Imagethief was gratified on behalf of spin-doctors everywhere to read a few days ago in the China Daily that the CCP is finally taking PR seriously:
Party leaders of the future will be better equipped to face the media, well versed in international affairs and more efficient managers, thanks to an enhanced training program, a senior official said yesterday.
The program is part of the CCP's three-year focus on "governance capability and global vision" of its promising leaders, said Li Peiyuan, director of the bureau of senior officials training of the CPC's Organization Department.
Officials in some schools are getting considerable "public relations training" to be more media savvy.
Imagethief firmly believes a more contemporary approach to public relations and media management will benefit the party, which remains rather mired in the "shut up and do what I tell you" tradition of media management. As a PR man I can appreciate the attractiveness and elegance of this model, but I must also concede that it is less effective than it may once have been. I'm pretty sure if I tried "shut up and do what I tell you" on the Wall Street Journal I'd get a steno pad crammed up my nose.
However, as an experienced trainer who has conducted interviewing skills courses for many clients, Imagethief also wonders what the experience of media training cadres at a party school might be like. While I have some grudging admiration for the improvements the central government has made in its media handling in the past few years (spotty though it remains), I am not sure how much of that improvement has made it past the capital or Shanghai.
At my company we use "role plays" where a consultant plays the role of a journalist in a given scenario to conduct mock interviews with clients, which are videotaped and then reviewed. Might party schools use the same approach in training cadres from the less media-savvy reaches of the country? Join me now as we look in on one such session, where a senior cadre from the provinces is being trained in the new and mysterious art of public relations and media interviewing:
Trainer Wei: Welcome, Comrade Zhou. Today I'll be playing the role of a journalist interviewing you...
Senior Cadre Zhou: Journalist? Where?
Trainer Wei: There is no journalist. I'll be playing the role of a journalist. I'll pretend to be a journalist and interview you to see how you handle a difficult situation.
Senior Cadre Zhou: (Grudgingly) Very well. You may begin.
Trainer Wei: Greetings, Comrade Zhou. I am Wei Dingli, a reporter for the Economic Observer and...
Senior Cadre Zhou: A reporter? I thought you were a Party School instructor. How did you get in here? Guards! Impostor!
Trainer Wei: Wait, wait, wait. I am a trainer. I am just pretending to interview you so we can see how you would perform in a real interview.
Senior Cadre Zhou: (Suspiciously) I don't know. Sounds fishy.
Trainer Wei: It's OK. Just practice. Can we proceed?
Senior Cadre Zhou: (Narrowing eyes dangerously) Very well.
Trainer Wei: Thank you Comrade Zhou. Now, I would like ask you, there are increasing complaints from citizens about pollution in the...
Senior Cadre Zhou: How dare you insult the work of the party in my district? There is no pollution. There is only growth and prosperity. You must rectify your thinking. Criticize yourself thoroughly or I'll have you locked in a cell so long you'll think bricks are pets! I'll have you and your whole family exiled! You'll be plowing a frozen cabbage field in north Ningxia with your testicles!
Trainer Wei: (Gently) No, no. That's the old approach. Try it again with the new approach. You know -- the one we talked about today...
Senior Cadre Zhou: Oh. Yeah. The new approach. OK. I gotcha. Try again.
Trainer Wei: Comrade Zhou, about these reports of industrial pollution in your...
Senior Cadre Zhou: Ok, what do you want? Money? Girls? A piece of the action? I'm an important man, you know. I can take care of you. Lets go have a drink. I'm buying! Tell me what you need to make this work. Do you like Mercedes Benz? Buick?
Trainer Wei: Better, but I meant the other new approach. Remember the "key messages" we reviewed? Use those.
Senior Cadre Zhou: Key messages? Oh, uh, yeah. Hang on. (Rustles papers, pulls out and studies one sheet) Ok.
Trainer Wei: Now, Comrade Zhou, about those reports of dangerous industrial pollution in your district...
Senior Cadre Zhou: As you know, under the scientific theory of development we are putting people first in order to create a harmonious society. These are essential steps in constructing a new socialist countryside.
Trainer Wei: Outstanding! Full marks, Comrade Zhou. I am confident you are ready to face the media. (Leaves)
Junior Cadre Lin: (Entering) How was the training?
Senior Cadre Zhou: Informative. I learned much about how to deal with media in a modern and scientific way.
Junior Cadre Lin: Very good, sir. And how was Trainer Wei?
Senior Cadre Zhou: I'm worried. He knows about the pollution problem and is asking a lot of impertinent and dangerous questions. Have him exiled to north Ningxia.
Junior Cadre Lin: Immediately, your omnipotence!
Yep, smoother sailing ahead for the government's media relations.
Related:
A bit of irony from the State Council and a primer on making the party look good overseas, both courtesy of the China Media Project.