Options
CONFIDENTIAL
3.
One consequence of this arrangement is that, while the Governor himself does a lot of on the record media interviews, information strategies co-ordinated from the Chief Secretary's office. If the new Governor wanted his own Press Adviser to ensure that the Government House view was put to journalists both in Hong Kong and internationally, the two main options would be:
- To bring in a UK based official who would operate from Government House and use the GIS as an executive arm in the same way as the information co-ordinator currently does. Careful arrangements would be needed to ensure consistency between the line being taken by the Governor's Press Adviser, and the rest of the HKG information machine, particularly the Information Co-ordinator. scope for friction here.
There would be
The Governor could bring a HKG official into Government House. This could either be a member of GIS with previous experience abroad, or the Information Co-ordinator himself. This would be less disruptive than bringing in an outside official. But it would probably not be possible for the Information Co-ordinator to combine an active role as the Governor's personal press spokesman with the co-ordination of overall government information policy. would therefore probably need to be replaced in the Chief Secretary's office.
He
PUGAEG/2
CONFIDENTIAL