PIB's first step towards overhaul: Control news flow

I&B minister, top officials and media heads discuss next-gen leap of govt info

In a first-of-its-kind workshop for the government's media managers, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) will work on providing 'authentic' information through different media platforms. At a workshop organised by the PIB, top officials in various ministries with years of experience in dealing with the media offered interesting suggestions ranging from feeding media to curb them from "imagining news" to preventing civil servants from serving anyone's agenda.

The workshop - Streamlining Government Communication - was organised by the PIB under the aegis of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting at the National Media Centre. It was chaired by minister of information and broadcasting (I&B) Arun Jaitley and attended by minister of state Rajyavardhan Rathore, I&B secretary Bimal Julka, public relations officer in the Prime Minister's Office Jagdish Thakker and Prasar Bharati chairman A Surya Prakash.

The seven-hour long meeting also saw participation from senior officials of various ministries and private secretaries to the ministers along with senior officers of I&B, heads of noted media groups, and veteran journalists.

Jaitley, known as a skilled media manager, said in his address to the PIB officers to package data, facts and information by keeping in mind the current trends and media requirements. “Jaitley made it clear it’s the minister who has to be the face of the ministry. He said civil servants, who have a large amount of government-centric information, should not carry out any propaganda but only put it in public domain," said a senior official who attended the meeting.  Echoing the same opinion, Rathore said there should be social media engagement to ensure transparency in the government.

Business Standard had reported in November that the PIB was undergoing a massive overhaul trying to be a newsmaker. This included its online functioning via wide social media presence, refurbished interactive website, instant mass communication and real-time updates.

In an interesting presentation on the changing media scenario, Prasar Bharati's Prakash said that in the Twitter era, the time to respond to an adverse story was 12 seconds. In his presentation, Prakash mentioned that news should first break on Doordarshan and All India Radio, then on private channels, said a person who attended the discussion.

According to sources, Hasmukh Adhia, secretary in the finance ministry, said one should keep feeding the media with positive news, else the press would "create their own news". Thakker supported the view and stated there should be a single window interface with the media.

Julka said there should not be any vacuum in the news flow from the ministry to the PIB officials concerned. Anil Swarup, coal secretary and former Project Monitoring Group chief, said one should be clear about what, when, how, why and whom to say to the media.

Business Standard had reported in November 2014 that the PIB was undergoing a massive overhaul trying to be a newsmaker. This included its online functioning via wide social media presence, refurbished interactive website, instant mass communication and real-time updates.