Ministry of Information and Broadcasting launches 'New Media Wing'

The Union Cabinet approved the proposal for establishing a ‘New Media Wing’ on 8 August that will address the communication and dissemination requirements of the government on social media. The proposal for its establishment was drawn on the basis of the experience of its pilot program on the social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. 

The new media wing anointed as the "Bureau of New and Concurrent Media'' will be headed by a senior officer of joint secretary rank with the administrative and operational support provided by a media unit under the ministry — the research reference & training division. 

The expenditure to set up and run the New Media Wing will cost a whopping Rs. 22.5 crore which was allocated during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) and approved by the CCEA under Development Communication & Information Dissemination plan scheme of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 

The Union minister for information and broadcasting Manish Tewari says, "Social media is being used by several citizens to consume news. This is a way to increase the government's presence online, officially."

On manpower needed he comments: We have IIM C graduates to help but we might outsource it to expert social media agencies if required.

In August last year, the government had issued framework and guidelines to enable the various agencies to create and implement their own strategy for the use of social media. The document was to help them to make an informed choice about the objective, platforms, resources, etc. to meet the requirement of interaction with their varied stakeholders.

The official statement had then said, “As more and more projects are getting implemented, an increasing need has been felt for wider and deeper participation of an engagement with all stakeholders to ensure that citizen centricity is maintained in all projects. There is now a consensus that citizen participation and civic engagement are the building blocks for good governance and e-governance is a critical component of good governance.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/3012-ministry-of-information-and-broadcasting-launches-new-media-wing.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/3012-ministry-of-information-and-broadcasting-launches-new-media-wing.html