From keeping drugs out of prisons and cutting crime, to overhauling sentencing laws and making pet theft a specific offence – the Ministry of Justice is one of only a handful of Government departments that can truly dominate the news agenda.

And our Press Office, bursting with talent, is widely recognised as the gold standard within government for shaping stories and influencing news across print, broadcast, and online. With a diverse remit including, prisons and probation, family justice, legal aid and modernising the courts system, no day is ever the same in this busy office.

We're looking for creative, passionate people to join our team, so if you’re looking for an exciting, challenging job, where you can develop with support from experienced communications professionals, keep reading.

You could have responsibility for setting up and managing media facilities, organising interviews, drafting sharp, reactive statements and briefing journalists to generate and influence our coverage. There will be opportunities to advise Ministers and provide them with media handling advice on announcements, visits and speeches, and to help us boost our social media presence. Alternatively, you could be working as part of our planning and strategy team, liaising with Number 10 while coordinating announcements and horizon scanning for events and opportunities that affect the department.

About the role
The team works across a wide range of areas, from proactive announcements on specific policies such as prisons and probation to reactive work, fielding calls from journalists on our busy news desk.

• Create proactive announcements and media strategies, using everything from traditional broadcast and print media to consumer websites and social media
• Provide regular media handling advice to Ministers, officials and colleagues on sensitive, complex and high-profile issues
• Anticipate and spot news stories so you can swiftly prepare and issue robust responses to potentially negative stories
• Understand departmental and Ministerial priorities so you can communicate key messages clearly, accurately and creatively to media

You would also contribute to the Press Office out-of-hours service, for which overtime is paid.

We are looking for candidates who have work experience in journalism, in-house press offices or PR and communications agencies.

https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/lang-en-GB/mobile-0/appcentre-1/brand-15/xf-dc443c280dde/candidate/so/pm/1/pl/3/opp/57259-57259-Media-Officers-x-2/en-GB