Penza, 15 May 2014. PenzaNews. The responsibility to inform the public about their work directly or through the media will be included in contracts and official regulations of the heads of departments of the executive authorities of the Penza region. This was announced by the head of the governor’s staff department and the government of the Penza region Viktor Rubtsov.

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According to him, the contracts will be changed within the next two weeks.

“What needs to happen in practice? Now the system of informing the public about the work of the regional authority looks like this. There is an official government website and the websites of all authorities. There is a department of the media. There are press secretaries in each department of state power. Seemingly, there is everything, but not enough information and efficiency. Why? The most important source of information about the work of the agencies is usually its head — the official. However, the heads, for various reasons, often do not inform or respond quickly to emerging media information relating to their activities. Press services, having official status, cannot report on their own without coordination with all the agencies and their supervisor, cannot provide information or make comments. As a result, the efficiency is lost, and ultimately, the relevance of the required, often useful and interesting information,” Viktor Rubtsov commented.

In his opinion, the proposed changes are revolutionary.

“It is expected that officials will be required to directly inform the public and address the media to comment, respond to questions from journalists and citizens, not hiding behind the requirement of a written request from the questioners. In addition, it will make the heads find time for operational cooperation and activate their press secretaries,” Viktor Rubtsov wrote in his “LiveJournal.”