BEYOND PRESS RELEASES
Modernising local government communications
By Paul Richards, Chelgate Ltd

LOCAL AUTHORITIES MAY be modernising, innovating and managing change at an impressive pace (well, some of them) but the way these initiatives are communicated remains stuck in the age of hand-cranked duplicators and carbon paper.

Local government communications should be more effective, more memorable, have more impact than Coca Cola, Nike or British Airways. While companies are merely flogging fizzy drinks, trainers or airline tickets, local government communications is part of fulfilling a democratic mandate. Communicating with voters, local businesses and community groups is an essential part of the mission of local government - so it is a matter of regret that so much of council press offices' efforts is slow, clumsy, defensive, and reactive.

The traditional recipe prevails - put out a quota of press releases each week, containing news of committee decisions, pack it with jargon, add a quote from the committee chair to keep them sweet, and hope that a journalist on the local paper has some space to fill.

There is little point in councils modernising their democratic structures and service delivery, if voters do not know about it. Councillors think that if they hold a surgery once a month, and address their tenant meetings, local people know who they are. The reality is that over 90 per cent of voters cannot name their councillor or ward, and many do not know which authority they live in. If all the local population read about a council is a defensive quote from an anonymous 'spokesman' when something has gone terribly wrong in social services or housing, all the modernisation in the world counts for nought.

Council press offices need to raise their game.

Just as 'all politics is local' so 'all news is local'. Press officers should be hunting for national stories happening locally as the first priority. The assumption should be that the work of the authority and its people is worthy of national media interest. If there isn't a story for the Mail, You and Yours or Newsnight, only then should the locals and trade press be considered.

Councils need to be given personality and 'voice'. Instead of using 'spokesman said' or council officers in the media, the work of the council should be explained by elected councillors. The Government doesn't put up the Permanent Secretary of the DfEE when Today wants an interview on school standards - they field ministers. If that means councillors have to undergo media training and be on-call to suit the media, then so much the better.

Press officers should be better journalists than the journalists. The days when press offices were stuffed with failed and frustrated hacks are over. In order to manage local coverage, spot opportunities for off-beat and quirky stories, ghost articles for councillors, communicate complex issues like finance and democratic reform, and deal with national and specialist journalists, press officers should be as skilled and qualified as the journalists they spar with every day.

News is about people, not committee decisions. Committee chairs may believe that their latest deliberations are eagerly awaited by the attendant masses, but the reality is that committees are boring, even for those on them. If people were interested, they'd leave the television or pub or cinema, and flock to the policy and resources committee every month - but they don't.

The work of local authorities needs to be explained via the people it effects. Multi-million pound housing budgets are difficult to conceptualise, but new double-glazing for Mrs Jones means something tangible. 'School infrastructure improvement' is jargon, but a new classroom for St Josephs has meaning. Local government is about serving people, and its communications must reflect that.

Council communications should be imaginative. Press officers must think beyond the local freesheet, and look at internet chatrooms and news groups, community radio, local employers' staff newsletters, local college mags. How many councils advertise their hotline numbers via cards in newsagents windows? This costs a few pence, compared to the thousands spent on glossy posters and magazines, and is far more effective.

The techniques of spin doctoring can be applied to local media and council issues. Every lie or untruth must be rebutted - and fast. Don't let a lie get half way round the borough while the truth is still stuck in the press release clearance procedure. Remember that Speed Kills. The press office that beats deadlines gets the coverage. Get to know journalists - invite them into the office for a coffee, break down the barriers.

Pro-active should be the watchword. Some council press officers are happy if the phones are silent, because it means nothing is going wrong! Press officers should be chancers, hustlers, news entrepreneurs, always on the look out for chances and opportunities.

Local Government modernisers are tackling the assumption that council services can be second-rate. That includes council communications. Lewisham and Lambeth's PR should be as lively and effective as Levis. If the drive for modernisation leaves out the press office, it will fail.

 back