Looking at the answers of my small opinion poll in the side bar (ok, you can question the reliability of a poll with only a few participants) it seems like newspapers are as important a channel of information as the internet in local issues. Nobody went to citizen forums or followed city council meetings at the city hall. This does not really surprise me.
What I find more interesting, is that there were also two persons who ticked the box ’Who cares’. They are not alone - local government is not a ’sexy’ topic and for example local elections do not interest people. I find this curious considering the importance of the tasks of the local level. Local government takes care of schools, health care, day care, libraries, roads, parks etc. In addition it is usually the regions biggest employer. That should interest us, shouldn’t it?
Whereas reasons for this disinterest can be found in different things, I am here to think about PR and communication. Are they doing something drastically wrong in the PR departments in the cities?
Steps towards the right direction have certainly been taken. The importance of communication has been acknowledged in most cities and PR professionals are included in the management processes of the city. Municipalities have also adopted the idea of a two-way (symmetrical) communication. This has meant a more active approach towards citizens and is concretely visible in the forms of communication. More attention is also payed to details, for example communicating in an understandable language and avoiding bureaucratic, complex texts. Municipalities are also exploring new communication channels, such as the social media (and not always succeeding, look Jaakko’s blog on cities in the Facebook).
Yet we are facing this problem. If this is a question of PR and communication problems, what should be done differently?
