Under their “digital first policy”, police say they “get to tell our stories first”. Photo / NZME
Under their “digital first policy”, police say they “get to tell our stories first”. Photo / NZME
The police have denied prioritising posting to social media over responding to media queries, after staff were told it was a way to cast the force in a “positive light”.
The denial comes after an Official Information Act request by the Otago Daily Times revealed staff in the police media centre were given training in July about the importance of posting to the police’s own social media channels in urgent circumstances.
A Powerpoint presentation, released to the ODT, included a slide headed “digital first policy”, saying it was important police “get to tell our stories first”.
Posting to social media meant “the public hear it from a credible source (us and not the media)” one bullet point said.
“We get our good news stories out there and people see Police in a positive light instead of seeing it from only a media perspective,” the following bullet point said.
It was known people turn to social media during crises and journalists already followed police social media channels, among 2.2 million other subscribers, the presentation said.
A police spokeswoman said any inferences the media portrayed police in a negative light were “overly simplistic”.
“As is the nature of Powerpoint presentations, the bullet points in these slides are designed to make key points succinctly,” the spokeswoman said.
While the word “credible” was used to describe the police’s own social media channels, “official” might have been a more accurate description, she said.
Posting to social media platforms first was an important way to help reach the New Zealand public, police said. Photo / 123RF
“It is not an implication about the credibility or otherwise of media outlets,” the spokeswoman said.
The media centre existed to prioritise requests made by media organisations.
It was a practice of the wider communications group to prioritise issuing its own proactive releases and news.
This at times meant posting to social media platforms first, she said, which was an important way to help reach the New Zealand public in addition to news media outlets.
Media commentator and former New Zealand Herald editor Gavin Ellis said he did not agree that credible and official meant the same thing.
“I was quite disturbed by the inference that the public should see social media as a more credible source than mainstream media,” Ellis said.
He believed the slide was “entirely the wrong message to send to the police and public”, and failed to recognise the role of news media as a check on power, particularly for an agency with the power of arrest and detention.
“Over time, there has been a consolidation of information into the hands of a very small group of people within the police. The ability of police to control the narrative has increased,” Ellis said.
When he started as a reporter there had been direct access to police officers throughout the ranks but things had changed and now communications staff largely acted as intermediaries.
