ReThink Media’s Democracy Collaborative is a team of six staff working with a network of more than 100 state and national organizations strengthening our democracy by expanding and protecting voting rights, reducing the influence of big money in politics, and ensuring an independent judiciary. The project seeks to strengthen the communications capacity of organizations in the sector, to broaden the movement for reform, and to develop shared messaging and media strategies that advance a more inclusive, participatory, and genuinely representative democratic process.

Description

ReThink Media is seeking a Media Associate or Senior Media Associate for our Democracy Collaborative. The ideal candidate will be a self-starting problem solver with a proven record of success with media relations. Importantly, the ideal candidate—an avid communicator who understands the role of digital strategy and storytelling in communications—will be committed to racial justice and our core democracy issues: strengthening the judiciary, getting big money out of politics, and dismantling barriers against voting. The ideal candidate will have at least two years of experience working in the fields of media, communications, and press or public relations. Experience working as a Capitol Hill or NGO communications staffer, in campaign or advocacy communications, or in pitching and placing content and/or spokespeople in the media a plus. The Media Associate for Voting Rights reports to the Managing Director for the Democracy Collaborative.

ReThink Media is a critical player and advisor on communications strategy to strengthen democracy. Our next team member will play a central role in shaping narratives and communications strategy for our collaborative and the national dialogue on voting rights.

Principal Duties

The Media Associate is responsible for coordinating, training, and assisting Rethink Media’s member groups in monitoring both traditional and online news coverage, and in responding rapidly and effectively to breaking news. This includes tracking all of the key reporters, Hill communications staff, and opposition spokespeople, building and maintaining shared press lists, assisting groups in building individual press lists and, where appropriate, assisting with the editing, pitching and placement of content and spokespeople. Importantly, the Media Associate will work to build capacity among voting rights communicators, positioning them to better lead communications and digital strategy from the ground.

Specific goals will be set quarterly, corresponding to the following duties:

Monitor daily news, opinion, and social media coverage and review daily news digests from the sector in order to identify key opportunities for rapid response. Draft daily clips related to top news stories in the voting rights arena with relative talking points and social media content.Assist in the development of timely and effective talking points, messaging tips and where appropriate draft statements, op-eds and letters to the editor, to be distributed in response to breaking news developments and ahead of known media opportunities.Develop an expertise of all of the key reporters and outlets covering the issues, with particular attention paid to developing relationships with ethnic and specialty media. Assist in training groups on developing and maintaining tailored press lists.Build meaningful relationships with voting rights member groups and develop an expertise on the specific issues they work on, their unique media profiles, their key spokespeople, areas of expertise, and access to validators in order to be able to quickly identify who the best organizations or experts are to connect to a reporters or to write an op-ed, LTE etc., on a breaking story.Coordinate social media strategies and tactics for the voting rights field, including both longer-term efforts and rapid response opportunities.Ensure a consistent digital voice for ReThink’s work with the collaborative and provide the best social media analysis to inform the online strategies of ongoing advocacy and collaborative communications campaigns.Identify opportunities for collaborative multi-organization media initiatives and support ongoing campaigns and issue/policy initiatives. These often include developing and implementing strategies for op-ed, LTE and editorial initiatives, assisting with pitching and placement of spokespeople and content, developing online strategies, implementing strategies for outreach to Hill communications staff and tracking our efforts.Support individual media work and communications capacity of each of our member groups. This often includes assisting groups in developing a strategic communications plan, in implementing media strategies, in building press lists, assisting in the editing and development of media content, assisting with pitching and placement, providing media training, conducting audits of coverage and expert profiles, identifying and creating content for relevant rapid response opportunities, etc.Assist with longer-term research projects such as media and public opinion audits and coverage analysis of specific issues, frames, editorial coverage and outlets.Assisting in training targeted experts and groups in building rapid response media capacity including improving their outreach to editorial page editors and tips in developing editorial packets, and in writing and placing op-eds and letters-to-the-editor.

Essential Skills and Qualifications

Experiencing working alongside communities of color.Demonstrated experience or commitment to ReThink Media’s issue areas or organizations, in particular voting rights.Experience monitoring and analyzing news coverage, writing press materials, developing traditional and social media strategies and/or pitching stories.Strong writing, editing, communications and presentation skills.A creative and strategic ability to frame ideas, develop stories and synthesize complex policy issues in a way that appeals to the news media and a wide variety of audiences.Experience with digital content and strategy for social media, including an ability to capitalize on trends; develop concepts for compelling graphics, and analyze metrics and performance.Demonstrated experience in fast-paced campaign communications, with preference for experience in state-based advocacy/political public relations.Excellent news sense and political savvy.Knowledge of print, broadcast, and electronic news media.A proven track record managing a fast-paced, multi-faceted workload, ideally involving media and communications and/or client relations.Strong training skills.Proven track record as a strong team player with project management skills.Ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing, with varying levels of organization staff, clients, contractors, foundations and the media.Willingness to work flexible hours when needed. Ability to work mornings before business hours.Demonstrated resourcefulness and flexibility in approach to project assignments.Strong research and administrative skills.Experience with Cision, Mailchimp, CRMs, Sysomos, Webex, and Drupal a plus.Fluency in a second language a plus.

Location & Salary

This is a full-time position based in our DC office with modest travel to our California office, New York, and key member states for conferences, funder meetings, training workshops, and periodic staff meetings. This position comes with a generous benefits package, including vacation and sick time, paid sabbatical, and retirement.

The salary range for media associates is $50,000–60,000 a year plus benefits. The salary range for senior media associates is $60,000–75,000 a year plus benefits.