PESHAWAR
The civil officers of Khyber Pakthunkhwa, Balochistan and others areas of the country were sensitized on media management during crisis situation through lecturers, trainings and mock exercises here at Pakistan Provincial Services Academy (PPSA) on Wednesday .
A day-long workshop on ‘media management in crisis situation and handling of social media’ was arranged for 91 pre-service courses of Provincial Management Service (PMS) Government of Khyber Pakthunkhwa and Assistant Commissioners and Sections Officers of Governor of Balochistan here at PPSA.
The participants were exposed to different scenarios through mock and individual press talk exercises. Faculty member Col Retd Ejaz Ahmed said the prime objective of worship was to improve public service delivery through capacity building of the freshly recruited officers of KP and Balochistan governments and help them to handle media during crisis situations.
He appraised the officers about different techniques of media management and reducing media speculations, holding of press conferences, preparation of press releases, control of emotions and strong opening statements. Col Ejaz advised them to confirm and recheck all information before sharing it to the media.
Ataullah Khan, Public Relations Officer, Finance and Health departments said that article 19 of the constitution allowed every citizen freedom of speech and expressions.
He said social and digital media have made deep inroads in society and great responsibilities rest on civil officers to take quick actions on verified information before it was converted into a crisis situation. He said delay in sharing of information was tantamount of losing narrative and depriving masses from truth.
Usman Zafar, a resource person in his video link address from Islamabad said the breaking news culture had increased in TV journalism after the 9/11 tragic incident in the US.
He said news speed of news papers were slow than TV channels and urged civil officers to make focus on accuracy, editorial checks and balances, response time, treatment and influence being a key elements on media management during crisis situation such as bomb blasts, earthquakes and fire eruption incident.
Usman said nearly 60percent people of Pakistan had internet facilities and govt officials would lose narrative if time was lost. He said TV journalism was more crisis oriented than print media and digital media was making great influence on people especially during COVID-19. He said efforts should be made to respond quickly before the development of the crisis situation. Usman said the media should not be considered as enemy rather to be treated as facilitators.
