EXPLORING RIGHT TO INFORMATION AND GOOD GOVERNANCE IN PAKISTAN: A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

The study attempted to analyze the role of right to information in ensuring good governance in Pakistan. The study objectives were to investigate the experiences of public information officers and civil society actors regarding the right to information contribution to good governance and to analyze the challenges in the implementation of right to information law. For the selection of sampling size, purposive sampling was used and data were collected from 11 ministries public information officers and 3 civil society actors through in depth interviews in Islamabad, Pakistan. Being qualitative study, data were analyzed by using thematic analyses. Jurgen Habermas theory of ‘Public Sphere” was used to throw light on main theme of the study. The findings indicated that right to information is an effective tool in promoting good governance along with all its features like, accountability, transparency, mutual trust between the government and general public, common man facilitation, rule of law and corruption elimination. Study concluded that right to information would be an effective tool in promoting the good governance only when hurdles that prevent it from its true implementation were removed.

Manage Media Relations at Scientific Meetings

This chapter will help you effectively communicate your meeting’s news to the media. To successfully manage media relations at a scientific meeting, a researcher should first visit press rooms at major scientific society meetings to see how they are run. Some steps to running a newsroom include identifying newsworthy papers and suggesting that scientists contact their public information officers to do news releases, as well as notifying the media of the meeting. The role of a conference press officer also includes organizing the newsroom to include all the facilities journalists will need, setting embargoes on presentations, and planning and conducting news conferences. Arranging interviews and making experts available for background discussion are also important steps.

Work with Your Public Information Officer

Researchers should understand who their public information officers (PIOs) are and what their level of expertise is. This understanding includes whether they are a marketing-oriented “sales rep” PIO or a more desirable PIO/journalist. PIOs in different institutions—academic, federal laboratory, government agency, and corporate—face different issues in terms of their institutional culture. There are many ways a PIO can help scientists with their communications needs, but a researcher needs to know how to assess their PIO in order to take advantage of that help. There are specific steps a researcher can take to help their PIO be maximally effective. The specific caveats researchers should be aware of when working with their PIO are, for example, in developing news releases, feature stories, and other content. There are also cautions to be observed when working with PIOs outside one’s institution.

More Monitoring, Less Coordination: Twitter and Facebook Use between Emergency Management Agencies

Social media applications facilitate information sharing between agencies, yet scholarship primarily focuses on government-to-citizen communication. This article explores how agencies use social networking applications and microblogs such as Twitter and Facebook to share information and interact with each other. Public information officers (PIOs) from 35 state emergency management agencies were interviewed, and transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Findings demonstrate that PIOs employ Twitter and Facebook to monitor content for situational awareness, post training opportunities, network with other agencies, and share and reuse content in different ways. Fewer agencies directly coordinate preparedness information campaigns during nonthreat periods and risk communication during emergency response operations. General impediments to those practices include lack of personnel, insufficient technical knowledge, and preferences for other channels. In all, Twitter and Facebook complement—but do not take the place of—other information and communications technology (ICTs) that facilitate operational coordination.

The Effects of Community Size, Control Over Agenda, and Contextual Variables on Zika Virus Preparation of Public Information Officers at Local Public Health Departments

As Zika emerged as a major global health threat, public information officers (PIOs) at local public health departments across the United States prepared for outbreaks of the virus amid great uncertainty. Using the crisis and risk emergency communication (CERC) model to inform this study, PIOs (n = 226) at public health departments were surveyed to assess how community size, perceived control over health agenda, and other considerations such as resources and federal influences affected their satisfaction with Zika preparedness in their departments. These contextual, indirect factors may moderate planning efforts for Zika and other health emergencies and thus should be considered in crisis management and planning models such as CERC.

The Information Commissions in India: A Jurisprudential Explication of Their Powers and Functions

The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, provides for the Constitution of the State Information Commissions (SICs) and the Central Information Commission (CICs) for acting as the final appellate authorities. These Information Commissions have been entrusted with statutory powers while hearing complaints and appeals. These Commissions also enjoy the power to impose penalty and to recommend disciplinary action against the public information officers. Besides, there prevails large-scale confusion in them regarding the contents of Sections 18–20. This has culminated in adverse comments on their decisions by the Supreme Court (SC) and the High Courts (HC). An attempt is being made in this article to evaluate the functioning of these commissions and also about the interpretations given by various High Courts (HCs) and the Supreme Court (SC) about the Constitution, transaction of business and powers of the Information Commissions.