Implementing the Regulations on Speaking and Providing Information to the Press

(Baonghean.vn) - On the morning of August 7 in Hanoi, the Ministry of Information and Communications held a conference to implement Decision 25/2013/QD-TTg dated May 4, 2013 of the Prime Minister promulgating the "Regulations on speaking and providing information to the press". Representatives of press agencies, press management agencies and spokespeople of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities from Quang Tri to the North attended the conference.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Do Quy Doan emphasized: "In the period of global information explosion, the Government's promulgation of the Regulation on speaking and providing information to the press is of great significance, creating conditions for State administrative agencies to proactively provide official information to the press, as well as the regulation on speaking to meet the public's information needs."

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Do Quy Doan speaks at the conference

The implementation of Decision 25 was presented by Director of the Press Department Hoang Huu Luong, clearly stating the new points of the speaking regulations. The new regulations have 3 chapters and 10 articles, taking effect from July 1, 2013 and replacing the regulations issued under Decision No. 77/2007/QD-TTg dated May 28, 2007.

Compared to the old regulations, this regulation has new provisions to clarify the content and methods of providing information, the responsibilities of heads of state administrative agencies in organizing and directing the speaking and providing information to the press, creating favorable conditions and environment for the operations of press agencies and journalists.

Director of the Press Department Hoang Huu Luong deploys the Speaking Regulations

The spokesperson mentioned in Article 2 of the new regulations stipulates that each state administrative agency has three people responsible for speaking and providing information to the press, including: The head of the state administrative agency; The person assigned by the head of the state administrative agency to speak and provide information to the press regularly and the authorized spokesperson (additional authorized person). The time limit for providing information, the new regulations stipulate to shorten the mandatory time limit for providing periodic information to the press of state agencies from 3 months to 1 month; the maximum time limit for holding a press conference to provide information from 6 months to 3 months. Particularly for sudden, unusual, important cases that cause great impact in society under the management of the agency, the time limit for providing information to the press is shortened from 2 days to 1 day, from the time the incident occurs.

Conference overview

The regulation on the responsibility of the head of a state administrative agency, in Clause 2, Article 5 stipulates: The head must be responsible for speaking and providing information to the press of the administrative agency, including in cases where another person is authorized to speak and provide information to the press, which is different from the old regulation. The new regulation stipulates handling of violations in speaking work in Article 8 stating: "Relevant agencies and organizations that do not implement, do not properly implement or do not fully implement the provisions in this regulation, depending on the nature and severity of the violation, will be subject to disciplinary action, administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution in accordance with the provisions of law".

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Do Quy Doan answered press interviews about the implementation of Decision 25 of the Prime Minister.

The conference also learned about the basic skills of a spokesperson, the work of speaking about foreign information as well as propaganda about seas and islands, and protecting national sovereignty.

Phan Nguyen