What Does a Press Assistant Do?

The Guizhou Provincial People's Government's press release work method is a notice issued by the General Office of the Guizhou Provincial People's Government on April 25, 2016.

Guizhou Provincial People's Government Press Release Working Measures

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Notice of the General Office of the Provincial People's Government on Printing and Distributing the "Procedures for Provincial People's Government Press Releases"

Qianfu Office Office 2016 No. 12

The people's governments of cities and autonomous prefectures, the management committee of Gui'an New District, the people's governments of counties (cities, districts, special zones), the departments of provincial governments, and their direct agencies:

With the consent of the Provincial People's Government, the "Rules of the Guizhou Provincial People's Government on the Work of Press Release" is now issued to you, please implement it carefully.

General Office of the People's Government of Guizhou Province

April 25, 2016

(This is publicly released)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 In order to further enhance the disclosure of government information, improve the transparency of government work, and effectively protect the right to information, participation, expression and supervision of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, and to promote social harmony and stability, this document is formulated in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and rules. Method.

Article 2 "News release" as mentioned in these Measures refers to the use of platforms such as news media, government websites, government affairs Weibo, WeChat, and government affairs clients to release relevant government information and express opinions through news spokespersons or other authorized forms. Position, respond to social concerns, answer public questions and communicate with the public.

Article 3 These measures apply to the press release work of the Provincial People's Government and its constituent departments and direct-affiliated agencies, the municipal and autonomous prefecture people's governments, the Gui'an New District Administrative Committee, and the counties (cities, districts, and special zones).

Article 4 The Provincial People's Government Information Office (hereinafter referred to as the Provincial Government Information Office) is the department in charge of press release of the provincial government. It is responsible for the construction of press spokespersons and press release systems, and directs, coordinates and promotes government press releases.

The municipal (prefecture), county (city, district, and special zone) government information offices are responsible for guiding, coordinating, and advancing government news releases in their respective jurisdictions.

Article 5 The press release of administrative organs shall follow the following principles:

(1) According to law and regulations. Strictly abide by the "Emergency Response Law of the People's Republic of China", "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Government Information Disclosure", "Opinions of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Disclosure of Government Affairs" and "Interim Provisions on Guizhou Province Government Information Disclosure And other laws and regulations and relevant provisions will release information in accordance with laws and regulations throughout the entire process of decision-making, implementation, service and supervision of administrative organs.

(2) Openness and transparency. Adhere to openness as the norm and non-disclosure as exceptions, and promote decision-making, implementation, management, service and results. Information that involves the immediate interests of the people and requires wide public awareness or participation in the public should be timely and accurately disclosed.

(3) Timely and proactive. Administrative agencies should promptly and proactively respond to social concerns, issue comprehensive, objective, truthful, and accurate news information, clarify false rumors, accept public consultations and inquiries, resolve doubts, and maintain social harmony and stability.

(4) Synchronous deployment. Administrative agencies must, at the same time as carrying out administrative work, consider the actual work and press release work simultaneously, deploy them, and advance them simultaneously to form a standardized and perfect press release system.

(5) The head is responsible. The main person in charge of the administrative organ is the first person responsible for news release, and has the main responsibility for the work of news release. The person in charge authorized by the main person in charge of the administrative organ may release news according to the authorization and be responsible to the executive head.

(6) Centralized release. The administrative organ is the main body of government news release. It performs its release responsibilities according to their respective functions and duties, implements consistent power and responsibility, centralized management, and hierarchical release, so that who manages, who releases, and who is responsible.

Chapter II Press Releases and Spokespersons

Article 6 The administrative organ shall determine the specialized agencies to assume and be responsible for the work of news release.

Article 7 The administrative organ shall establish a sound press spokesman system, appoint persons in charge who can participate in decision-making as press spokespersons, and appoint and remove them through formal organizational procedures; appoint heads of press release agencies as press assistants. The appointment of a spokesperson should remain stable. It is necessary to improve the working mechanism of press releases and form a team to ensure that press releases are institutionalized, standardized, professional, and normalized.

Article 8 The provincial government establishes two spokespersons who are responsible for the release of daily important information of the provincial government; special work involving various fields may be released by the vice governor authorized by the deputy secretary-general of the provincial government as a temporary news spokesperson.

Provincial government departments and agencies directly set up one or two spokespersons, which are led by members of the leadership team. The release of professional information can be authorized by various departments and direct agencies. The arrangements of the municipal (state) government spokespersons are set according to the practices of the provincial government.

