Annotation. The article is devoted to topical issues in the field of social sciences, including journalism and public relations. The problems of interaction of press services of law enforcement agencies with journalists in the context of extreme situations occurring in the country were considered. The work of the press service of the bodies involved in the event of an extreme situation, especially the police, emergency situations bodies, the procedure, time of their transmission of urgent information to representatives of traditional mass media, as well as problematic issues were discussed. The issues of document flow between state bodies and traditional mass media were discussed. Such problems as the late provision of official information or the refusal of the press services of the state body to comment on the media, the lack of speakers in state bodies who freely convey the game in the state language, were identified as the problem. Attention is also drawn to the shortcomings in holding briefings and press conferences. The issue of the image of the press services in the institution was taken into account. It tells about the fact that due to the delay in official information, false information is published in society and what specific measures should be taken to prevent it. At the same time, concrete evidence was given that the limited freedom of the press services of state bodies, the inability to make decisions independently in an emergency, and the strict control of their managers affect the quality of work.
Key words: state body, Press Service, journalist, mass media, PR.
DOI: 10.32523/2616-7174-2022-139-2-71-78
Introduction
Currently, the internet and social networks have become the most dynamically developing means of determining public opinion, establishing contacts with the reader and the population.
Therefore, the old methods and technologies of traditional PR, press services in establishing relations with information consumers have become obsolete. The rapid adaptation of Media tools to the times, the rapid assimilation of new information technologies by users determine their future fate in society. In this situation, the
rapid and reliable dissemination of information about any event, especially in extreme conditions, has become a fierce competition between official and unofficial information producers. This work will be very useful in terms of defining the nature of everyday and extreme relationships between the reader, consumer and official institutions, as well as orientation to the future.
In extreme cases, the press services of law enforcement agencies face a number of problems when interacting with journalists.
This is one of the most pressing issues that has been going on since independence. There are
Interaction of law enforcement press services with journalists in extreme situations misunderstandings between the two parties due
to the lack of focus on finding harmony in the course of work, in the common interest, that is, providing useful information to society. The main task of this article is to find ways to effectively solve this problem with scientific justification.
The fact that the main cause of the problem in this regard is the fact that the defense authorities, the press services and journalists of each of them think only about their own interests, do not take into account the values and responsibilities of others in order to achieve this goal. In order to make our thoughts clear, let’s give an example of an emergency that occurred in Astana. In 2010, a 35-year-old woman died in a lightning fire in Astana, and 10 people were hospitalized. At the same time, the press service of Astana Department of Emergency Situations received continuous calls from journalists, and representatives of the mass media came to the building of the authorized body for official information. Their main purpose was to obtain official information and disseminate it. However, it should be noted that the specialists of emergency situations agencies took some time to complete and confirm the information from operational personnel, water rescue services, and then coordinate the information with the management. Then he set the time and presented official information to the journalists of the TV channel. In the News transmitted by the TV channel KTK at that time: «there are 10 people left in the hospital of the capital injured in an incident on the beach.
Last night, the weather changed dramatically in Astana, and rain fell. People relaxing on the beach were struck by lightning fire. A 35-year-old woman died before medical attention arrived.
The rest were taken to the clinic. Among them are minor children. Now, despite the stabilization of the situation, many people need psychological assistance, «the information was distributed [1].
In the meantime, after the emergency, the body responsible for emergency situations appealed to the journalists of the TV channel to distribute preventive information, information of a training nature related to Lightning among the population, thereby showing videos on TV channels to prevent and prevent similar accidents in the future. This
is because insurance and preventive measures are important for government agencies. In order to prevent emergencies, it will be effective to produce educational videos and broadcast them through the mass media, including TV channels.
However, it should be noted that journalists of the TV channel are not interested in the implementation of such events. Because it seems that their goal is to get information and distribute it as news. In the light of this example, we see that there is no common goal between the two sides.
Discussion
All central state bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan (the National Security Committee, the prosecutor general’s office and all ministries), as well as local executive bodies (akimats) have their own press services. The press service of any body is a structural division of that institution. The general tasks of the press service include: information support of the activities of the body, the activities of its managers and events with their participation, participation in the preparation and holding of working trips and other events with their participation for the purpose of coverage in the mass media, organizational support of the work of accredited journalists at the events, Organization of press conferences, briefings, interviews and meetings with representatives of domestic and foreign mass media. In addition, providing professional and high-quality photo and video shooting of events, image support of information support, stylistic and literary editing of projects of official speeches, interviews, articles, information materials and texts of managers, preparation of draft speeches, interviews, articles, information materials and texts on the activities of the body, including explaining its position in domestic and foreign policy, communication support of information support of the activities of the head of the body and events with his participation, i.e.
development, editing and placement of video products, participation in the organization of work related to the overall image.
