Minister stresses data-based communication

Information without proper data is nothing more than personal opinion in the modern age, Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapon said on Sunday.

The minister said any public relations or publicity campaign loses its credibility without accurate and objective data.

He made the remarks while addressing a training programme for Public Relations Officers (PROs) of different ministries at the Press Information Department (PID) conference room this morning.

Urging PROs to use reliable statistics in preparing official messages, he said the present time demands fact-based communication.

Swapon also noted that field-level activities and the effectiveness of government messages cannot be evaluated only through assumptions or verbal claims.

Swapon said to ensure the acceptability and authenticity of information, there must be accurate data behind it.

Any information without data will be seen by society only as an individual’s opinion, which has no institutional or objective value, he said.

Highlighting the importance of ‘psychography’ and digital footprint analysis in the modernization of public relations, the information minister said that it is now very easy to extract specific data by analysing the content of digital platforms.

“By analysing the data, one can create a perfect graph of public opinion, such as how many likes, dislikes a piece of content receives and what kind of comments people make on it,” he said.

Swapon said public relations officers will have to deal with perception management or negative propaganda by using this scientific data.

Addressing the information cadre officers, he said they should develop themselves as a skilled ‘digital force’.

If the development and success of each ministry can be presented to the public through data or statistics, the credibility of the information increases manifold, the minister said.

He said data-based publicity can remove confusion and create the right perception or idea in the public mind.

State Minister for Information Yasser Khan Choudhury spoke as a special guest at the event.

Chaired by Chief Information Officer Syed Abdal Ahmed, the event was attended, among others, by Additional Secretary of the ministry Mohammed Yasin.