The press releases of the government's deliberative coordinating bodies, temporary agencies, etc., which are set up for important work and major events throughout the province, are organized and implemented in accordance with the principle of centralized release with reference to the above provisions.

Article 9 The Provincial Government Information Office shall publish a list of provincial government, provincial government departments, all directly-affiliated agencies, city (state) government spokespersons and press assistants once a year. If personnel changes occur, all localities and departments shall adjust within one month and report relevant information to the Provincial Government Information Office for re-filing and publication in a timely manner.

Article 10 The spokesperson and working team shall perform the following duties:

(1) Organize and implement local news release and policy interpretation work, and establish and improve relevant working mechanisms.

(2) Release information in accordance with the authorization, and actively use the Internet and new media to carry out work.

(3) Accepting interview applications from media reporters, coordinating and arranging interviews with media reporters, opening up interview channels, and facilitating media reporters' interviews.

(4) To release timely and authoritative information in accordance with procedures, and clarify the facts, policies and measures, and the results of such hot issues involving important government affairs, public opinion, media concerns, and emergencies that are related to the region and its departments, and respond to concerns seriously.

(5) Guide and coordinate news media and government websites to do a good job of information release and policy interpretation.

(6) Carry out work related to news release of this administrative organ.

Article 11 The administrative organ shall establish a team of experts in accordance with the actual work, and ask experts and scholars to make accurate, objective and authoritative interpretations of professional information concerning policy decisions and emergencies that are of immediate interest to the people.

Article 12 Administrative agencies shall strengthen the professional training of spokespersons and their working teams, improve media literacy, standardize working procedures, improve working procedures, define job responsibilities, and improve the effectiveness of news release.

Chapter III Scope and Content of Press Releases

Article 13 Where government information that should be disclosed in accordance with the law falls into one of the following circumstances, the administrative organ shall take the initiative to carry out press release work:

(1) Involving the vital interests of citizens, legal persons or other organizations, which need to listen to the opinions and suggestions of the public or inform the public;

(2) events and topics that have been or may be widely concerned by public opinion and fall within the scope of the administrative organs' duties, the relevant circumstances shall be publicly explained;

(3) Where further explanations and explanations are required beyond the form of bulletins, announcements, etc .;

(4) a higher-level administrative agency designates that a news release should be carried out;

(5) Others shall conduct news release in accordance with laws, regulations and relevant state regulations.

Article 14 Information released by administrative agencies in the form of news releases mainly includes the following:

(1) General government affairs information: Contents required to be disclosed in the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Government Information Disclosure and the Interim Provisions on Guizhou Province Government Information Disclosure and suitable for news release;

(2) Social hotspot information: factual confirmation of social hotspots that are generally concerned by the news media and the Internet and the general public, government positions, measures taken by the government, and reminders of public attention;

(3) Emergency information: basic information of natural disasters, accident disasters, public health events and social security incidents in the area under jurisdiction, government positions, measures taken, and reminders to the public to pay attention to, etc .;

(4) Important early-warning information: including the early-warning levels of upcoming natural disasters, accidents, and public health events, the starting time, the scope of possible impacts, warning items, and measures to be taken, etc .;

(5) Information on major events: information on large-scale events such as social culture, economic and trade exchanges, sports competitions, conferences and exhibitions forums hosted and undertaken in the name of administrative agencies;

(6) Supervision information from public opinion: Responses to matters concerning the supervision of public opinion by the news media and the Internet and the public;

(7) Other information: information authorized or required to be released by higher administrative organs and other situations that need to be disclosed and introduced.

Article 15 Administrative organs shall standardize the procedures for news release, clarify their work responsibilities, verify the contents of the release, and ensure that the news released is true and accurate. The contents of the news release shall be examined and approved by the executive head of the issuing authority or its authorized person in charge. If the scope and content of a news release involves other administrative organs, it shall be communicated in advance, jointly confirmed, and joint release may be carried out; if the overall issue is involved, the person in charge of the government department may submit it to the higher-level government department or leader for approval as appropriate.

Article 16 All administrative agencies shall strengthen coordination and cooperation to prevent situations such as job vacancies, repeated releases, multiple releases, cross releases, and inconsistent information release.

Chapter 4 Ways and Procedures of Press Release

Article 17 The administrative organ shall use a variety of forms to carry out press releases. It may release information by holding press conferences, briefings, organizing exclusive interviews and collective interviews, issuing press releases, telephone, fax and e-mail in response to inquiries from journalists. . Encourage the use of new media such as official websites, government affairs microblogs, government affairs WeChat, and government affairs clients to carry out related work.

