Terms of Reference for Communication and Outreach Coordinator
Thomson Media (TM) is seeking to hire a Communication and Outreach Coordinator for the project: “Media Innovation Europe 3.0”.
BACKGROUND
Thomson Media supports journalists and media organisations worldwide often in challenging and emerging economies. Our work promotes ethical reporting and ensures independent, trusted sustainable media businesses developments. Thomson currently implements several media support programmes in the regions of Western Balkans and Central and Eastern Europe. The focus of Thomson’s work is to provide guidance to media outlets for sustainable development and operation through business mentorship, testing and implementing new and innovative business modalities, supporting media to attract and engage new and underrepresented media audience(s) including young, female, minority groups and diaspora. Thomson is looking to hire a Communication and Outreach Coordinator to become part of the wider Western Balkans and Central and Eastern European team and support implementation of its programmes.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Media Innovation Europe: towards resilient public-interest media ecosystem (MIE 2026-2028) is a two-year programme co-funded by the European Union aiming to provide support to the European newsrooms and individuals through business needs assessments and personalised advisory, grants, training and mentorship to media managers and journalists that work or are building working in and building newsrooms that are moving towards a full digital transition. MIE's overall goal is to empower media outlets to navigate a changing media context, providing tools and guidance to align their journalistic products, business structures, and means of discovery and distribution in an audience-focused and sustainable way. The project is delivered by a consortium led by the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) together with the Berlin-based Thomson Media (TM), The Fix Foundation (TFF) and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).
As part of the project, Thomson Media will implement the following programmes:
a. Ideation – following the open call for support, selected beneficiaries will pass the series of three ideation workshops (September - November 2026). The three main objectives of ideation sessions are to (1) have innovative and articulated ideas, (2) inspire and support out of the box thinking and (3) secure quality and committed candidates for its programs that will ensure impact. Workshops will engage with two types of beneficiaries are (1) new media outlets, journalists or collectives of journalists/media professionals with a start-up plan for a sustainable new media model and (2) experienced media professionals and decision makers in established newsrooms. Selected participants will get familiar with key concepts such as ideation techniques, steps they have to complete to be able to better understand testing and validation. They further have the chance to brainstorm ideas with facilitator support that they can possibly turn into project proposals and apply for funding from Thomson or other donor organisations. Upon the completion of the series, participants will have three potential trajectories: have a reserved spot in our Validation Booster program (to validate ideas they previously articulated through the workshops), or to take part in networking and collaborative activities and fellowship program, Thomson and its partners plan to organize within this project, or beyond.
b. Validation Booster (VB) - tailored for smaller media outlets, content producers, journalists, communication/media startups and networks. Validation Booster is structured as a guided program consisting of up to 12 workshops, related resources and tasks designed to help beneficiaries to learn how to validate and test their business idea that imply new digital products/services, diving into the process of rethinking a media’s potential and feasibility in the digital environment. The goal is for beneficiaries to be acquainted with the necessary tools, knowledge, and directions to properly understand and implement validation methodology for their business idea. After completing Validation program key beneficiaries will be: a) equipped to present their ideas and mission clearly; b) capable to validate on their own any business idea they may have within their outlet in the future; c) develop materials to present and communicate their validated idea to interested parties and potential funders and d) present their idea, if validated, to broader pool of funders and investors. Besides structured mentorship, beneficiaries will receive funds through grant schemes (up to EUR 3.000) to implement all validation program related tasks. The program will be driven through one cycle (February – June 2027). Up to 12 beneficiaries will be involved in this support stream.
c. Business Innovation Synergizer (BIS) - tailored to support larger media with significant absorption capacities, developed strategic or business plans and/or validated ideas. Media outlets will be supported through grants (EUR 30.000), technical support (1-on-1 mentoring, capacity building). The program will be implemented from January 2027 until December 2027. Only one cycle will be organized, with a defined number of beneficiaries (up to 5 under the Business Innovation Synergizer programme). BIS’ overall objective is to improve the business sustainability of professional media and make journalists and media outlets more resilient to any external threat.
The Communication and Outreach Coordinator will support the project team to develop and implement functional and efficient Communication plan and will be in charge of designing, creating, coordinating and overviewing the process of content production and dissemination, mostly focused on the e learning platform ‘Journalift’, but also related to outreach and visibility of Thomson activities during project implementation.
SCOPE OF WORK
Main Tasks and Responsibilities
Communication and Outreach coordinator will work closely with the entire Thomson team on the implementation of the following activities:
Supporting Thomson program team, project partners, and experts engaged to effectively promote joint work with media and make their impact visible.
Developing comms plan for project programmes (Ideation, VB, BIS, Fellowship) and promotion.
Evaluate and approve social media editorial and promotion, designs and social media editorials submitted by the external partners prior to publication.
● Evaluate and approve promotional campaigns prepared by partners and vendors.
Establishing and maintaining cooperation with regional and international media outlets and NGOs as potential partners.
Regular reporting to Thomson team and partners regarding its social media activities and content promotion on Journalift
Regular preparation and publication of articles, social media content, and other communication materials in line with the communications plan and in coordination with the Project Coordinator.
EXPERIENCE
Education: Postgraduate degree in the field of communication, media, international development, social sciences, and other related relevant fields.
Professional Experience:
● Sound understanding of the media and communication sector in the Central Europe
● Working experience in international and/or donor organizations and multicultural environment,
● Participating in multi-layered projects handling several activities with overlapping timelines,
● 3 to 5 years of relevant working experience in the field of IT, digital technologies, journalism, marketing, communications or a related field,
● High familiarity about content management systems, online learning tools and content distribution
Working experience in internal communications and communication in niche communities
● Working experience in the field of media development preferred
Other skills:
Speaking, reading, and writing proficiency in English,
Excellent presentation, oral and writing communication skills, with strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills,
Proficiency in digital communication tools, social media management platforms, content management systems, and basic graphic design tools,
● Highly collaborative working style, a team player who communicates well across all levels of the organization,
Strong organizational skills, problem-solving, proactive, can-do-it attitude and ability to get things done,
● Ability to adjust to changes in priorities in a deadline-driven environment,
● Creative, proactive, and solution-oriented approach to communication challenges
● Ability to adapt communication approaches to different audiences and changing project priorities.
DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT
Assignment will commence on June 2026 and will last until May 2028, and it involves a total of 40 consultant days with daily fee 200 EUR that will be dispersed and charged monthly through approved TS’s and issued invoices.
LOCATION
Remote work covering the Creative Europe countries. Travel per need and planned in advance with the Thomson program team.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Interested candidates should submit their resume, cover letter and offer to jobs(at)thomsonfoundation.org by 30.06.2026.
REVIEW AND AMENDMENTS
These Terms of Reference may be reviewed and amended as needed to meet the evolving needs of the project and organization.