NCVO is to create a new role to help its members be “better equipped to sell their stories about what they do to the mainstream media”, its chair Martyn Lewis said today.

Lewis (pictured) wrote in a blog that the NCVO is hoping to grow “solutions-based journalism” in the UK, by ensuring that “charities and other voluntary organisations are better equipped to sell in stories about what they do, and better at recognising opportunities to piggyback on the news agenda”.

Lewis wrote: “We are now recruiting to the post of a media network coordinator in order to explore this idea further. Learning from what our colleagues in the US have already done, we will set up a new network aimed at securing better media coverage for voluntary and community sector organisations in the mainstream media.”

This role follows on from recommendations from the Understanding Charities group - a group of charity supporters who feel that the public must be helped to better understand the sector.

The group published a strategy recently which is challenging the way the media covers charities.

The role is being advertised as full-time, with a one year fixed-term contract, with a salary of £38,011 per annum.

The job description says: “With a clear focus on developing strong working relationships, you will play a key role in bringing together journalists and voluntary sector representatives. Supporting them to develop stories that give the audience a more comprehensive understanding of an issue, you will help them to analyse the problem but also understand and explore potential solutions.”