Deputy Minister of Information Fatimatu Abubakar has called on all Public Relations (PR) practitioners in the country to take up the challenge of ensuring that the tenets of truth, trust and transparency are employed in their communication strategies.
She noted that it is essential to abide by these principles if they want to successfully build relationships, prevent crises and achieve their business objectives.
Fatimatu Abubakar made this call while delivering a keynote address at the maiden thought-leadership event organised by Global Media Alliance to celebrate World PR Day.
The summit, held under the theme ‘The Evolution of PR: Shifting Skillset Required of Today’s PR Professional’, assembled the PR professional community, people in academia and communication experts at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Accra on Friday, July 15, 2022.
The minister disclosed that government through its PR Machinery, the Information Ministry, continues to ensure that truth, trust and transparency are employed as essential ingredients in effectively managing the economy.
She intimated that government’s numerous interventions and initiatives – which include passing the Right to Information bill into Law and launch of Ghana’s Opening Extractive Programme by the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, among others, have advanced the agenda of openness in governance and provided accurate and reliable information while promoting accountability.
She also noted that, more recently, government’s communication effort during the outbreak of COVID-19 was successful because the adoption of these tenets in its public communication.
“The global spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) was accompanied by a wave of misinformation that was undermining policy responses and amplifying distrust and concern among citizens. Governments leveraged on public communication to counteract misinformation and support policy. The efficacy of these actions depended on grounding them in open government principles, chiefly transparency, to build trust in public institutions,” she explained.
According to her, people want to exist in an environment that allows them to have greater clarity of thought by eliminating the unknowns which continue to creep into their minds with each decision they make or relationship they foster. Therefore individuals, organisations and government must make use of proper PR strategies while including the principles of truth, trust and transparency.
Global Media Alliance, a leading integrated marketing and communication company, held the first-ever thought-leadership event in Ghana to celebrate the Annual World PR Day.
Launched in 2021, World PR Day is celebrated on July 16 to forge a global agenda about Public Relations: by raising awareness on the importance of Public Relations, reiterating the importance of responsible communication; and helping organisations, governments and developmental agencies to be more deliberate about using Public Relations to build, innovate and develop businesses and society at large.
The 2022 World PR Day was celebrated under the theme, ‘Truth, Trust and Transparency’.