Speaking about such serious tasks, we note the great responsibility assigned to the press
K.I. Tergembayeva, A.O. Esdauletov, M.A. Slambekova services. Analyzing the extreme situations that
have taken place in the country, we can see that there are a number of problems in the interaction of law enforcement agencies with press services and journalists. The first of them is the slowness of providing official information. He has his reasons. Before transmitting any information to a representative of a mass media outlet, the press service of a state body must approve it by its management. Managers may not provide information without their consent. This is due to the internal order formed verbally, although it is not fixed by regulatory documents. Only after the management has reviewed and corrected the information, the official information will fall into the hands of journalists. This is done within the framework of the legislation regulating the exchange of documents of state bodies. In particular, Article 8 of the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 12, 2007 N 221 «on the procedure for considering appeals of individuals and legal entities» establishes the terms of consideration of Appeals as follows:
1.an application of an individual and (or) legal entity for consideration of which information from other entities, officials or on-site inspection is not required is considered within fifteen calendar days from the date of receipt by the subject or official.
2.an application of an individual and (or) legal entity for consideration of which it is required to receive information from other entities, officials or conduct an on-site inspection is considered and a decision is made on it within thirty calendar days from the date of its receipt to the subject or official. It also specifies the basic principles of regulating legal relations related to the consideration of Appeals of individuals and legal entities:
1) legality;
2) uniformity of application requirements;
3) guarantees of respect for the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities;
4) Prevention of manifestations of bureaucracy and red tape when considering appeals;
5) equality of individuals and legal entities;
6) transparency of the activities of subjects and officials when considering appeals» [2].
The concept of journalism in general is often associated with freedom of speech, which was facilitated by the widespread use of the internet and the emergence of social networks, where each user has the opportunity to freely express their opinion and get feedback on various events taking place in society. There are positive and negative trends in this process. Freedom of expression helps to draw the attention of the general public, as well as government structures, to issues and problems that are really relevant to society and require immediate resolution. For example, on February 4, 2019, 5 little girls burned down in the capital, after which information about their living conditions quickly spread in social networks – a family of 7 people lived in a small room, parents had to work at night to feed the family [3]. Other mothers with many children who found themselves in a similar situation caused outrage on social networks, and this led to some changes in the social sphere. To give the status of a large family, the number of children was reduced from 5 to 4, social benefits for these families were increased, and most people in need were placed on the waiting list for housing. Of course, not all the problems of large families were solved, but the widespread coverage of the tragedy through social networks contributed to drawing the attention of the state to this problem and caused some changes for the better.
When it comes to freedom of speech, it is important to take into account the ability of journalists to access any information before it is freely distributed. And it is even important that it is regulated by law. For example, Article 20 of the law «on mass media» States: «a journalist has the right to search, request, receive and distribute information, visit state bodies, organizations of all forms of ownership and be at the reception of their officials in connection with the performance of his official duties, participate in all events held by the body that registered him, except when a decision is made to hold a closed event», but the speed of obtaining information in extreme conditions is not taken into account [4].
Another difficulty in the work of the press service of the bodies involved in extreme situations, especially the police, emergency
situations, and national security agencies, is the lack of creative and official freedom in them.
A specialist who is not given creative freedom is constantly looking around, trying to say unnecessary words. That is. of course, the limited freedom of the press services of state bodies, the inability to make decisions independently in an emergency, and the strict control of their managers affect the quality of work. It should also be noted that this problem is the main reason for late submission of official information. All the above-mentioned problems would disappear by themselves if the press service, using its competence as a factual unit of this body, quickly and efficiently transmitted official information to the media, without compromising the image of the body. In particular, in the event of an extreme situation, the press service of the official body published the information received from the operational duty officers and said that full-fledged information will be additional, journalists would be calm because the first official information was in their hands. Later, there would be enough time to consult with the leaders and officially inform the general information. In addition, such an algorithm of work «duck» would not allow the dissemination of information. Due to the spread of the first official information, it would be a barrier to the spread of false information among the public.
Another pressing problem between press services and journalists is the refusal of press services in a state body to comment on the media.
Official authorities usually do not immediately refuse, declare that they are participating in a message or program, give interviews, and interrupt all communication at the right time.
For example, here’s what happened. The theme of the program» open platform «on the national TV channel» Kazakhstan « was the problem of disabled people. An invited representative from the local executive body agreed to come to the program, but by the time the program was broadcast, all contact numbers were disabled.
