Government’s PR Strategy Comes Under Fire
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
The government’s public relations strategy with foreign journalists has come under criticism. In the face of a series of negative reports on the Korean economy by foreign press over the past few months, the government signed a contract last week with News Communications, a local PR agency, to better communicate with them.
But it is only a three-month deal between News Communications and three state entities. It was also agreed upon in a hurry without using any bidding system, typical of the official contract.
The three entities are the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF), the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Bank of Korea (BOK).
``I see two problems in the agreement. First of all, the government made a really hasty decision in picking up a PR agency. After a short period of screening, it designated News Communications and doled out a contract instead of using a competitive bidding system,’’ said a bureaucrat who declined to be named.
``The other problem is that the agreement will basically last merely three months. All three organizations seemingly attempt to shy away with immediate hitches with a stopgap measure dearth of any long-term PR plan,’’ he said.
MOSF spokesman Kim Kyu-ok was not available for comments Thursday and an FSC spokesman was even unaware of the contract period, saying ``Three months? It can’t be so short.’’
But News Communication President Soo Park confirmed that the bilateral contract was signed without a bidding process and it would last three months, although she said that it may be extendable.
``It is basically a consulting deal based on minimal service fees. We formed a five-member team to carry out the project,’’ Park said in a telephone interview.
``We have already met key journalists from foreign press. They are receiving online bulletins on Korean policies regularly, the efforts aimed at helping them better understand what is going on here,’’ she said.
The anonymous source claimed that the culprit responsible for the ``short-sighted policy’’ is the ill-fated PR mantra of the current administration.
``The Lee Myung-bak administration seems to think negative news reports pop up because journalists misunderstand things at home and abroad, not because they are doing things in an inappropriate way,’’ he said.
``Such a mindset is also seen in this case. The government is not ready to listen to criticisms of foreign press. It merely tries to make their policies understood with the belief that such efforts will be more than enough. This generates the makeshift PR policy,’’ he said.