Media Services Unit - Post C

The European Parliament stands for European democracy. We help connect it to people.  

This entails providing complete and impartial information to citizens and media about the European Parliament, and assisting Members in their communication activities. The Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM) strives to reach and engage the right audience with the right message at the right time and in doing so, deliver world-class communication. We are committed communication professionals coming from various professional and academic backgrounds.

The main objective of the Media Services Unit (MSU) is to promote the visibility of the European Parliament (EP) (its legislative work and its political message) to the media of the Member States and to contribute to the identification of media priorities and the definition of the information strategy of the Media Directorate.

The Media Services Unit includes a central team in Brussels, where your traineeship will take place, and the press officers located in each of the European Parliament Liaison Offices in the Member States. The Unit is the “sales-force” of the Media Directorate, proposing news, multimedia content and services to the media in the Member States. As the main EP Press Service contact point for the national, regional and local media in the Member States, the Unit is responsible for implementing national and pan-European media campaigns and press actions relating to DG COMM priorities.

As part of Parliament's commitment to honouring journalists who were killed while carrying out their work, the Directorate for Media offers its Schuman traineeships in memory of Ján Kuciak, the Slovakian investigative journalist who was murdered in February 2018.

• Seminars and conferences: helping to organise media seminars, media round tables, visits of groups of journalists to the European Parliament and interviews;
• Information gathering: getting feedback from MSU press officers based in European Parliament Liaison Offices in EU Member States, in order to identify good practices and to draft background notes and reports in English;
• Prepare impactful presentations on the Unit’s work and the Parliament in the media;
• Research background information on media-friendly topics related to the Parliament's activities, to help press officers sell them to the media;
• Other: the Media Services Unit works closely with the Media Intelligence Unit. You will also help in the media monitoring/data analysis for the Unit. As part of your traineeship, you might have the opportunity of travelling once to Strasbourg for a plenary session.

• You are expected to be interested in European politics and policies and have a good understanding of audio-visual, online and printed media;
• Ideally, you have professional experience in the field of media and communication;
• You have perfect command of English, while knowledge of other languages is a plus;
• Skills with graphical presentations is an asset;
• You have insight in digital communication in media relations;
• You are organised, a good communicator, have a sense of initiative and an ability to prioritise;
• You are able to identify and manage key information; you are able to work and react quickly and respect deadlines;
• You are a team player and have good relationship building skills - there may be contacts with MEPs;
• Interpersonal skills and diplomatic manners are necessary;
• Capacity to develop networks for the benefit of the institution is a plus.