Description
Success of some of the government policies and reforms crucially depends on their social perception, which largely is a product of their communication (this is especially true for policies that involve a large number of people such as pension, education, healthcare).
Direct communication of reforms and policies by the government is plagued by the fact that very few people read official releases. Moreover, in Ukraine public trust to government is low (although, ironically, paternalism and thus expectations from the government are quite high).
Thus, the government has to rely on general media in communication of its activities and plans. In doing so, a preferred strategy for it would be to deliver positive messages and conceal risks. To the contrast, media have incentives to discover and highlight caveats, even if this would lower general social support of some policies and form negative [and possibly self-fulfilling] expectations about them in the society.
Should media always challenge the government and its officials or should they sometimes support government policies which are beneficial for the society?
How should the government build relations with the media?
Is there a room for cooperation between journalists and officials (say, PR-managers of government bodies) or they are always on different sides of the “barricades”? How can officials and journalists cooperate and where journalists should draw the boundaries of such cooperation to remain impartial? Is it common for journalists to join government communications in Europe/US? Is then communication with his/her former colleagues a challenge for such a person? Should journalists be completely impartial or it is good for them to express some political preferences? Can journalists impact (positively or negatively) the pace and direction of reforms in a country?
Participants of the discussion:
- Marek Petrus, OGResearch director, leader of policy communications advisory practice. His expertise stems from a 6-year assignment as Director of Communications and later Chancellor at the Czech National Bank, preceded by an 11-year career with the world’s leading news media companies, including Reuters and the Wall Street Journal.
- Daryna Marchak, Minister of the Cabinet advisor, co-founder of state communication school. She has 10 years of journalist experience, including in outlets Forbes Ukraine and Bloomberg News
- Oleksandr Martynenko, CEO of Interfax-Ukraine news agency Daryna Krasnolutska,chief of Kyiv office of Bloomberg
- Roman Vybranovskyi, UA:перший TV channel, previously worked at Ukrainian Crisis Media Centre and was responsible for working with foreign media at the information centre of National Security Council
- Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg Ukraine
When: December 6th, 19:00
Where: Dmytrivska str. 92-94, Kyiv School of Economics
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Please feel free to contact Kseniia Alekankina, communications specialist, by phone 093 490 19 61 or email [email protected], if you require any further information