Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: With uprisings everywhere and negative publicity, Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant, has directed the Public Relation Officers and HODs of Government Departments to focus on proper planning to generate positive content for news to counter the adverse publicity appearing in the main stream media i.e. print, electronic and social media platform.
This endeavour, he said ,will help substantially to highlight the achievements and initiatives of the Government and develop its positive image in next six months in right perspective.
Addressing the PROs, HODs and OSDs to Cabinet Ministers at a workshop organised by the Department of Information and Publicity to enlighten them on their role and responsibilities at Seminar Hall, Secretariat, Porvorim the Chief Minister said we need to generate news with acts and figures and gain the credibility to convey a strong message that this Government is working in the interest of the State and its people.
The Chief Minister said the PROs should ensure that the information required to issue clarification/ rebuttal to counter the criticism against the Government needs to be published very next day instead of publishing the same after eight days.
He said, apart from print media the Government Departments should make maximum use of All India Radio and Doordarshan, which he pointed out as a good number of listenership/ viewership and further mentioned that the medium of Radio played a decisive and vital role in creating much needed awareness during ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic.
He said, we should make best use of whatever which is easily available and in this context he referred to his recent visit to Check Post at Keri in Sattari Taluka wherein the print and other media accorded wide publicity.
Urging the participants of the workshop the Chief Minister highlighted the need to keep ready the events of Calendar of the Departments which can be disseminated to the media.
The Department of Information and Publicity and the Chief Minister’s Office will coordinate with the PROs if necessary to publicise the positive things.
PROs, he said, can also contribute for positive statements. They should also ponder over on positive aspects and reply to the adverse publicity.
Vinod Kumar D.V,. IIS, Deputy Director (M&C), Press Information Bureau (PIB) who was the Keynote Speaker urged PROs to get themselves abreast with new realities of information age i.e. imperatives, strategies and transformational forces. He said PROs job is vital in the core stream of development.
He advised them to make maximum use of all modes of communication be it digital and print. He stressed on four aspects i.e. observe, orient , decide and act. PROs should have in depth knowledge of their respective Departments and that driveable should be realistic he asserted.
Gaurish Kalangutkar, Additional Private Secretary to Chief Minister who spoke on social media said that social media platform is easily accessible to everyone through which one can express his views. He emphasized on using social media effectively so that the Government can derive its benefit.
He also spoke on the content creation related to milestones and achievements of the Government to develop its positive image in the eyes of the general public and the Government. Internal coordination within the Department is of utmost important to act forthwith on the critical reports appearing in the media and counter the adverse publicity against the Government.
Shyam Gaonkar, Assistant Information Officer of the Department of Information and Publicity explained in detail how the Department is working to build up the positive image of the Government.
Dipak Bandekar, Director of Department of Information and Publicity, who delivered the welcome address said that the prime objective of organizing the workshop is to have better coordination with various Government Departments/Cooperation and autonomous bodies. He informed that the Department has constituted a dedicated team of the officers to coordinate with the PROs / HODs of the Department to obtain prompt information from them. However, he said, the reply is not as expected.
