06 May 2021; MEMO: Around 300 top officials have attended a 90-minute-long virtual workshop titled Effective Communications and was aimed at helping them “create a positive image of the government”.
The workshop, organised and by conducted by Abhishek Singh, the CEO of MyGov, a government platform for citizen engagement, where Information & Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar also spoke to the participants, comes against the backdrop of a surging second wave of Covid-19 infections, and an international outcry for its mismanagement.
This is the first time such a workshop was held.
Hindustan Times reviewed a copy of the presentation and spoke to some of the officers who attended the workshop. While much of the presentation deals with examples related to Covid-19, one slide also gave the example of how MyGov and the government sent out the right message about the three reformist farm laws.
According to Hindustan Times, one officer who attended the workshop and spoke on condition of anonymity, the attendees, which included the joint secretary (media) of each department, were told that the traditional means of communication via Press Information Bureau (PIB) press releases“ no longer worked’’. They were told to instead post photographs and videos that gained more impressions. As a case in point, Singh’s presentation dealt with the story that was widely reported on Monday about the Delhi high court asking the government why oxygen concentrators that had been received as aid from foreign countries were lying at airports.
“In today’s times, anything critical needs to be noted in minutes. If we wait for some news to break on TV or Print, we will lose the narrative then and there,” said the presentation.
The presentation also highlighted the best and worst ways of engaging on social media platforms, pointing out that speed of response, use of infographics, and clear messaging were the key, said Hindustan Times.
Former head of Press Information Bureau, Neelam Kapur, told Hindustan Times "I don't think communications can make up for action”, while image consultant Dilip Cherian, who works with governments on various campaigns, said, "Harnessing influencers is like using posh peddlers to push shoddy product. It ends up giving influencers a bad name”.