They did not participate in the broadcast, nor did they explain why they were late. There are many such examples. We often associate this problem with the lack of speakers in state bodies who
freely convey the game in the state language. We believe that due to difficulties with the language, employees of the official body avoid contact with journalists. We cannot deny the existence of such negative situations in relation to the state language, and we will look for ways to correct them, consider them. We will try to find its solution on a scientific basis.
Article 24 of the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 11, 1997 N 151» on languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan «clearly states:» the first heads of state bodies or heads of offices, as well as individuals and legal entities guilty of violating the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on languages, are liable in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan» [5]. However, it remains in the form of a document, and there are manifestations of desertion, refusal to communicate with journalists due to ignorance of the language. For example, this year, a representative of the Ministry of health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who was invited to the program» open platform «on the national TV channel» Kazakhstan», did not appear, which journalists associate with this language problem.
This is just one example, experience has shown that there are few Kazakh-speaking specialists who give interviews to journalists in extreme situations. That is, we see the predominance of Russian speakers in society, especially in the civil service. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said: «Indeed, there are enough Russian speakers in Kazakhstan.
Both Kazakh and Russian are used in the country.
Despite this, now we are preparing to switch from Cyrillic to Latin graphics, and much attention is paid to learning English. The more languages our young people learn, the easier it will be for them.
We are against someone classifying Kazakhstan as a «Russian world», because we have our own
«Kazakh world»,» he said. [6] Based on this, there is a need to improve the functioning of the state language in state bodies. On the part of the press services, it is necessary to consider the possibility of selecting and training specialists who are fluent in the state language and speak freely without being squeezed in front of the camera. It is also possible to approve speakers who speak the state language competently by a special order of the Interaction of law enforcement press services with journalists in extreme situations
management and provide for deductions. To do this, you must write a letter of recommendation to the management from the head of the press service of the institution. At the staff meeting of the institution, the issue of selecting specialists who will appear before the mass media can also be raised, discussed by the team, and as a result of the votes of colleagues, a common decision can be reached. Such measures as remuneration, incentives, promotion should be carried out in consultation with the Personnel Department. It is obvious that such incentives will arouse the interest of other employees in the state language.
Let’s also pay attention to the shortcomings in holding briefings and press meetings with the press services in the context of extreme conditions. For the press services, the image of the institution is at the forefront, so the press service takes full responsibility for holding the meeting and prepares speeches of its managers, usually organizing the event in a special meeting hall. The main principle is to ensure the accuracy and quality of the transmitted information, the serviceable operation of technical equipment at the venue of the event, the correct reception of accredited journalists, compliance with business relations, placement in the appropriate places, constant presence of management, if necessary, the availability of additional information. It is also necessary to know about the possibility of spreading false information in extreme conditions, the presence of information that causes discontent of the population or forms a negative attitude to the state body. «False information (false information) - information about an object whose characteristics and features are incorrect and incorrectly depicted, or information about an object that is not real» [7, 186]. In connection with false information, the press service should warn the management, the speaker, keeping in mind the draft rational answers. Because modern information technology capabilities, especially the intensity of the speed of random information dissemination in extreme conditions, require such appropriate measures to be taken into account. It should be remembered that the root cause of these problems is the delay in official information.
Conclusion
Extreme conditions should be of great importance for the entire state. Because in such cases, not only the life and health of people, but also the environment and the economy of the country can be seriously affected. For this purpose, it is important that the effective solution of problems in the interaction of press services of law enforcement agencies and journalists in emergency situations is of common interest to both sides. Otherwise, we believe that it is correct to oblige the heads of mass media, journalists on behalf of the competent authority controlling mass media, i.e. the Ministry of Information and public development of the Republic of Kazakhstan. At the same time, the issue of granting journalists freedom of speech and creativity in extreme conditions remains relevant. This is because any extreme situation concerns the life and health of a person. And human life and health are the main values for our state. For this purpose, the issue of emergency situations is a very important and urgent measure. To solve the above problems, you need to take into account the following recommendations::
1. development and approval of legislative norms on the procedure for providing official information to the mass media by the press services of bodies in extreme situations;
2. to give creative and official freedom to the Press services of the bodies, that is, to provide an opportunity to quickly disseminate official information in an emergency, not to exert pressure on the part of management;
3. In order to quickly refute and prevent spreading false information, the press service creates conditions for independent placement of operational official information on its pages in social networks, websites that are regularly used by traditional mass media;
4. Select and prepare specialists who can provide high-quality and artistic information in the state language to appear before journalists and keep this event under close control, conduct it regularly, if necessary, approve this need by order or order of the management;
5. continuous search, professional development, creative development, conducting K.I. Tergembayeva, A.O. Esdauletov, M.A. Slambekova