Govt eyes small cities for media outreach

The Modi government is keen to make last mile connection with journalists across the country as regional editors conference is now expected to travel to cities other than state capitals. The Union ministers are now likely to travel to important regional towns to deliver the BJP government’s development message.

PIB director-general Frank Noronha told this newspaper that the regional editors conference, which was till now confined to capital cities, will be travelling to important regional centres. “The move is part of Modi government’s initiative to reach out to the different regions of the nation,” Mr Noronha added. The initiative is understood to have sought inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is himself keen on taking such big ticket events to various parts of the country.

“We are going to go more intense in our approach and important cities of all states will be targeted for direct meeting of senior ministers and journalists. This will also ensure clarity on state and region specific issues in the regional media,” the PIB DG said.

Recent regional economic editors conferences took place in Chandigarh, Jaipur and Chennai. It is understood that more such conferences would take place at Bhopal and cities in Northeast.

It is understood that such events help the government reach out to the regional media and help senior ministers to interact with grassroots journalists.

“The highest functionaries of ministry interact with these journalists giving them a deeper perspective as well as relevant context in disseminating information. While at the same time grassroots inputs given by journalists to ministers,” sources stated.

It is understood that the event is part of changed media strategy of the Narendra Modi government which wants its achievements to percolate among the masses. It has been felt that the government’s outreach towards the media should not be confined to the national capital and should be spread across the country.