The Costa Rican presidency created its own online newspaper to promote government achievements to citizens, reported the Central American newspaper La Nación.

The official website called La Noticia launched on Thursday, Sept. 13, with the goal of focusing on what the government does well and what it could do better, according to journalist Mario Aguilar, press secretary for the Presidential House and director of the new newspaper.

La Nación pointed out the publication never identifies itself as an official media outlet produced by the president’s staff.

“We want people to feel like they are reading something without the rigidity of an official website,” explained a presidential spokesperson to the newspaper.

Aguilar also announced that the Presidential House of Costa Rica will start a television program in October broadcasted on Canal 13, reported the website La República.

Both initiatives took off after the newspaper La Nación published a survey in April reporting President Laura Chinchilla’s low popularity among Costa Ricans.

Source: Knight Center for Journalism