A press secretary is a senior advisor (usually to a politician) who provides advice on how to deal with the media and, using news management techniques, helps them to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. They often, but not always, act as the organisation's senior spokesperson. Many governments also have press secretaries.
Often the inquiries were off-beat calls related to irradiated food glowing in the dark, the government's decision to ban saccharin (which caused cancer in rats) but not tobacco (which causes cancer in people), and how such vermin as earthworms got into hamburgers in the first place.
Toward the end of his FDA career, Corwin says he noticed that the role of pressofficer had changed.
Much of the difference involved process: While pressofficers still had access to agency experts, much of the information passed on to newspapers, magazines, and other media outlets was coming directly from FDA experts.
To be an effective spokesperson, the chief pressofficer or press secretary should have a close relationship, one of mutual respect, with the government official for whom he or she works, whether prime minister, president, minister, or agency head.
If, as spokesperson, the pressofficer has not participated in developing policy, he or she will have difficulty understanding the context of the policies and explaining it to the media.
Is the pressofficer the initial point of contact with the press, and does he or she have authority over the staff's relationships with the press?
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