New govt PR team to deal with public directly
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The government will set up a special public relations team to communicate proactively with the public, Government Spokesman Teerat Ratanasevi said yesterday, adding that three PM's Office ministers would take turns at chairing the team.
The PR team will focus on five key areas: economics, politics, social issues, national security, and foreign affairs. Its first meeting has been scheduled for 3pm on Tuesday.
Separately, five other ministers have been put in charge of publicising a project or an issue.
Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt has been given the government’s infrastructure projects; Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi the water-management project; Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong the rice-pledging policy; Defence Minister Sukampol Suwannathat the South insurgency; while Education Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana will focus on reconciliation and politics, Teerat said.
Meanwhile, the Information and Communications Ministry will be in charge of gathering data submitted by each of the ministers, which will be accessed by the PR team to use, clarify or tackle any criticism doing the rounds on social media. This proactive PR will be implemented through press conferences and advertisements, he said.
“For instance, with the rice-pledging scheme, the prime minister said we should not look to see which ministry is in charge but find out what happened, because it is related to Commerce and Finance as well as Social Development and Human Security ministries.
“The prime minister wants all ministries to work together and each ministry should have a representative ready to inform the public at the right time. When a problem occurs, they have to clarify it as soon as possible,” he said.
The government spokesman spoke to the press after attending a meeting called by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday.
