GoM Working on Plans to Rebuild Media, Public Outreach: Report

GoM may track social media discourse to identify “negative influencers,” and to engage with “positive influencers.”

The Union government is working alongside a group of ministers (GoM) to create a new media strategy to strengthen its public outreach. The nine cabinet ministers will focus on ten key areas in detail to address criticism and to nationally spread a positive message, reports Hindustan Times.

The GoM includes Cabinet ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar, S Jaishankar, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and Union ministers Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Anurag Thakur and Babul Supriyo.

The ministers have prepared a report after extensive sittings to discuss ‘government communication’ and aim to work with influencers to amplify outreach programmes and media engagement at a state and district level.

They have also recommended to include developing Prasar Bharati News Service as a key news agency of the country and developing DD International along the lines of “best international public broadcasters,” reported Hindustan Times.

Digital Media Coverage To Be Tracked

The recommendations will track social media discourse to identify “negative influencers”, and to engage with “positive influencers” to put the “government’s view point in the right perspective,” reported Hindustan Times.

The GoM has proposed to also identify journalists who have lost their employment, but are personally “supportive of the government or neutral,” so they can be absorbed by the various ministries, stated the report.

The report also mentioned the efforts to ensure unbiased digital media suggesting, “Steps have been taken to ensure that the news reporting on digital media is not biased primarily due to its foreign investment component. It has been decided to cap the foreign investment to 26 percent and the process to implement the same is under way,” reported Hindustan Times.

In raising concerns over foreign media coverage, the report mentions one member suggesting there be curbs on interacting with foreign journalists. “International outreach is an important component in putting government’s stand properly in an international forum,” the report concluded, adding that “regular interaction with foreign media journalists would help disseminate correct information and perspective of the government, especially on sensitive issues.”

The GoM suggested, according to the daily, that every ministry should identify two major public outreach programmes in a year along with one day of pre-event publicity and one day of post-event coverage.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times)