Abu Dhabi: Government briefings are vital to engage with people and keep them in the know, a member of the Federal national Council told the government on Tuesday.
“Regular briefings provide journalists with a good access to information and direct communication with the government officials, which engages people and keeps them informed,” Hamad Al Rahoumi, a member from Dubai, said.
Al Rahoumi was asking Mohammad Bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister for Cabinet Affairs and the Future, about why the government briefings have almost stopped.
Al Gergawi said the UAE was taking the lead in effectively communicating with its people through social media and other traditional means.
“As 75 per cent of citizens prefer receiving news via social media and all media outlets have their social media accounts, we had to keep abreast with the recent development and in the future if things changed, the government will also change,” Al Gergawi said.
He added social media has become a window to the world and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has reached a special landmark by attracting 15 million online followers.
“With accounts across several different platforms, Shaikh Mohammad is one of the top five most influential global political leaders.
In 2016 alone, Shaikh Mohammad’s followers on LinkedIn doubled to hit the one million mark out of a total number of about 400 million users of the business networking site.”
Shaikh Mohammed also has 7.2 million Twitter followers, 3.3 million followers on Facebook, 2.1 million on Instagram and 950,000 more on Google Plus.
Al Gergawi said the government has a total of 28 million followers on social media.
Al Rahoumi said his question coincides with the World Press Freedom Day and the Arab Media Forum, and he took the opportunity to speak of the journalists’ concern — access to information. “I speak of the information conveyed to the people through journalists and not the information given by the government to the people. Media professionals should have good access to information but, in fact, it takes them a long time to get the information they need.”
Al Rahoumi added the principles of transparency, effective communication and engagement in the UAE under the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan “is critical to governing our country and growing our economy which will benefit all our people”.
“However, only a few out of more than 50 government departments are committed to the briefings,” Al Rahoumi said.
Vowing to take all representatives’ suggestions into consideration, Al Gergawi said there will always be a space for improvement of the government performance and citizens always deserve better governance.
Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, Speaker of the House, said in a statement on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day , observed on Wednesday, the UAE was always endeavouring to boost the national media outlets and foster freedom of the media and expression, as fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“The UAE supports media professionals’ right to access to information to ensure they play their role as best as they can, in line with the country’s social and cultural development and its leading role in various areas,” Dr Al Qubaisi said.
