COM215

1. COM215 Taejin Jung, Ph.D. Week 13: Government & PR

2. Seven goals of public affairs in government • Informing constituents - The primary goal of government public affairs is to inform constituents. - To achieve their purposes, they use personal contacts, speaker programs, the Internet, print media, radio, television, film, libraries, books, the arts, and exhibits to communicate. a. News release (http://www.ny.gov)

3. Seven goals of public affairs in government 2. Ensuring active “cooperation” in government programs as well as “compliance” with regulatory programs - Conduct “campaign” to inform citizens a. The US Census Bureau – Inform American citizen abroad about the importance to being included in the census (Burson-Marsteller) b. The CDC – Inform Americans about who should get the flu vaccine (Ogilvy PR Worldwide) c. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – Inform Americans about the Internet privacy and security d. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – Encourage home ownership by minorities. - Regulatory program: mandatory seat belt use, antismoking ordinance etc.  The use of public affairs as a two-way symmetric activity

4. 3. Fostering citizen support Basic justification for public affairs - A democratic government must report its activities to the citizens - Effective government administration requires “citizen participation” and support The growing influence of neighborhood-level activist groups places a unique burden on local government (e.g., ‘NIMBY’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIMBY The Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 stimulates discussion of important public issues with private individuals and NGOs. Public opinion survey (http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=23623) - Strength: It has the potential to sample the viewpoint of all citizen, not simply those who choose to participate. - Weakness: The public may express a negative view of whatever services that are dutifully provided / The issue of cost. Seven goals of public affairs in government

5. Seven goals of public affairs in government 4. Serving as the public’s advocate - Conveying public opinion to decision makers. - Managing public issues within the organization. - Encouraging public accessibility to administration officials. 5. Managing information internally - Preparing organization-focused newsletters, electronic bulletin boards, and the Intranet site. 6. Facilitating media relations - Maintaining relationships with local press. - Serving as the organization’s conduit for all media inquires. - Educating the press on the organization, its practices, and its policies.

6. Seven goals of public affairs in government 7. Building community and nation • Conducting government-sponsored public-health campaigns and other public-security programs • Promoting a variety of social or development programs (campaigns). - Encouraging immunization shots (The California Department of Health Service) - Campaign to reduce the number of statutory rape and sexual coercion: “Isn’t She a Little Young” (Virginia) - Antilitter campaign: “Don’t Mess with Texas” (Texas) - Promote Tourism: “Beer Capital of the U.S.” (Wisconsin) - Promote juice in breakfast: “The best start under the sun” (Florida) • Media: PSA (http://psa.americanheart.org/video.html#GRFW) • Radio soap operas, billboards, slogans, posters, skits…

7. Criticism of Government PR Efforts • Gillett Amendment (1913) “Appropriated funds may not be used to pay a publicity expert unless specifically appropriated for that purpose” • There is a growing tendency to spend money to make the government look good. • The cost of maintaining government “public relations” expert to support media - Almost 90 percent of a state government news releases are used by daily and weekly newspaper. - Ex) Florida government spent $70,000 on facilities and staffs to handle media when Hurricane Andrew hit. • Legislators are notorious for sending reams of useless releases that often just promote themselves. - “Franking privilege (free postage) - The late Senator John Heinz, a Republican from Pennsylvania, once distributed 15 million pieces of mail, financed by taxpayers.

8. Barriers to effective government public affairs 1. Questionable credibility - Just PR - Propaganda machine - Spin doctors - Flacks Ex) FEMA Phony Interview (http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3783160&affil=wsyr) 2. Public apathy - Citizen frustration (e.g., weapons of mass destruction in Iraq) - A general sense of impotence toward government at all levels 3. Legislative hostility (p. 427)

9. Government-Media relations “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspaper or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” -by Thomas Jefferson • Arguments between government vs. the press - Government: Any large organization is more effective if it has a degree of privacy in formulating strategies - The press: The public’s business should be conducted in the open to ensure that all activities are conducted ethically and in the public interest.

10. Case Activity: What Would You Do? The city council of Lakewood (population 150,000), in cooperation with a citizens’ commission, has decided that there is a need to improve citizen participation in the city’s curbside recycling program. Such a program is environmentally sound, and there are other reasons to increase participation. The city’s only landfill is rapidly filling up, and there are new state mandates for recycling. Recycling is still is relatively new concept for the majority of Lakewood households-only 45 percent of them are separating their trash for recycling. The percentage is even lower among residents in the middle- to lower- income brackets. The objective is to get 80 percent of the households to use the curbside recycling program What kind of public information would you recommend to accomplish this objective? Develop a list of program strategies and communication tactics.