Guo Weimin gives lecture on media for officials in Sichuan

Guo Weimin, vice minister of the State Council Information Office, gave a lecture on media and communication for officials of Sichuan Province on April 19.

Guo stressed that the aim of media is to let people know the Party and government's plans and policies and thus galvanizing their support. With the development and application of the internet and new media, new changes and challenges have sprung up in media and communication. In this case, authoritative information from government is quite important in shaping public opinion, he said.

He also talked about dealing with media report. Government officials should welcome media coverage as long as it is objective. Officials should clarify and fight back against reports that distort truth, properly guide reports with bias, and regard objective reports as supervision over their work.

In his lecture, Guo also introduced the ways to deal with emergencies, sensitive issues and crises. He said it is essential to maintain government's credibility after emergencies and crises. Officials should keep information transparent and open and proactively assume responsibilities. Government should not try to play down crisis, as public opinion may backfire if they do so. Instead, officials should be sincere and truly represent the interests of the general public. He took the example of issues like traffic accident, food safety and product quality safety, saying that officials should convey their concern and introduce measures that have been taken, so as to reassure the safety of the public and guide public opinion.