Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo has appealed to public relations (PR) officers to consistently build public confidence by maintaining a good track record.

"It is not possible to build a good reputation in only one or two days. It takes a long time to build confidence by exhibiting a (good) track record," he stated while opening a national PR convention at the State Palace here on Wednesday.

Public confidence is a must and is needed by both the government and private sectors as the basis to take further steps, he affirmed.

He remarked that public confidence must also be maintained at all times as it may dwindle in a relatively short period of time.

Till date, there has been the so-called transformation of the media that has occurred at an extraordinary pace, he stated.

"Information can be obtained not only from mainstream and online media but also from civil journalism. We know exactly the trending topics on social media," he noted.

The president pointed out that the users of social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook continue to grow, and information can spread quickly through the media.

"The rapid growth in the number of media channels has prompted PR officers to stay abreast with trending topics. This is different from what it was 10 years ago. Everybody can now create information channels, regardless of whether the information contained therein is true, so we must be careful," he emphasized.

Communication and Informatics Minister Rudyantara, Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Yudhy Chrisnandi, and Chief of Public Relations Association Executive Board Agung Laksono were also present during the function.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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