

Henceforward all ministries, divisions and departments are to issue background briefing notes, a rationale for a particular decision or policy and ‘salient features’ of decisions that are politically unpopular. This move towards openness comes in the wake of a very unpopular rise in the price of petrol and the impending privatisation of a number of state entities which is, at the very least, going to put hundreds of thousands out of work.
The instruction is equally an admission of failure by the government, whose media policy appears to have been to say as little as possible on the record to anybody and to explain nothing beyond the bare essentials. Senior members of the government, the prime minister included, are notably reticent before the gaze of the Fourth Estate. The finance minister has yet to hold an on-the-record briefing for journalists regarding negotiations with the IMF and the ministerial team, generally, is acting like anything other than a team, more a collection of fiefdoms. The government is quick enough to offer to talk to the TTP, but less alert to the necessity of talking to the general public. It remains to be seen whether the new instruction will be effective and those hitherto silent, suddenly talkative.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2013.
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