Local Party Media Officer
Find information on the role and responsibilities of a Local Party Media Officer here.
What's the role?
Time: 3 hours per week
The Media Officer communicates the local party's activities and achievements to the community.
This helps develop the party's reputation, but crucially it tells voters what the local Liberal Democrats team is campaigning for.
This means that when you canvass your voters, they may already have heard of your activities.
Key tasks
Channels for communication are the local party website, the social media channels of the local party and any of its prominent members, such as councillors, and the local and regional press in your area.
- Control and deliver a strategy for communicating with the public along all of these channels.
- Communicate any and all achievements as effectively as possible to members of the public in your area, across multiple communication channels.
- Work with the local party to generate ideas and opportunities for media stories.
- Get the work that you're doing published in the local media by writing and issuing press releases.
- Inform the press of events that they can report about, by writing and sending operational notes.
- Build and maintain good working relationships with local and regional media.
Help & support
- You can join the Liberal Democrats Local Party Officers Facebook Group, to make contact and share best practice with other officers.
- To engage with the party's digital campaigners, join the Lib Dem Digital Campaigning Forum, on Facebook.
- Follow the Lib Dem Press team on Twitter.
Skills & attributes
The Media Officer is becoming an increasingly important role, as so many voters now choose to consume their information digitally. This role would suit somebody who:
- Has a strong understanding of multiple forms of communication.
- Has excellent written skills.
- Understands how information is consumed by members of the public.
- Understands how the media likes to present information.
- Has an eye for a story.
- Works well under pressure.
How to apply
This is an optional role within local parties.
If you'd like to become the media officer for your local party, then speak to your Chair about it.
Your Chair could propose a motion at the next Executive Committee meeting to create the post of media officer, and co-opt you into the role until the next AGM.
Then at your next AGM, it can be opened up to all local party members as an elected position, the same as the other officer roles.
Page contributors
- Dave Shaw, former Press Office staff at LDHQ