How to do a good job in prison new media publicity planning

In the new media era, the position of public opinion is unprecedentedly strong. Under the uproar of the public, a slight flaw in prison work may trigger a storm of public opinion and even bring indelible negative effects.

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In recent years, due to various negative public opinions caused by the safety supervision incident, the image of the prison has been adversely affected, and various negative reports on the prison by the media have been overwhelming. Prison authorities are often "collective aphasia" in the face of unexpected events, which leads to more and more negative comments and damaged social image. Every time a prison appears in public view, it is almost an "accident" and an "event", and there are few "deeds". Civilized law enforcement, standardized law enforcement and strict management of prisons; Prison police are loyal and dedicated, overworked, with high occupational risks and low public awareness. Many people's negative comments on prisons are deeply rooted, and most of them stay in the "past era".

A prison that lacks positive publicity and a good image is like a knife fish compared with a strong public opinion position, let alone the ability to guide public opinion. This is a long-standing problem that puzzles prison work, and it is a long way for prisons to get rid of this situation.

Factors restricting the guiding power of prison public opinion

With the deepening of China's prison reform, the level of prison civilization has improved significantly, and today's prisons have undergone historic changes. The development model and construction achievements of prisons are gradually recognized by the society. However, there are still many obstacles affecting the construction of prison public opinion image and many factors restricting the guidance of prison public opinion.

First, the special nature of prison organs, which is almost solidified, can easily become the target of public criticism in emergencies. For a long time, the image of prison organs to the outside world is mainly high-intensity power grid, high isolation and alert, deprivation of people's freedom, implementation of punishment and forced labor reform. The negative impression on the prison will be strengthened, and all kinds of doubts will be infinitely magnified. The prison involved will inevitably be pushed to the forefront of public opinion, even though it is so weak or even "fragile" in the face of strong public opinion as a national penalty enforcement agency.

Second, the concept of prison publicity lags behind and cannot adapt to the new situation. Many prisons basically adopt an "ostrich mentality" when dealing with emergencies, that is, they can suppress, delay and cover up. Today, with the rapid development of the Internet, the direct consequence of this mentality is that prisons lack the "right to speak" and it is difficult for the public to obtain real and effective information, which has contributed to the breeding and dissemination of false information to some extent.

Third, the misleading propaganda of various media in emergencies has aggravated the passive situation of prisons, and prisons are often in a weak position of "obscurity". Attention to emergencies conveys compassionate humanity, including sympathy and condemnation. Once an emergency happens in prison, it becomes unusual. Influenced by multiple factors of history and reality, people's cultural cognition of prisons is mainly negative. Therefore, prisons are placed in the field of open trial and even tend to be demonized. In addition, some media consciously report negatively on prisons, and some well-known ones add fuel to the fire, which leads to any unexpected events in supervision and safety. For whatever reason, prisons are bound to be involved in the whirlpool of condemnation and doubt.

Fourth, the almost amazing speed of information dissemination in the new media era has enabled emergencies to quickly evolve into a storm of public opinion. The public opinion of prison emergencies is often manifested in widespread hostility, increasing language violence and strong smell of gunpowder in public space. Prisons in the whirlpool are all involved, let alone changing the direction of public opinion. However, the propaganda of prison organs has poor timeliness, weak penetration, small coverage and low influence, which is even more insignificant in the face of a powerful public opinion storm.

Prison should face up to the public opinion of unexpected events

Reducing the adverse social impact should be an important link that cannot be ignored in prison's handling of emergencies. Facing the public opinion of emergencies directly and actively "speaking out" is not only an unavoidable reality for prisons to deal with emergencies, but also an obligation and responsibility that prisons must take the initiative to undertake.

First, the public opinion influence of prison emergencies. In today's society, the media has become an important public power. In the new media era, "silence is golden" is no longer applicable to government agencies in emergencies. Giving up the right to speak is tantamount to giving up the support of public opinion. The great influence of public opinion will give a fatal blow to the prison image. Not only the prison involved, but also the entire prison system.

