Govt organises its news

Press, 13 November 1985, Page 10

Govt organises its news

PA Wellington A committee designed to influence the timing and impact of Ministerial news announcements has been formed within the office of the Prime Minister, Mr Lange. Its purpose is to co-ordi-nate the flow of official news from the Beehive and to have a “communications strategy” that throws the Government into the best possible light, the "Evening Post” reports.

The Communications Advisory Committee was established two months ago to address some of the issues discussed in a report made public last April, commissioned from a public relations consultant, Mr David Exel. The committee is headed by Dr John Henderson, who was appointed to Mr Lange’s office last April as

the director of the Prime Minister’s advisory group. The other members are Brian Richards, a deputy secretary from Internal Affairs who has responsibility over private secretaries; Bevin Burgess, from the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas’s office; Bethney McLennan, press secretary from the Minister of Works, Mr Colman’s office, who represents the press secretaries; Peter Brooks, of the Tourist and Publicity Department, which has an employing responsibility over press secretaries; and Ross Vintiner, the Prime Minister’s chief press officer. The committee, which reports directly to Mr Lange, meets every Friday to consider strategies for a controlled flow of Government news.

Part of its assessment comes from meetings Mr

Vintiner has every Monday with Beehive press secretaries, where likely news releases over the coming week are considered. Dr Henderson and Mr Vintiner denied that it was designed to "manage” the news.

They said the Exel report, based on surveys Mr Exel made among Parliamentary staff involved in news media duties, and among members of the Parliamentary press gallery, canvassed a number of options for Government communications strategies, but favoured creating a centralised news media unit.

In keeping with Mr Lange’s “chairman of the board” style, however, it was decided not to centralise, but to create a coordinated system that could handle contributions by way

of a general consensus, they said. '

The Government’s communications strategy was to make sure it got its essential information across to the public. The Beehive was the source for a huge amount of information of varying levels of importance. The committee’s role was to consider this information as the Government’s programme unfolded, and advise on the way it was released.

For example, instead of Ministers competing with each other on one day to make announcements, it might be better for those announcements to be made on successive days. “To some extent we have to ensure we don’t get clashes, or an overload on a particular day,” said Mr

Vintiner. “It’s not media manipulation, but a basic administrative function ...getting it across at the time when it’s going to be best understood,” he said. Another of the committee’s roles was to co-ordi-nate information in cases where a particular subject overlapped into more than one Ministerial portfolio. The committee has also looked at co-ordinating the introduction of new technology, such as word processors, which for many months have been installed in an apparently piecemeal manner in Beehive press offices. The committee’s work delves into some sensitive areas. Many Ministers, for example, prefer to take a more independent stance on ■the flow of information from their portfolios. For this and other reasons the committee’s authority was confined to giving advice, rather than directives, they said.