The use of PR professionals, both in house and agency, by the States of Guernsey has come in for a great deal of scrutiny of late. Today’s Guernsey Press business page adds yet more comment to the debate courtesy of James Falla, ex Treasury and Resources comms director.
Perhaps reading between the lines there is a bit of criticism here for the way Deputies and civil servants have engaged with the media over recent years. It is all too easy for beleaguered Deputies to develop a bunker mentality towards the media: ‘they’re all out to get me’ is a refrain we hear all too often.
Likewise the media sometimes views PR as an unnecessary blockage to getting to the juiciest part of a story.
But, a good PR professional can play a vital role in keeping the public information wheels moving. As James says of his previous role, public sector PR is not about getting in the way of political access, but to facilitate access, and probably more importantly in our opinion, to improve the service to the media.
In our role as media trainers we frequently teach people how to give journalists what they want, in a form that is most useful to them, enabling key messages to be distributed quickly, clearly and simply. It is this skill that James points out is ‘underrated’ in the current assembly and is probably the cause of many politicians run ins with the various media on our island. Engagement does not necessarily mean compromise, in fact it can and should lead to a win-win situation.
Rather than fighting against journalists, our politicians should work with them to keep the public more informed and educated.
Posted by Chris.