The students of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) Jammu today visited Directorate of Information and Public Relations here and interacted with the Director General Information, Mr Zaffar Ahmad Bhat and other officers of the Department.The Director General Information informed the IIMC students in detail about the functioning of various wings of the Information Department. He said the Department’s primary objective is to disseminate, through media, information about various developmental activities of the government and at the same time send regular feedback to the government about the issues of public concern being highlighted in the media.
During the interactive session, the Director General Information explained the current challenges faced by field of journalism and the road ahead.The Director General Information told the students that the Information Department has several sections performing dedicated tasks. He said while the Public Relations wing including Photo and Film sections are responsible for dissemination of official press releases, pictures and video footage to the media, the advertisement section distributes official advertisements to the newspapers.He said the Department has also Publicity wing, responsible for publications, Field Publicity wing, Research and Reference section, Cultural wing and Youth Information wing.The students raised various queries regarding how the Department ensures effective dissemination of information to the media and what pulls and pressures it faces in its day-to-day functioning.