Public Affairs, Communication in

For more than 5,000 years, since the time of the ancient Egyptians, governments have sought to inform citizens of the inner workings of the political process. As a specialization of public relations, public affairs (also referred to as “government relations”), fills the need to inform citizens of the many services that a particular government has to offer. Organizations outside of government also employ public affairs specialists to lobby and help shape public policy. Viewed within a democracy framework, public affairs is essential if citizens are to make logical and intelligent choices about their candidates and their political policies.

Communication in public affairs can come from all sides of the political spectrum. William Ragan, former director of public affairs for the U.S. Civil Service Commission, is credited by Wilcox and his colleagues with developing a set of objectives for governmental information efforts:

• 1
  Provide information to the public.
• 2
  Use appropriate information activities to improve the effectiveness of agency operations.
• 3
  Provide feedback to governmental administrators to allow continuation or change.
• 4
  Recommend to management the most desirable communication strategies for distributing decisions or initiatives.
• 5
  Undertake the role of an ombudsman on behalf of the public.
• 6
  Educate administrators and bureaucrats about the functioning of the media and how to influence coverage.

By law, the U.S. government is forbidden from using appropriated money to hire “publicity experts.” Therefore, public affairs usually falls under a variety of diverse departments, such as the External Affairs Division (FBI), the Office of Communications and Consumer Affairs (Interstate Commerce Commission), the Office of Public Awareness (EPA), and the Offices of Public Affairs, in which the military uses needed public relations functions that inform the citizens about their operations. Within these departments, public relations practitioners may be given such titles as director of public affairs, public information officer, press secretary, administrative aide, or government program analyst, to carry the government's mission of communicating to its publics.

With the increased complexity of government, the need for more communication and/or publicity has increased as well. Public affairs officers must help define and achieve governmental program goals, enhance the government's responsiveness and service, as well as provide the public with sufficient information to permit self-government. To do this, they must construct messages for internal and external audiences, gauge public opinion, plan and organize for public relations effectiveness, as well as measure the effectiveness of the entire process.

Looking to create many avenues of communication for a diverse audience, governmental public affairs officials rely on a variety of different media platforms to disseminate information. Press conferences and releases, VNRs (video news releases), and direct mailings have been popular ways for governmental agencies to communicate. Most recently, the technological focus has been on the Internet. Being relatively inexpensive, the Internet allows governmental agencies operating on low budgets to put out vast amounts of material at a fraction of the cost of printing and mailing. This practice allows audiences to get instantaneous information and communicate directly with the departments, while governmental agencies can maintain better control over their content and effectively bypass traditional media.

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