Gov’t wants to promote national strategies through local media

Victor Chan

The government spokesperson and director of the Government Information Bureau (GCS), Victor Chan, said late last week that the government plans to work more closely with Macau’s media to promote the central government’s national strategies, including the city’s role in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Greater Bay Area.

Speaking on the sidelines of a media event, Chan said that the government would dedicate more resources to promoting such policies via multimedia platforms and the government news portal.

He added that the establishment of the government spokesperson system had facilitated better and closer relations between the government, the media and the public.

According to the GCS chief, the government wants to implement three policies in order to enhance information output to the media and public.

The first was to improve the government spokesperson system by enhancing internal communication between different public departments, as well as other potential measures. Ground-level representatives of government bureaus would also be supported in communicating government policies to local media platforms.

Secondly, GCS plans to promote more news about Macau’s participation in, and contribution to, the development of national strategies. For example, it will communicate more detailed information about the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and regional cooperation to that end.

Thirdly, the government wants to “maintain close communication with the media in order to provide greater support for their work.”

Chan also shared his insights regarding the development of new media and how the government has begun to embrace it.

Recent efforts included the launch in March 2017 of a Facebook page for the purposes of sharing government news, events and policies. In the past year, GCS also produced more video news clips, photographic essays, infographics and video features.