I thought of writing something completely different today, but got inspired after having read Reetta's blog about negative publicity because it looks like local government has certainly had its share of this kind. A quick look at the recent news on the municipality of Jyväskylä in Keskisuomalainen (the local newspaper) gave me this result: the mayor and the the board for culture disagree on whether public libraries should be closed down in some of the suburbs to save money. Not commenting here on the huge role that public libraries have had on this country and its development - a completely different discussion - I just have to say that this is not the first time local government is in headlines with such negative stories. And this is the situation all over Finland.
We Finns are in a new situation. We have been used to municipalities providing us basic services with a decent quality and have been happy (almost at least) to pay our taxes to finance them. This does not seem to be the case anymore. If you go to the health centre to get your teeth fixed, you will have to wait for the appointment with the dentist for several months. Schools lack books and equipment. Old people in the institutions only go outside once a week if the personnel has time. These are municipal services that we have taken for granted but that are now 'underfinanced'. What we see as citizens is bad service and crowded waiting rooms. Is there anything left of our faith in the welfare society and local government as its provider? Could this faith be restored by good communication?
Cuts and savings are political decisions. The task of PR is to give the citizens means to understand and challenge these decisions. This means also bad things have to be told, rather in an early phase of decision-making process. Unfortunately the Finnish culture seems to be in favour for not opening the decision-making for discussion until it is too late and the decisions are already too far prepared.
The worrying thing here is that not all the municipalities see PR and communication as a core function. The problem is perhaps not always in the efficiency and expertise of PR officials than the attitude that our decision-making culture has. According to a survey realised by the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, only 60% of municipalities (n=111) had a strategy or even instructions for PR (when every municipality should have them). Too often (perhaps especially in smaller municipalities) PR and communication are simply neglected and regarded as something that belongs to the business life. Why should Kyyjärvi or Kihniö have a PR strategy? The usual answer is to advertise it as a place to live or to spend your vacations in, admiring the scenery. But to systematically open decision-making?
This probably also has roots in PR history. PR in local governments took its first steps in the 1950's but but it was much more 'suhdetoimintaa', PR in a more traditional meaning, sending messages that would create a favourable attitude towards the municipality and the local decision-makers. The content of the messages was manipulative. It took some time and foreign examples to grow the interest in communication. In the 1970's saw a certain change in attitude towards PR yet it was only in 1980 that the first instructions of PR and communication for local authorities were published. The emphasis was gradually shifted into citizens and their rights to get knowledge and more recently, be involved in decision-making more directly. (Laukkarinen 2007, 6-9.)
Big steps have been taken already and yet there is much to do. Taking look at the history just makes me think - are local governments now in the verge of something new in their PR and communication? What kind of changes are happening right now? Is PR in local government all about image marketing - taking steps backwards?
Sources:
Laukkarinen, Antti (2007) Kuntaviestintä muuttuvassa kentässä. Yhteisöviestinnän lisensiaatintutkimus. Viestintätieteiden laitos. Jyväskylän yliopisto.
Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. Poimintoja viestintätutkimuksen tuloksista. Find the survey here.
