the following Security Clearances in place: SC, CTC or Disclosure Scotland.

Reporting to the Head of News, the Senior Press Officer will work with one other Senior Press Officer to assist with media relations and other communications activity in the press office for the Lord Chief Justice and the Judiciary, including Tribunals Judiciary and Magistrates and the Judicial Office. They will take special responsibility for particular areas, such as Civil Law or Tribunals.

The postholder will be in direct and frequent contact with the national and local press television and radio and may take part in the out-of-hours duty press officer rota. These out of hours duties are much less onerous than for a Government press office, with no requirement to monitor all news bulletins.

They will:
*Develop good working relationships with Judicial Office staff, particularly in Private Office, as well as with judicial office holders at all levels, providing advice and assistance on all media matters.
*Explain the workings of the courts and judiciary accurately and clearly to the media.
*Understand and work with the needs and demands of different media and their journalists including specialist national and local print, radio and television; prioritise workload accordingly.
*Assist senior judges' private offices and the judiciary at all levels with advice on media handling including statements, rebuttals, preparation for interviews, correspondence, and preparation of draft answers or statements both pre-empting or reacting to questions.
*Work with other parts of the communications team to explain the work of the Judiciary at all levels to the media through a range of channels, including tweeting news developments, posting judgments on the Internet and Intranet.
*Facilitate accurate and timely coverage of courts and tribunals judgments and decisions and publish written versions where appropriate.
*React professionally and promptly to breaking stories generated by judges or court cases during office hours or when on duty, at any time of day or night including week-ends, alerting and consulting senior and other judiciary, and JO officials as appropriate.
*Write accurate and balanced copy to produce press releases and to assist judges to produce summaries of judgments, articles for the in-house magazine, and information for the website.

Skills & Qualifications:
*The successful candidate must have at least two years' experience as a Press Officer and must be available to work outside regular office hours.

Security Clearance:
*Security Clearance or Counter Terrorism Check preferred, however they will not totally dismiss good candidates who already have a Disclosure Scotland which is under one year old.