Article 18 Give full play to the role of the first platform of government portal information disclosure, integrate government website information resources, strengthen coordination and cooperation between government websites at all levels, strengthen government websites and central and local major news media, major news websites, and key business websites Cooperation, make full use of new media means to expand information dissemination channels, and improve the relevance and effectiveness of government news releases.

Article 19 Where major issues considered by the executive meeting of the government require press release, the administrative organ that leads the matter shall propose a news release plan, report to the government leader for review and determine the level and method of release, and organize the implementation.

Article 20 The launch of news release by administrative organs shall be carried out in an appropriate manner according to the actual situation. Regular government affairs information should be organized and released within 5 working days after the completion of relevant information production and review; social hotspot information should be organized in accordance with public concerns and media interviews, and timely news releases should be made; for issues reflected by the supervision of news media, should be Investigate and respond in time, and publicize the results.

Article 21 Administrative agencies shall take the initiative to accept interviews by the news media, provide convenience and guarantee for journalists, and shall not provide news information to the news media by means of paid services. In the process of accepting a reporter's interview application, journalists must be required to produce legal and valid credentials in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

Chapter V Press Releases for Emergencies

Article 22 Press releases for emergencies are classified by responsibility. Press releases for particularly serious and major natural disasters, accidents, and public health events. Before the establishment of the on-site command, or the absence of an on-site command, the event's provincial disposal authority will be responsible, and if necessary, the provincial government will be responsible; Ministry's, issued by the field command unified.

News releases for major and general natural disasters, accidents, and public health events are the responsibility of the city (state) government and county (city, district, and special district) government where the incident occurred.

Article 23 The first information release of a particularly serious and major natural disaster, accident, or public health event shall not be published more than 3 hours after the event. Due to the delay in reporting information, etc., it may not be carried out within 3 hours after the event. It must be published within 1 hour after receiving the report. The first information release mainly released brief information about the event, including the time, place, site conditions, the number of casualties that have been or may have been caused by the event (including the number of people unknown, the number of people involved in the accident), and government measures. According to the development of the situation and the progress of the disposal work, follow-up release can be carried out. After a particularly serious and major emergency, a press conference shall be held within 24 hours.

Article 24 For natural disasters, accidents, and public health events that may cause significant social impact, the department in charge of disposal shall promptly issue early-warning information to the society, prompting the public to take precautionary or hedging measures, popularize corresponding scientific knowledge, and do a good job Service information release. In the case of particularly serious and major natural disasters and accidents, the causes of disasters and disasters, loss of life and property, and social assistance should be announced to the society in a timely manner.

Article 25 The release of information on social security incidents shall be timely released by the on-site headquarters, the government at the place of the incident, and the incident handling authority in accordance with the degree of social harm, scope of influence, and public concern; the major network has been formed. For public opinion, we must immediately organize and release relevant information to effectively guide public opinion.

Article 26 After an emergency occurs, the department in charge of incident handling, the government at the place of occurrence, and the on-site command department may delimit the news interview area to regulate the order of on-site news interviews, and may set up a news center to receive reporters when necessary Do a good job of reporter interview services.

Article 27 The competent authority for incident handling and local governments shall, in accordance with these Measures and in accordance with actual conditions, formulate a work flow for information release.

Chapter VI Organization and Implementation of the Press Conference

Article 28. Press conferences are an important form of news release. Departments in various localities decide to hold press conferences based on the topics, content, media and public concerns.

Article 29. Provincial government constituent departments and direct agencies that have close relations with the macro economy and people's livelihood and have a lot of social concerns should establish a routine release system, release information regularly, and hold independent press conferences at least once a quarter; Attend the press conference of the provincial government at least once every six months; the main responsible comrades attend the press conference of the provincial government at least once a year.

Article 30 The press conference of the Provincial Government is organized and implemented by the Provincial Government Information Office. In principle, it is chaired by the Provincial Government Information Office, and the Provincial Government spokesperson and the heads of relevant departments make press releases.

Article 31 Examination and approval procedures and organization of press conferences:

(1) A press conference held by the provincial government. The content of the release will be drafted by the provincial government department or unit that takes the lead in handling matters, and will be held after the approval of the deputy governor in charge. Major matters are approved by the governor.

(2) Press conferences independently held by the various departments of the provincial government. The contents of the release will be drafted and submitted for review by the department. The relevant materials will be submitted to the Provincial Government's Press Office for record 5 working days in advance.

(3) Press conferences independently held by the municipal (state) governments in Guiyang or outside the province. The content of the release is determined by the comrades in charge at the corresponding level. Held. Significant matters are reported to the Provincial Government News Office for filing five working days in advance.

