Press Officer (Freelance/on-demand)
The ME Association is a registered health charity that provides expert help to people with ME/CFS and Long Covid. We support the ME/CFS community, fund research into treatments and work to educate and influence a broad stakeholder community including the media, public, political and commercial eco-systems.
With an increasing demand on core services, we are looking for an enthusiastic, responsible, and well-organised professional to act as the ME Association’s Press Officer.
Responsibilities
The MEA has a small Communications team who manage our digital channels including X. Facebook and Instagram, along with Blogs, posts and newsletters on meassociation.org.uk but they don’t handle media enquiries.
The MEA receives press enquiries when there are stories relating to ME/CFS in the news, such as research announcements and patient case studies. The Press Officer function is therefore not required full-time but needs to be activated as and when required. The nature of ME/CFS being in the news can be unpredictable and hence the Press Officer will need to be able to be called on at short notice and work unusual hours if necessary, including evenings and weekends. We may require as little as 10 hours press office function per month but this can multiply considerably when there are significant news items. Flexibility is a key requirement for the role.
The core responsibilities are:
- Recipient of all in-bound media requests (being the named contact on our website)
- Liaise with Trustees / relevant team members about interview requests
- Issues press releases for planned campaigns (MEA Awareness Week, Christmas etc) and be the named contact person for enquiries
- Prepare approved lines and statements when ME/CFS stories break in the media that require immediate responses (e.g. research announcement or a patient case study)
- Ensure consistency in message and timing of statements working in tandem with the Communications/social media team
Requirements
- Press & copy writing skills
- Press office function experience for a non-profit would be helpful
- Experience of ME/CFS or Long Covid would be helpful.
- An excellent communicator and team player.
- Experience of Microsoft 365 and Teams
- Empathy and situational awareness.
What to do next
If you are interested, then please explain (in no more than 200 words) why you are the best person for this role, and send it with a summary CV to martine@meassociation.org.uk
Please title your email: MEA Press Officer Application. The deadline for applications is Sunday 3rd November 2024.
We look forward to hearing from you and wish you the best of luck!
The ME Association is committed to a policy of equal opportunities for all whatever their gender, ethnicity, age, or other attribute, and would encourage all to apply.