Government Communication

Government communication refers to public information institutions and strategies whereby governments manage the flow of political messages. Government communication aims at informing the citizens about the executive's positions and policies, but also at legitimatizing political actions, thereby creating popular consent and achieving an advantageous position in the electoral competition. Since mass media are the most important means of political information of the citizens, they are the means and targets of messages, while the strategies are determined by the political objectives of the government. In all Western democracies, we find similar institutions and professional and political roles of government communication that refer to media relations and message dissemination, political marketing and political strategizing with regard to media agenda setting.

During the past 30 years, the public information ...