Second, prisons should strive for the right to speak as soon as possible to avoid "aphasia". Since it is difficult for prisons to "stay out of the way" in emergencies, they should actively respond. Because of its suddenness, news from different channels will appear in the early stage of emergencies, and the direction of public opinion is vague. At this time, if the prison organ as the subject of the incident is "aphasia", it will lead to the absence of public opinion guidance in the early stage of the emergency. Non-public opinion will flock to the black powder, and all kinds of irregular media will appear, and false information and negative emotions will spread rapidly, causing irreparable losses to the prison authorities in their struggle for the right to speak.

Three, the prison should quickly establish a press release mechanism. In the face of unexpected events, prison authorities should not only go all out to deal with the events and properly solve various problems, but also strengthen the guidance of public opinion and strive to minimize the adverse social impact. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a news release mechanism in time in emergencies. First of all, the prison authorities can use the prison website, Weibo, WeChat, forums and traditional media as platforms to establish real-time news release channels, pay close attention to public opinion trends, and respond to public concerns in a timely manner; Secondly, the prison should set up an emergency press release team and a spokesperson; Third, information release should pay attention to the positive guiding role.

Countermeasures for Prison to Create a Good Image of Public Opinion

For prisons, a good public opinion image is the basis for improving public opinion orientation. Therefore, doing a good job of positive publicity should become an important task for prisons, so that the society can understand the real situation of prisons as comprehensively as possible and understand the achievements China has made in building a fair, honest, civilized and efficient new prison system. Make the public eliminate all kinds of prejudices and misunderstandings about prisons in the past; Let the prison "words" have greater credibility. This should be the normal state of prison propaganda work in the future.

The first is to show the image of modern prisons with the openness of prison affairs as a platform. The openness of prison affairs can fully display the sunshine law enforcement system of prisons, which is an important channel to ensure the society to fully understand prisons and the primary way for prisons to publicize themselves. The Ministry of Justice has officially issued the Opinions on Further Deepening the Openness of Prison Affairs, and established 22 prison affairs contents and 9 pieces of information to be disclosed to the close relatives of criminals. These contents cover all aspects of prison management and prisoners' life in prison, which can let the society know the real situation of strict, standardized, fair and civilized law enforcement in prisons, and will play a key role in strengthening the positive publicity of prisons and establishing a good social image.

Second, take a multi-pronged approach to form a multi-dimensional publicity system. Although prisons can publish the latest educational reform trends through portal websites, prison affairs disclosure systems, electronic display screens, Weibo, WeChat, SMS, etc., publicize the experiences and deeds of prisoners' education management and enhance the social influence of prisons. However, these propaganda methods have certain limitations after all, because the nature of prisons determines that they cannot be completely "exposed" in the public eye. In view of this, the prison's self-promotion should pay more attention to methods and form a multi-angle and multi-level propaganda network. We believe that since the negative events in prisons can be fully reported, the outstanding deeds of prisons in educating and saving criminals should be widely spread. Therefore, it is a very good means to publicize prisons through literary forms. Up to now, there are few film and television literary works that reflect the positive image of prisons. Even if there are one or two good works, such as Women's Prison, it has little influence. However, literary works that show the negative contents of prisons, such as violent prisons, prison breaks and prisoner abuse, have a wide social impact and damaged the social reputation of prisons. Prison propaganda should actively change this phenomenon with the help of the same form: strive to launch a number of literary and artistic works that prisons have made great contributions to education management and maintaining social stability since the founding of New China; Efforts will be made to make the achievements made in the education and reform of criminals, including their talents in painting, calligraphy, music, performance, academics, skills, etc., open and display to the public in a timely manner. Through novels, poems, documentary literature, movies, TV series, stage plays, micro-movies and other popular propaganda means, the affinity, penetration and appeal of propaganda are enhanced, and the positive image of modern prisons is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Third, establish a publicity mechanism that is closely linked with society. In this "unprecedented open, highly transparent and full-time supervision public opinion environment", prisons should abandon the working mode formed in the closed environment, be good at "going out" and "inviting in" in self-promotion, establish professional propaganda teams, strengthen contact with the public and the media, establish good interactive relations, and strive to create a good public opinion environment.

Fourth, build an excellent propaganda team. Different from propagandists in prisons, their composition should be diversified and familiar with the laws of prison work; Have insight into social psychology; Professional background in journalism, literature, law and other disciplines; Some have a high level of writing and theory.