Activity Details (ID# 15446)

Activity Synopsis

The general objectives of the workshop were:

- to create a better awareness of the role and position of public information officers in a democratic society, with an emphasis on the current situation in Serbia concerning the developments in public relations at the governmental level;

- to present a comparative approach to public information and open access to information, in particular regarding the experience of transitional countries, but also Western European counties

- to discuss with participants the personal responsibility of public information officers when giving information to the mass media

- to explain the difference between being a personal PR-officer for a politician and a civil servant who presents objective and neutral information

- to discuss the importance of strategic planning of communication activities and presenting the methods and tools for its proper development and implementation.
 

It was envisaged that the workshop should be conducted by two trainers. At the latest moment one of the trainers had to cancel his participation. Because of this the programme had to be modified. This was done after consulting the participants.

To get a proper picture of the duties and qualities of the participants the seminar started with a introduction of each participant. The main function mentioned was press-officer/spokesperson, responsible for the contact with the mass media, organising press meetings and press conferences.
The professional education varied from being a professional journalist to university study in philology.

During the seminar, one of the main point of interest of participants was how to provoke interest the by the press/media in topics that concern the public at large and in topics that are not sufficiently covered by the media/press.

Through presentations, discussions and a workshop, the participants also tackled the issues of how to put together a PR strategy, how to establish functioning internal communication, how to act in crisis situations and how to involve the stakeholders in the decision process of policy making.

Other more generic topics that were treated during the workshop were definition of public relations, functions and tasks of public communications and organisation of public communications.

The topic of ‘Organisation of Public Communication’ was discussed in a working group and resulted in recommendations that will be treated in a follow-up workshop in September. These recommendations are related to the real situation in Serbia and are supposed to be easy to put in practice. After an in-depth discussion in the follow-up workshop these recommendations will be presented to all representatives of the ministries by the head of the Press Office of the Prime Minister.
 

The general conclusion was:

As the PR service in Serbia is still at its beginning, this kind of activity is very important. The participants confirmed that the seminar was useful for them and that they are willing to improve and develop their practice. It is a pity that the lack of human resources in the press offices of the ministries and lack of financial resources are an obstacle to develop a proper functioning corps of Press Officers.

The follow-up workshop (second module) will take place in September 2006.
 

Public information officers from different ministries 

Mr Fred GIJBELS, Director of Gijbels Communicatie and Advies, Amsterdam, Nederland 

Klavdija CERNILOGAR, Council of Europe Office in Belgrade
Ms Lejla DERVISAGIC, Media Division, Directorate General of Human Rights