British High Commission in India jobs - Newsdesk Officer

Main purpose of job:

To actively promote positive stories about the UK in India to the press, to log and respond to media enquiries, and build close working relationships with a broad range of Indian journalists. Lead on monitoring UK-India news and preparing daily media summaries for the organisation.

Roles and Responsibilities:

The role

The Newsdesk team sits at the heart of the British High Commission, dealing with queries from a range of journalists and promoting stories about the UK’s activities in India. You will help promote the UK Government’s policies and activities in India, in response to phone and email enquiries from journalists, working closely with colleagues across the British High Commission to draft concise, accurate and robust responses and appropriately escalating issues of particular importance. You will build strong working relationships with journalists, knowing when to use off-the-record briefing to temper or rebut inaccurate reporting. You will also identify key contacts across the Indian media landscape for effectively promoting positive stories about UK activities and priorities.

You will work with the Head of Newdesk and the Campaigns Team to identify news hooks and opportunities for media engagement, draft press material (including statements and press releases) and proactively promote it to the media. You will know what makes a positive and compelling story, and will work with colleagues to create and disseminate them. You will work on high-profile events and directly support Ministerial and senior official visits, in particular through identifying, setting-up and helping to manage interviews and press conferences.

Specific responsibilities of the job holder will include:

- Actively monitoring the news for relevant UK-India stories and preparing in-house daily media summaries

- Logging media enquiries and drafting/issuing official responses

- Writing and editing various written outputs (including press releases and articles) across a range of subjects

- Providing media advice and guidance to colleagues – including on timing, format and which platforms to use – to deliver key messages effectively

- Facilitating and supporting media engagements (interviews, press briefings, managing media representatives at events etc.)

- Evaluating and measuring performance of communication outputs and media engagements

- Acting as on-call press officer through a rotational duty system

The job holder

You will need to be proactive, organised and energetic – able to swiftly digest and get to the heart of complex issues, keeping up to speed with stories that unfold quickly. You will be good at building relationships – with policy colleagues, other communications specialists and journalists alike – and be a real team player. You will need to be familiar with the opportunities and challenges of all forms of media, including digital, print, and broadcast.

You’ll have excellent writing skills and be able to swiftly pull together compelling media products. You’ll have a solid understanding of the Indian media landscape (covering both English and vernacular, and mainstream and regional media) and the key players within it. You will need to be flexible and motivated, working across a variety of topics and a wide range of people.