The timeliness of information release determines the different directions of the incident. Based on the current media environment, the Public Opinion Monitoring Room of People's Daily Online proposed the "Golden 4 Hours" principle. The "golden 4 hours" refers to the timeliness of news release. The government must speak out as soon as possible, handle problems as soon as possible, and be the "first definer" of emergencies. In fact, the "Golden 4 Hours" effort is not only about these "4 hours", but also about the establishment of long-term mechanisms for local government departments.

Background

Corporate crisis, or social emergencies, are not a rare thing in China's conflict-prone period today, but a reality that is within reach. . In recent years, we have seen too many examples. It is not that the incident itself was explosive, but that the government's failure to respond in time caused various difficulties and consequences.

In 2010, the Public Opinion Monitoring Office of People's Daily Online proposed the concept of "Golden 4 Hours" for the first time. [1] Apparently have a deep understanding of the time element of crisis management. The reason why a crisis constitutes a crisis is nothing more than three definitions: first, it poses a threat to organizations, stakeholders and even ordinary people; second, the event is sudden; third, reaction and decision-making time are short .

The People's Daily Online Public Opinion Monitoring Office stated that "4 hours" takes into account the time needed to sort out the truth, coordinate work among various government departments, and complete information disclosure documents. The traditional view is that there is a "golden 24 hours" for official handling of emergencies, that is, releasing authoritative information and leading public opinion within 24 hours of the incident is the key to calming down the incident. The reason why the People's Daily Online Public Opinion Monitoring Room wants to reduce 20 hours from 24 hours is because of the rise of emerging media, which have penetrated and deeply participated in the development of emergencies; under the impact of new media, the traditional "golden 24 hours" The rules are becoming increasingly ineffective.

The news cycle has been shortened once again due to the rise of online news. With the widespread use of Weibo, instant messaging and social networking tools, news is now presented and disseminated online not by hours, but by hours. Minutes and seconds, almost real time. A generation of internet-savvy audiences can no longer tolerate the old news cycle.

Seeing this, the People's Daily Online Public Opinion Monitoring Office also invented the concept of "Golden 4 Hours Media", which mainly refers to online media that can generate rapid public opinion dissemination, such as Weibo, QQ groups, and highly popular BBS forums, etc. are represented. The characteristic of this kind of media is that every recipient of network information may become a publisher of information. Within a few hours, the "Golden 4 Hours Media" may disseminate and ferment emergencies into events that have a significant impact on public opinion.

With the evolution of new media, after encountering emergencies, can the government's response cycle synchronize with the new news cycle? Not to mention the rapid and wide spread of information in online communities, which poses a challenge to the government’s old-style news releases. Looking deeper, the traditional administrative organization system will also have to adjust accordingly. The previous administrative organization was very particular about asking for instructions and reporting at all levels after an incident occurred, and the best time to solve the problem passed while waiting. In the past, the evaluation system stipulated that only in this way can we be called responsible. In fact, delaying the opportunity is the greatest irresponsibility.

There are many examples of this kind of irresponsibility. The car collision that occurred in Tianjin's Binhai New Area on February 1 shocked the country. According to crisis management rules, the local police should have held a press conference to inform the public of the ins and outs of the case, accept inquiries from the public, and answer their questions. However, a few days after the incident, we saw a completely opposite picture: except for a brief press release provided by the local government on the day of the incident, there was nothing further. While the public's questions are increasingly gathering, the person in charge of the Binhai New Area Propaganda Department said that staff are being organized to write a press release and will not be made public until it is approved by the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee. The police, hospitals, crime companies, and accident handling teams in Tianjin's Binhai New Area all refused to be interviewed by reporters. The staff said they had received instructions that anyone who spoke to reporters would be punished. As a result, various versions of this vicious case were flying all over the place, creating a big news story.

This reflects the inertial thinking of some local officials. They do not understand, or the existing system design restricts them from understanding a basic communication common sense: when the functions of the normal social communication system are weakened, abnormal communication mechanisms will become active. Of course, some local leaders have summarized Chinese-style emergency response methods through online practice: For example, Yu Zhengsheng, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, proposed "report the facts quickly and report the reasons carefully." He said: "How to respond to public incidents? First, I'm afraid You must respond quickly. You must have a statement when major safety incidents occur. You must respond quickly to important criticisms of the government, whether they are right or wrong, or you must answer questions raised by the government. You also have to tell the answer: We haven’t studied this question well and can’t answer it now. The second thing is to seek truth from facts, and the third thing is to focus on the system.” The question is, how widespread is this awareness in various places? How many of them can be translated into action? One reality we have to admit is that many of our cadres do not have many new skills, but have many old habits. For example, if something goes wrong, the propaganda department will first issue a hush order to the local media and the parties involved; instead of actively thinking about solutions to the problem, they will spare no effort to unify the narrative; everything will be decided by superior leaders, and layers of responsibility will become irresponsible. , which greatly damages administrative efficiency; all these bad official habits can only greatly reduce the credibility of government agencies.

The government’s response to the crisis must be accelerated. This is a basic requirement in the new media era. Speeding up not only means reforming past news releases, but also means finding the institutional causes of certain problems and doing everything possible to solve them. At a specific operational level, government officials should learn to apply new interactive tools, give full play to personalized communication methods, and proactively transmit information to the greatest extent through the Internet. Such efforts are essential for establishing a stable and effective public governance system. Today, when the credibility of many government agencies is in jeopardy, the benefits of doing so cannot be overstated.