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 strategies of governments have changed from traditional press release policies—based on interpersonal exchanges between government spokespeople and journalists—to a professionalized and specialized process of strategic communication controlling the flow of news in the media. Government communication in Western democracies has become ever more sophisticated and complex as new information and communication technologies have advanced and penetrated all forms of political communications. In terms of the action repertoire, governments apply a series of news management activities and rhetoric and symbolic actions to produce political messages, such as the personalization of politics or image management; the creation of pseudo-events and strategies of defining political issues by framing and spin-controlling political messages. Efforts of spincontrol refer to the depiction of the issue in the interaction of news managers and journalists. Most likely it includes the simple pattern of stressing the importance of features that are most attractive to target publics or target media and avoiding the features that are deemed to be undesirable from the point of view of the government. Efforts of spinning can be regularly observed after major political developments, when journalists are often desperate to speak to authoritative sources capable of giving them an instant interpretation of what has happened. If it is not possible to control the message, another technique that belongs to the action repertoire of government communication is dethematization, which—as diversionary tactic—intends to divert from substantial issues.

Governments compete with other political actors for favorable media attention. There are various reasons why the messages of the executive have better chances to pass the media filter. In most Western democracies, the government is the most powerful decision-making body that is legitimatized by the popular vote. It is active in setting national priorities and proposing policy innovations, taking collectively binding decisions, and implementing them in its programs. As to politics, governments constantly work on legislative and political coalition building. Finally, the leadership function is expressed in the executive's role of crisis management, in maintaining international [Page 280]commitments and entertaining foreign relations, if not proclaiming war. Another reason for the governments' favorable position in public communication is the availability of human and financial resources and institutions for public information.

As every government is obliged to inform its citizens, modern executives are in command of institutions and roles to prepare and disseminate official information. In most countries, we find a division of labor regarding the regular day-to-day relation of government spokespeople and the media and the more strategic and political aspects. The most prominent role of official government communication is formally occupied by the press secretary. The formal and informal roles of strategic communication are held by a circle of advisors who decide on the strategy of news management and the reactions to the issues and opinions raised in the media. Those positions are usually located at the heart of the executive office. In addition to these decision-making roles, most countries entertain government information agencies that employ civil servants and public information specialists working in intelligence, media communications, issue campaigns, and policy consulting. Although these offices are obliged to act nonpartisan and pursue their information task in a politically neutral way, they are the most precious resource of proactive news management.

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