Cabinet Secretariat Calls On Gov’t PR to Optimize Podcast
Deputy to the Cabinet Secretary for Cabinet Work Support Thanon Aria Dewangga (08/04) (Photo by: PR of Presidential Secretariat/Agung)
Cabinet Secretariat through Office of Assistant to the Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Relations and Protocol Thursday (08/04) held a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) on Optimizing Podcast for Government Public Communications at ASTON Sentul Lake Resort and Conference Center in Bogor, West Java.
For the record, the FGD featured three speakers, namely Broadcasting Lecturer of University of Indonesia Peny Meliaty Hutabarat and two public figures Ronal Surapradja and Sogi Indra Dhuaja, who are also radio announcers and podcasters.
On that occasion, Deputy to the Cabinet Secretary for Cabinet Work Support Thanon Aria Dewangga stated that the FGD was an event for sharing knowledge, experience, and improving skills so that government public relations officers at Cabinet Secretariat and other ministries/agencies can optimize the podcast utilization for government public communications.
Thanon emphasized that amid the change of information and communication technology, offices of government public relations must adapt to survive, considering the government media is always being labeled as traditional, outdated media.
For instance, Thanon mentioned Cabinet and Cabinet Secretariat’s Podcast so-called Podkabs. The Podkabs has been featuring ministers of cabinet who revealed their activities as ministers, actual issues as well as their daily activity as persons.
Podkabs, Thanon further said, goes hand in hand with directives of Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung in order to make Cabinet Secretariat’s public communication be spread and accepted by people from all walks of life.
The FGD featured three speakers, namely Broadcasting Lecturer of University of Indonesia Peny Meliaty Hutabarat and two public figures Ronal Surapradja and Sogi Indra Dhuaja, who are also radio announcers and podcasters.
Echoing the same sentiment, Peny Meliaty Hutabarat who is also a podcast researcher said that the momentum of digital-based platform and audio content is currently happening. Thus, she expressed hope that there will be more government institutions that are able to optimize podcast as a communication platform.
In a meantime, Ronal Surapradja said that offices of government public relations must optimize podcast that serves as new media platform in communication.
“I think that no one can avoid such changes. We have to ride the waves. If we have information to be spread, podcast is one of platforms used to disseminate it,” Ronal added.
The potential of government public communication through podcast is immense considering the number of enthusiasts kept increasing from day to day, according to Ronal.
In addition to mention, another important thing, Ronal asserted, is branding of the podcast so that people are interested in listening it.
Moreover, Sogi Indra Dhuaja noticed that podcast is suitable for general public amid high people’s mobility since it can be listened through mobile devices anytime and anywhere.
During the discussion session, Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection’s Head Bureau of Legal Affairs and Public Relations Fatahillah stressed that podcast displaying not only audio but also video played an important role in government public communications.
Presidential Staff Office’s Associate Expert Officer of IV Deputy Heri Saktiyanto also said that the Government must optimize the trend of podcast in order to achieve the target of government public communications.
Furthermore, Ricky Yohannes, representative of Ministry of Finance’s Bureau of Communications and Information Services, called on all participants to optimize podcast in disseminating both government and ministerial regulations. (TGH/FID/MAY/DND/UN) (AP/HD/MUR)