Article 32. Press conferences should focus on news, and media reporters should be set up to ask questions. All persons seated on the rostrum must be responsible for the release task, usually no more than 5 people.

Article 33 Administrative organs shall be prepared for the holding of a press conference, including press releases, background materials, and data indexes. After the press conference, reporters should be provided with relevant texts and electronic documents of the published content, and respond to reporters' inquiries.

Article 34 The administrative organ may independently use its own conference room to hold a press conference. For emergency news conferences, try to choose a suitable place near the place where the incident occurred.

Article 35 After the press conference, the administrative organ shall collect and analyze the media and network reports in a timely manner to evaluate the effect of the release.

Chapter VII Supervision and Guarantee

Article 36 Establish and improve a press release mechanism under the unified leadership of the Party Committee and the government, with local governments and departments responsible for division of responsibilities, and coordinated guidance by the Government Information Office.

Article 37 The person in charge of the Government Information Office shall be present at the executive meeting of the government at the same level to fully understand the major decisions and important matters involving the public interest.

Article 38 Administrative agencies shall specifically list the contents of news releases in the annual report on government information disclosure, including holding press conferences, issuing press releases, accepting interviews with reporters, breaking news releases, responding to social hotspots, and participating in online interviews. Etc., there are problems and improvement measures, and issues that need to be reported.

Article 39 If an administrative organ violates the provisions of these Measures and has one of the following circumstances in its issuance work, it shall be investigated for administrative responsibility of the unit or the person in charge; if it is suspected of a crime, it shall be transferred to the judicial organ for investigation:

(1) According to law, it should be released but not released, or not released within the prescribed time, causing adverse social impacts and consequences;

(2) For major policies and work involving public interests, which refuses or obstructs journalists' legitimate interviews without cause, causing adverse social impacts and consequences;

(3) Deliberately publishing false news, which causes adverse social impact and consequences;

(4) Unauthorized release in violation of the procedures, causing adverse social impacts and consequences;

(5) refusing to execute the instructions issued by the higher-level administrative organ, or delaying the implementation of the instructions, causing poor social impact and consequences;

(6) Failure to perform confidentiality review procedures, which has resulted in state secret disclosure or disclosure of government information that should not be disclosed.

Article 40 If the news media deliberately distorts the facts and makes false reports, causing adverse effects, the media and relevant responsible persons shall be investigated for responsibilities.

Article 41 The lawful rights and interests of the press spokespersons and press assistants of administrative organs in carrying out press releases in accordance with working procedures shall be protected in accordance with law. Administrative agencies should strengthen the construction of press spokespersons and working teams, strengthen the management of news release archives and materials, strengthen the construction of press release technology platforms and logistical guarantees, and the required funds should be included in fiscal budgets at all levels.

Article 42 The business of news release shall be incorporated into the basic curriculum arrangements of party schools, administrative colleges, cadre colleges, leading cadre refresher classes, and civil servant training classes at all levels. The Provincial Government Information Office should strengthen professional training for the province's press spokesperson team.

Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions

Article 43 Organizations with functions of managing public affairs authorized by our province in accordance with the law, public enterprises and institutions closely related to the public interest of the society, etc., shall refer to these Measures for the work of news release in the process of providing social and public services.

Article 44 These Measures shall be implemented as of the date of issuance. ^[1]

The "Measures" stipulates that the "news release" as referred to in these measures refers to the use of platforms such as news media, government websites, government affairs Weibo, and government affairs clients to release relevant government information through news spokespersons or other authorized forms, Relevant work to express opinions and positions, respond to social concerns, answer public questions and communicate with the public.

The "Measures" require that the press release of administrative organs should follow the principles of law, regulations, openness and transparency, timely and proactive, simultaneous deployment, the responsibility of heads and centralized release. The administrative organs shall determine the specialized agencies to undertake and be responsible for press release work, establish and improve the press spokesman system, improve the press release work mechanism, and form a team to ensure that press release work is institutionalized, standardized, professional, and normalized.

The "Measures" clarify the responsibilities that the spokespersons and working teams should perform, and regulate the content of the administrative agencies' initiative to carry out press releases. Administrative agencies should standardize news release procedures, clarify their work responsibilities, verify the content of the release, and ensure that the news released is true and accurate; administrative agencies should use multiple forms for news releases, and encourage the use of official websites, government affairs microblogs, government affairs WeChat, government affairs clients, etc. New media carry out related work; give full play to the role of the first platform of government portal information disclosure, integrate government website information resources, and improve the relevance and effectiveness of government news releases.

