Chapter 13 Government Relations

Two Prominent Departments

Even before the war on terrorism, the most potent public relations voices in the federal government, exclusive of the president, were the US department of state, first, and Defense, second, after September 11, 2001, the communication Importance of both increased, but their relative positions were reserved.

The State Department:

The State Department like other government agencies has an extensive public affairs staff, responsible for press briefings, maintaining, secretary f state homepage content, operating foreign press centers in Washington, New York. The State Department consolidated USIAS" 6.352 employees of whom 904 are foreign services personnel and 2.521 are locally hired Foreign Service nationals overseas.
In the 21st century with American motives for the war on terrorism challenged around the world, the former USIAs mission is to support the national interest by conveying an understanding abroad of what the United States stands for has been modified to include new challenges:
v Build the intellectual and institutional foundations of democracy in societies around the globe
v Support the war on drugs in producer and consumer countries
v Develop worldwide information programs to address environmental challenges
v Bring the truth to any society that fail t exercise free and open communication.
The communication initiatives of the State Department to spread the gospel of America are far reaching, among them: radio, film and television, internet, media, publication, and exhibition.

The Defense Department

The importance of Department of Defense communications has been intensified in wartime. The DOD s public affairs network is massive 3.727 communicators in the Army, 1.250 in the navy ect…

The President
Mr. Reagan and his communications advisors followed seven principles in helping to manage the news:
Plan ahead
Stay on the offensive
Control the flow of information
Limit reports access to the president
Talk about the issues you want to talk about
Speak in one voice
Repeat the same time many times.

The Presidents Press Secretary

Some have called the job of presidential secretary the second most difficult position in any administration. The press secretary is the chief public relations spokesperson for the administration.
A good press secretary speaks up for the press to the president and speaks out for the president to the press. He makes his home in the pitted no man s land of an adversary relationship and is primarily an advocate, interpreter, and amplifier. He must be more the president s man than the press. But he can be his own man as well.

Lobbying the government

Three factors according to experts affected lobbying:
rapid growth in government
Republican control of both the white house and congress
wide acceptance among corporation that they need to hire professional lobbyists to secure their share of the federal budget
Government relations people are primarily concerned with weighting the impact of impending legislation on the company, industry group, or client organization.
Objectives:
1. To improve communications with government personnel and agencies
2. To monitor legislators and regulatory agencies in area affecting constituent operations
3. To encourage constituent participation at all levels of government
4. To influence legislative affecting the economy of the constitutions area, as well as its operations
5. To advance awareness and understanding among lawmakers of the activities and operations of constituent organizations.

What Do Lobbyists Do
1. Fact-finding: the government is an incredible storehouse of facts, statistics, economic data, opinions, and decision making that generally is available for the asking.
2. Interpretation of government actions: a key function of the lobbyist is to interpret for management the significance of government events and the potential implications of pending legislation. Often a lobbyist predicts what can be expected to happen legislatively and recommends actions to deal with the expected outcome
3. advocacy of a position: advocate a position on behalf of clients
4. publicity springboard: multiplicity of media
5. Support of company sale: a lobbyist who is friendly with government personnel can serve as a valuable link for leads to company business.

Do It Yourself Lobbying
Know the subject and status of the legislation: lobbyists must demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the legislation on which they seek action.
Know the position of the legislator and the staff: consider the persons background and biases
Represent a key constituency: votes
Be available and eager to please: make herself available whenever the legislator needs to talk.
Have influential backup at the ready: identify important local opinion leaders.
keep your word: never lie
know how the system function: common sense

Emergency E lobbying:
The internet has become a pivotal tool. The more e-mail grew as a direct communications electioneering mechanism, the more voters used the new technology voice mail, caller, ID, satellite dishes, remote controls, and digital programming, to shut out political messages.