No more than 6 year-enders in a day to ensure more coverage: Government

NEW DELHI: Keen to project its achievements at the end of the year and ensure proper coverage in the media, the government has asked ministries to coordinate the release of their respective statements, stipulating that no more than six will be released in a single day.

In a letter to the public information officers of all ministries on December 17, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) under the ministry of information and broadcasting has said there should be “proper timing” of issuance of the year-enders by various ministries to “ensure more coverage”, while sending a new 10-day schedule.

“It should be seen that clubbing of more than six releases does not happen in a day and not more than three releases in a sector,” the letter said to avoid the eclipsing of some departments by crowding them.

The ministry of new and renewable energy kicked off things by issuing a year-ender on Sunday while the ministry of agriculture laid out its achievements on Monday. The Department of Personnel and Training publicised its year-ender on Wednesday. The government also wants information officers of all ministries to send in a report by January 10 on the usage of the year-end reviews by various newspapers and television channels.

It added that correspondents need to be alerted to the release of the year-end statements. Further, all regional PIB units have been asked to get the year-enders translated into local languages for coverage in regional media with a report on usage filed by January 10. The government had previously conducted an extensive coordination exercise while scheduling the press conferences of various Union ministers on completing 100 days in office, drawing up a calendar for this to ensure that they were spread out in August and September.