More than any other organization, governments use public relations as a way to communicate with their citizens and share information with them. “The core value of public relations for government is its ability to engender a more informed society through ethical, transparent, and honest communications between government and its citizens” (Corbett). Although the United States government uses public relations methods to inform citizens about valuable services like food stamps, WIC, and services that protect victims of abuse, much of the taxpayer funds the government uses to public relations purposes is used in an unethical manner. As early as 1913, special interest groups have raised concerns about the appropriateness of government use of public relations. Political activists have promoted “vague and general fears that a government relations activity could be perverted into a propaganda machine that would manipulate public opinion” (Turney).
In November 2008, the Albany Times Union reported that certain local government and law enforcement officials were using coded stickers on their windshields to avoid parking tickets. These stickers were also widely distributed among the personal relations of officials. When Albany Police Chief James Tuffey was approached by the media to respond to the allegations, he made a false statement, saying, “There’s no policy here on that, I can tell you, that I know of. If there’s anything to there who’s been abused, I’m going to deal with it.” (Walters). It is later revealed that Tuffey started the practice years earlier, when he was the head of the city’s police union.
This is a prime example of how even small departments within government abuse power and mishandle public relations. If Tuffey had admitted to his wrongdoing when the story first broke, the scandal probably would have died down a lot quicker and he might have earned some respect from the community for being honest and forthright. He should also have taken the initiative to respond to the accusations as soon as the news broke, instead of waiting for journalists to come to him for comment.
When a laptop went missing from a secure room inside a Veterans Affairs facility in Birmingham, Alabama, officials acted quickly. Rather than wait for reporters to discover the problem and break the news, the VA immediately distributed a press release informing the population of the actions and steps the VA was taking to protect individuals whose personal information was compromised. His prompt and comprehensive response earned positive media attention from the office of Veterans Affairs.
A similar situation occurred in Virginia, when a government warehouse was broken into with the help of an employee “who basically looked the other way” (Walters). The governor’s office sent out a press release reporting that a variety of items, including weapons, had been stolen from a state warehouse. This was a smart PR move as it allowed the governor’s office to control the story early on while being honest with the public. “If the press feels like they’re being duped, it just makes them more interested. Then it’s a piranha feeding frenzy, and everyone is trying to get in on the story” (Walters).
Public relations professionals are often called upon by the government to create propaganda and sell the idea of war. Some techniques used by public relations professionals employed by the government include paying journalists, deliberately distorting or misrepresenting information, and providing information to the media that is reported as news without providing legitimate sources.
The US government used a lot of public relations work to promote the Gulf War in Iraq. John Rendon, the founder of the Washington-based public relations firm Rendon Group, billed himself as a “perception manager.” Pentagon planners define “perception management” as “actions that convey and (or) deny selected information and indicators to foreign audiences in order to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning.” (Rampton & Stauber) Visiting the US Air Force Academy in 1996, Rendon reminded cadets of the hundreds of Kuwaitis who were broadcast on television waving small American flags as US troops traveled through the city from Kuwait. He later admitted to the cadets that the United States government had hired him to organize that event in a scheme to encourage American citizens to support the war.
The 2003 war in Iraq produced similar forms of media manipulation. When it comes to propaganda for war purposes when the reasons behind the war are unclear or questionable, the PR firms that help sell the idea indirectly contribute to the casualties.
References:
Corbett, Gerard F. (2012-3-15). “PRSA to Congress: Don’t Kill the PR Messenger”, PRSA Roll Call.
Turney, Michael (2009). Online readings in Public Relations: Government Public Relations. http://www.nku.edu/~turney/prclass/readings/government.html
Walters, Jonathan (2010) Government PR Disaster Prevention: Agencies caught in the eye of a scandal need an advance plan to calm the storm of media attention. http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/Preventing-Government-PR-Disasters.html
Rampton, Sheldon and Stauber, John (2003-8-4). How to sell a war. In these times