By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 14 August 2013:
The Prime Minister’s Media and Communications Office launched a new rumour counter-measure initiative yesterday on its Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LibyanGovernment.
The page announced that in future rumours circulating in the media or on social networking sites will be marked, in Arabic, with the word rumour followed by a hash-tag ( rumour#) within a red square .
Already since its launch yesterday the PM’s Media office has had to deny three strong rumours doing the rounds yesterday regarding: European embassies refusing to issue Shengen visas, European nations objecting to thuwar (former freedom fighters) holding government positions and the rumour that US drones have been bombing of Al-Qaeda sites in eastern Libya.
It will be interesting how this new initiative develops and whether the PM’s media office will be able to keep up and respond to all the rumours that are often doing the rounds in Libya.
What is clear is that the PM’s media office is keen to dominate the media agenda and progress in its media output, as well as help serious media outlets in performing their jobs.
It will be recalled that the government had finally appointed its Deputy Culture Minister, Abdussalam Sabri Sharief, as the official government spokesperson on 14th July in an effort to better communicate with the media. [/restrict]
