Porn Lui Tuck Yew wan to Talk to You

[cheekenpie]

Govt agencies should re-look how to engage public: Minister Lui Tuck Yew
By Dylan Loh | Posted: 25 March 2010 1851 hrs

SINGAPORE: Government agencies should strike a balance in its control over public communications when reaching people through channels like new media.

Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew suggested that lower-level officials be empowered to represent agencies under certain conditions.

However, top management should still decide how messages are communicated in crucial situations.

New media has changed the way the public relates to the government. So at a civil service conference held on Thursday, participants were told this presents opportunities for agencies to communicate ideas in different ways.

In his speech, Mr Lui said that while the tools and methods of communication may have changed, the fundamentals have not and that communication at the end of the day is still about being understood.

Challenges may arise in using new media to help people understand messages but experts said this should not deter the government from participating in this area.

Steve Rubel, director, Insights, Edelman Digital, said: "A small minority could come out and make a small issue a larger one that a government official or government agency will have to deal with. However, I do think that's going to happen whether the government participates or not."

On the flipside, mainstream media has held its ground and Mr Lui said this should not be ignored.

Mr Lui said: "When working with the media, we need to understand that they also are driven by certain deadlines and timelines. And while we do not want to be dictated solely by their timelines, we need to make sure that the message must get to them and through them to the audience in a timely manner."

With limited resources, Mr Lui said agencies should also be selective in choosing what new media platforms to engage. - CNA/vm

 

[ahleebabasingaporethief]

For a start I recommend to him that he look at THE GRASSLOOT people.

He should recommend weeding them out....all thousands of them that are in GRASSLOOT WHO ARE THERE to loot Singaporeans for their OWN SELF INTEREST.

These are the very same people that feedback to the MINISTARS that S'poreans very choosy in job hunts when the ACTUAL FACT is that these GRASSLOOTERS with their OWN COMPANIES want CHEAPERER LABOR.
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[cheekenpie]

More voice for civil servants
by Alicia Wong
05:55 AM Mar 26, 2010

SINGAPORE - Give lower-level civil servants more leeway to represent their agency or ministry in communicating with the public.

This was a suggestion by Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica) Lui Tuck Yew had for some 250 government officials yesterday at the inaugural Mica-CSC (Civil Service College) Public Communications Conference.

Pointing out there are now "a thousand channels" to reach different audiences, Rear Admiral (NS) Lui said the Government needs to consider if the current "very centralised model" was still "appropriate". Currently, communications have to be cleared from the top and disseminated through the "right channels".

"We need to be more judicious in finding an equilibrium between centralisation and decentralisation," he said, adding that issues with varying degrees of importance will need different degrees of control.

When it comes to directors and senior management staff, "to what degree do we empower them to speak on their agency or their ministry's behalf?" RAdm Lui asked.

"Obviously, the more important the issues, the more important the policies, the more carefully we have to orchestrate the public communications campaign. And yes, a certain degree of centralisation of control needs to be retained."

If there is to be greater decentralisation, RAdm Lui added, officials must be trained to develop the right skills and instincts so they can "stay true" to the intended message without seeming like they are "only blasting (a) certain message" to an audience seeking something else.

Observers agreed that training is key.

The major challenge in a more devolved system is the possibility for errors, said Professor Ang Peng Hwa, from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University .

"You are allowing for some degree of freedom, and have to tolerate some degree of error," he said. "(But) it's more efficient and the public sees (the Government) as more responsive."

Head of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Information, Communications and the Arts, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, highlighted the risk of "inconsistencies" if officers have different interpretations of how a response should be made. This could confuse the public and the Government may "lose credibility", he said.

Deciding how sensitive an issue is, or how much room officials should get to respond, could also be a challenge, he noted. Other than using sensitivity as a gauge of how high up to go for clearance, he said, ministries could also differentiate in terms of new polices - over which they may want more control - and established ones that "don't need too tight a stranglehold".

In 2008, the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society supported a group of bloggers' suggestion that Singapore's large and well-informed pool of civil servants be freed to comment online in their personal capacities on public policies. However, this was not taken up by the Government.

RAdm Lui told officials yesterday not to "see new media as a threat or challenge" but an opportunity to convey their ideas.

While applauding the growing number of authorities engaging online, he reiterated that the Government's resources do not allow it to engage widely on the Internet, beyond its feedback arm Reach or online sites of the mainstream media, and it is "not in our interest to do so".

By keeping to certain sites, it helps people understand where to go to online for credible information, he said. Many other sites would also prefer to be left to their own discussions and would "not welcome a strong Government presence," he added. - Additional reporting by Dylan Loh.



Standalone:

"While we do not want to be dictated solely by (the media's) timelines, we need to make sure that the message must get to them and through them, to the audience in a timely manner."

- Mica MInister Lui Tuck Yew, reminding communicators to be speedy in responding to the media

 

[halsey02]

First he must look at himself in the mirror, but then again, beauty is to the eye of the beholder...he can't talk to us we do porn...

 

[cooleo]

Communication is 2-way street.

You wanna talk to us, but do we wanna listen? :oIo: