In February 2009, the US Congress passed a US$787 billion stimulus package designed to put the country on the road to economic recovery. Thereafter, managing 'the stimulus story' became, as Time magazine reported, 'a full-time White House preoccupation' (Scherer, 2009: 31). Obama and his team understood that without a concerted effort to communicate the plan, it would almost certainly fail in the court of public opinion. The quality of government matters for human well-being. Governing necessarily involves constant exchanges of information and communication about policies, ideas and decisions between governors and the governed. Despite its key importance for 21st-century politics, the study of government communication is an under-researched area of political communication studies, finding itself in a kind of theoretical no-man's land between political communication, public relations and organizational communication research. This chapter examines three related issues. First, it examines what we mean by government communication. This task poses a number of challenges not least that of settling what kinds of institutions count as governmental in the diverse settings of democratic politics. 1 Second, the article draws together the distinctive contributions to the study of government communication found in the political communication literature. Third, the chapter argues that perspectives developed by public relations and organizational communication studies may have much to offer political communication scholars studying government communication. Finally, we suggest a number of issues that could form part of a research agenda for government communication (see Sanders, 2011).
a Countries are assessed on the average of the political rights and civil liberties ratings, the political freedom rating: Free (F) (1.0 to 2.5), Partly Free (PF) (3.0 to 5.0) or Not Free (NF) (5.5 to 7.0). b Each country receives a numerical rating from 0 (the most free) to 100 (the least free). Countries considered Free (F) are rated from 0-30; Partly Free (PF) 31-60 and Not Free (NF) 61-97. Full details of methodology can be found at www.freedomhouse.org GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION IN 15 COUNTRIES 279 Using an assessment framework explained below (see Table 16.3), we examine differences and similarities within and between the three groups of countries with regards to the mesolevel data collected, examining whether the structure and activity of government communication bears some relation to systemic conditions. Finally, we explore some common themes and challenges for government communication research. Developing an assessment framework for government communication Chapter authors present vivid accounts of the increasing importance governments give to communicating with diverse constituents, chief among them the media and citizens. They invest significant resources in attempting to inform, understand, control, manage and/or engage with constituencies. They seek to develop 'effective communication' which depends on a number of factors including adequate communicational structure and processes guided by communicational purposes that take the citizen into account. Communication structure and processes Public relations and management scholars have identified two broad categories of communication structure (see Chapter 1) that describe the position occupied and the resources assigned to the communication function in an organization: a primarily tactical or technical structure or a primarily strategic one. Tactics and strategies are well-worn terms often used in the political communication lexicon to describe the activities executed by political actors to maintain power and/or seek control. Governments attempt to manage news and public opinion; parties and candidates want to win elections. As we saw in Chapter 1, political communication research usefully focuses attention on these questions of power and control which are, of course, at the heart of politics. However, drawing on public relations, corporate and strategic communication literature, strategic communication can be characterized as a driver towards more effective communication. Typically it is coordinated and planned at senior management level with substantial development of specialized units that permit proactive dialogue with stakeholders to help shape organizational goals. A strategic communication structure has defined functions that facilitate an organized and integrated communication activity undertaken by skilled and knowledgeable professionals who occupy positions at every level of the organizational chart. Strategic communication encompasses mechanisms to assess the effectiveness of the communication effort in terms of measurable Public servants
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