Job Title: Deputy News editor

Location: London

Reports to: Executive editor

Grade: 4

About Us:

We are the Royal College of Pharmacy, the professional leadership body for pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists.

As the third largest workforce in healthcare, pharmacy plays a vital role in the health system, and as experts in medicines, pharmacists and their teams are central to patient care and public health. Our mission is to put pharmacy at the forefront of patient care, advancing the safe and effective use of medicines to the benefit of patients and the public.

We drive excellence in practice by providing expert leadership and support to our members and the wider pharmacy community, developing professional standards and guidance, advancing pharmacy through policy development and advocacy and supporting professional development and patient safety through assurance, credentialing and learning resources.

We champion pharmacy across Great Britain and internationally, with a vision to be the world leader in the safe and effective use of medicines.

Our Governance and Leadership

The Royal College of Pharmacy is a charitable body incorporated under Royal Charter (A charity registered in England and Wales (1217916), and Scotland (applied for)). We exist to advance the safe and effective use of medicines, drive excellence in patient care and support pharmacists to deliver the highest standard of practice.

Our structure brings together professional leadership, national insight and organisational expertise to ensure pharmacy remains at the forefront of patient care. Through collaboration across our Board of Trustees, Senate, councils and advisory groups, along with our Executive team and directors, we influence policy, develop standards and support excellence across pharmacy.

Pharmaceutical Press, the knowledge business and wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal College of Pharmacy, shares a foundational commitment with the College to advance the safe and effective use of medicines, ensuring health professionals globally have quick and easy access to independent, evidence-based pharmaceutical knowledge.

Pharmaceutical Press Ltd. returns its profits to the royal college to support the College’s charitable objectives.

Our values, culture and inclusion

Our culture is grounded in professionalism, integrity and public service. We are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, recognising that diverse perspectives strengthen leadership and decision-making.

Through this, we actively work to create a culture of belonging and inclusive leadership, ensuring our people feel valued, supported and able to contribute fully to the future of pharmacy.

The Role Profile:

To support The Pharmaceutical Journal’s News Editor in gathering and writing news on a daily basis, as well as commissioning and editing news two days per week. The Deputy News Editor will take responsibility for ensuring a regular stream of exclusive clinical and policy news, analyses and opinion articles, and host episodes of the PJ’s podcast in line with our publishing schedule.

Specific Accountabilities:

· To assist the News & Views Editor in sourcing, selecting, writing, commissioning and editing news stories and ensuring it is accurate, legally sound and published in a timely way.

· To ensure a regular stream of exclusive news on clinical and policy topics.

· To research and write longer analyses on news topics and carry out interviews, as required.

· To develop relevant contacts within the pharmacy and health sector and to keep abreast of developments in this area.

· To assist the Art Editor with the selection of pictures and illustrations to accompany news content.

· To develop and host episodes of the PJ Pod in line with the team’s podcast schedule.

· To commission and edit opinion pieces

· To represent The Pharmaceutical Journal at meetings, symposia and press conferences and to report the proceedings.

· To deputise for the news editor two days per week, by managing the news team and editing news content for the Pharmaceutical Journal website

**This list is a summary of the main accountabilities of this role and is not exhaustive. The role holder may be required to undertake other reasonable duties from time to time.

Success Measures:

· The news section of The Pharmaceutical Journal has relevant, distinctive and accurate news coverage, with content uploaded as it breaks.

· The Pharmaceutical Journal has regular exclusive news content covering both clinical and policy topics

· News analyses published in The Pharmaceutical Journal are original and well-researched.

· Lack of legal complaints relating to news content.

· Opinion pieces and PJ Pod episodes are engaging and timely.

· The news desk is run efficiently while the News Editor is away.

Knowledge & Skills for this job:

· Journalist with at least two years’ experience of breaking exclusive news stories, ideally in the health/scientific sector.

· Strong news sense and interest in clinical topics.

· Strong interest in multimedia journalism.

· Experience of writing long-form analysis pieces.

· Well organised and able to work to tight deadlines.

· Excellent communication and decision making skills.

· Proven writing ability.

· Undergraduate degree, preferably in science, pharmacy or medicine.

· A recognised journalism qualification is desirable and evidence of news editing skills would be an advantage.

Date Job Description Agreed: July 26