In carrying out press releases, administrative agencies should adopt appropriate methods in accordance with actual conditions. Regular government affairs information should be organized and released within 5 working days after the completion of relevant information production and verification; social hotspot information should be organized in a timely manner according to public concerns and media interviews; for issues reflected by the supervision of news media, Investigate and respond in time, and publicize the results.

Regarding the news release of emergencies, the Measures make it clear that press releases of emergency incidents are classified according to responsibilities. After a particularly serious and major emergency, a press conference should be held within 24 hours.

The Measures also regulates and clarifies the organization and implementation of press conferences, and stipulates that organizations with functions of managing public affairs authorized by Guizhou Province according to law, public enterprises and institutions closely related to the public interest, etc. Press releases during the service process shall be implemented with reference to these measures. ^[2]

Recently, the General Office of the Guizhou Provincial Government has issued the "Measures for Guizhou Provincial People's Government Press Release Work", which has detailed and standardized the press release work of various administrative agencies in Guizhou Province. Among them, Article 39 mentions six situations in which the unit or the person in charge can be investigated for administrative responsibilities according to law, or even transferred to the judicial organs for investigation according to law, including "major policies and important work involving the public interest, and the reporter's legal interviews were refused without any reason. , Causing adverse social effects and consequences. "

This is the first provincial government's method of journalistic work, which includes basic government press release regulations, such as "press release agencies and spokespersons", "scope and content of press releases", and "press release methods and procedures" "Wait. The "Measures" enumerates the information that five types of administrative agencies should take the initiative to carry out press release work, and there are clear regulations on what kind of content needs press release. In addition, around the news release of major natural disasters, accidents and other emergencies, the "Measures" have made detailed regulations on the time and content of the first information release.

Examining such a government news release work method involves many difficulties and difficulties in government news release work, and it has obvious realistic pertinence. In the past, the shortcomings of government news release work were mainly manifested in two points. One is that government departments do not take the initiative to disclose information. Many of the contents that should have been proactively released have been passively disclosed through citizen applications. The other is that the news release work lacks a strict accountability system Some government departments are not active and inactive in the process of information disclosure, and they cannot handle the relationship with the media. Especially in some emergencies, the media is often regarded as an unstable factor. The government departments use various forces to hinder media interviews. This phenomenon is not uncommon, and most of these actions that affect the disclosure of government information have been condoned for lack of accountability.

These two points are summarized as follows: one is the lack of institutional guidance and the other is the imperfect accountability system. Press release is still a new job for many government departments. Objectively speaking, even if the government department is willing to release, if there is no system guidance, the release process will appear blank and disorderly. To ensure that government news releases become the norm, some basic issues must be clarified, such as what content should be released and when it should be released. Only with these detailed system guidelines can press release work be operational. Of course, this type of detailed system guidance is only one of the conditions for promoting government news release. At present, the greater obstacle to government news release is that the enthusiasm of the publisher is not high, especially some emergencies. Many government departments are stubbornly affected by public opinion. And refused to release information, if serious accountability is taken to those inactive government departments and their relevant persons in charge, government news release work is expected to improve even more.

The biggest highlight of this "method" in Guizhou is the introduction of the administrative accountability mechanism into the press. Among the six situations where the administrative responsibility of a unit or a responsible person can be investigated in accordance with the law, in particular "the major policies and important work involving the public interest, which refused or prevented legal reporters from interviewing for no reason, causing adverse social effects and consequences" have attracted much attention. The reason why government press release work must emphasize the role of the media is because the media, as an important supervisory force, is an intermediary role in communicating the people and government departments. It is worth noting that the Key Points for the Openness of Government Affairs in 2016 issued by the State Council at the end of last month requires government departments at all levels to refine the tasks of openness in government affairs and increase their efforts. Among them, for the first time, it is clearly stated that better use of Media role. " Practice has proved that the media not only investigates the facts, but also often promotes the disclosure of government affairs information. The so-called "better use of the media" must not only ensure the legal interviews of the media, but also provide institutional guarantees for media supervision in order to promote the disclosure of government information .

Emphasizing administrative accountability in press releases, Guizhou is not the first to eat crabs, and Shenzhen made similar rules as early as 2009. The reason this regulation has once again attracted public opinion is mainly because accountability has risen to the level of criminal accountability. However, it is worth noting that the "Measures" in the Principles section proposed "Head Responsibility", while the accountability statement was "accounting for administrative responsibility of the unit or the person responsible in accordance with the law". The purpose of the government news release is to satisfy the public. Considering the extremely important importance of this work, can the accountability system be adopted in the accountability process? ^[3]