Communications Officer -Global Trade Watch-Washington DC.

Organization: Public Citizens

Position Title: Communications Officer

Location: Washington DC.

Hours and Compensation: Full time.

Application Deadline: Not specified.

Job Description:

Public Citizen seeks a skilled and strategic Communications Officer for our Global Trade Watch division who can help us get ahead of the game and frame the message against today’s so-called “free trade” agenda. The Communications Officer’s role is to expand Global Trade Watch’s impact by developing and implementing a significant new media strategy for our grassroots, national, international campaigns while maintaining a traditional press outreach program. Today’s so-called “free trade” agreements pose a threat not only to good jobs and wages, but a vast array of non-trade matters from food safety, to medicine prices, to financial regulation, to climate and environmental policy. Ensuring that the public knows how these seemingly arcane agreements affect their lives is a major goal of Global Trade Watch – making the Communications Officer’s role central to all of our work.

The ideal candidate will have the following qualities, skills and background:

• Experience in a fast paced press operation where creative communications strategies are an integral part of multi-faceted campaigns;
• A journalist’s curiosity and knack for capturing the story so as to be able to create and pitch winning story ideas on the array of subjects our work covers;
• Excellent writing skills to translate complex ideas into appealing prose;
• A passion for pitching stories;
• A knack for quickly generating buzz with reporters and across social media platforms;
• An editor’s knowledge of grammar and style rules;
• Extraordinary attention to detail;
• An interest in trade and globalization issues specifically and/or public interest work generally;

Specific Responsibilities:

1. Working with the Director and Deputy Director, develop GTW’s communications strategy with the goal of enhancing opportunities to present our message.
2. Working with the Director and Deputy Director, develop and implement a comprehensive electronic media program to maintain and grow GTW’s social media platforms and e-advocacy program.
3. Write press releases, editorial memos, and letters to the editor and op-eds in coordination with Research Director and Deputy Director.
4. Conduct free and paid media activities, including proactive pitching of stories, columns and editorials; organizing press teleconference calls and press conferences; obtaining coverage of GTW reports and related research materials; responding quickly to inquiries; and press data research and maintenance.
5. Develop and maintain relationships with key reporters, producers, bookers, opinion leaders and editors, including organizing regular one-on-one meetings, press luncheons, briefings, and editorial board meetings;
6. Work with the field department to develop media outreach efforts, including tours, events, news conferences and editorial board visits around legislative and state and local campaigns.
7. Monitor trade press news daily to track story trends so as to hone story pitching strategy and serve as media filter of relevant news and information to staff.
8. Maintain media databases and press information distribution systems.

Requirements:

1. Education: Bachelor’s degree.
2. Work Experience: Position requires a minimum of 2-5 years’ experience in communications or journalism preferably dealing with legislative or issue campaigns.
3. Knowledge: Familiarity with national media; Relationships with traditional and electronic national political or business reporters and/or working knowledge of trade and globalization issues a plus.
4. Skills: Ability to coordinate multifaceted media campaigns and experience in developing and executing media strategies. Excellent interpersonal, phone demeanor, writing and verbal skills are required. Spanish language skills desirable.
5. Capabilities: High energy and enthusiasm. Ability to work well with a wide range of people, work well under pressure, handle multiple tasks at once, and adapt to changing situations on a daily basis. Demonstrated success in a fast-paced press environment where multitasking and priority-setting abilities were critical to success. Must be highly organized and detail oriented.

About Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch:

Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent the public interest in Congress, the executive branch and the courts. We fight for openness and democratic accountability in government; for social and economic justice in globalization and trade policies; for clean, safe and sustainable energy; for strong health, safety and environmental protections; for safe, effective and affordable medicines and health care and for the right of consumers to seek redress in the courts. We have six divisions based in our Washington, D.C. offices and an office in Texas
The mission of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch division is to ensure that in this era of globalization, a majority have the opportunity to enjoy America’s promises: economic security, a clean environment, safe food, medicines and products, access to quality affordable services such as health care and the exercise of democratic decision-making about the matters that affect their lives.
Public Citizen started working on globalization and ‘trade’ issues in 1991 when we recognized that this was necessary simply to remain effective advocates for the public health, consumer safety, environmental and economic justice goals Public Citizen had promoted over decades. Motivating this strategic initiative was our realization that today’s international commercial agreements, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), were no longer mainly about trade per se. Rather, these far-reaching agreements were backdoor delivery mechanisms to implement an expansive, enforceable package of non-trade policies – limits on financial regulation and food safety, new monopoly patent rights over medicines and seeds that limit access, new investor rights that promote job-offshoring and subject public interest policies to attack and more. This corporate-led version of globalization is designed to limit governments’ role in regulating the economy and to eliminate many of the public interest safeguards Public Citizen and like-minded organizations and activists had won over decades. And, it shifts decision-making on matters previously determined in national, state and local venues to international bodies where those affected by the decisions have no meaningful role.
Since its inception in 1995, GTW has been a leader in popularizing the globalization and trade debate by connecting these seemingly arcane policies to peoples’ everyday experiences – and helping people make a difference in the future of globalization by giving them the tools they need to educate their communities, hold Congress accountable for policy choices, and hit the streets to protest. GTW works with diverse national and international coalitions. For more information, please see our website: www.tradewatch.org

To apply:

Send a letter of interest, resume, and writing sample to [email protected]. Public Citizen is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, LGBT candidates are encouraged to apply. Public Citizen employees are proud members of SEIU Local 500.