Dear Editor,
In today’s political dynamic, political public relations is to an effective government what steel is to a well-designed and structurally sound building: it’s the lifeline of any administration. Since May 2015, the coalition government enjoyed the confidence of the majority of the electorate. The optics were great, the vibes were good, everyone was happy and there was no need for the government PR outfit to execute a proper plan ‒ everything was tailor made, However, what happened after the first two months in office of the newly minted administration, should have sent the PR team into overdrive. Sadly, they are still in hibernation.
There have been a number of missteps by the government which could be attributed to their relative newness to governance, but these could have been effectively dealt with if the team of government ‘messengers’ had taken an aggressive, proactive approach to their messaging. You see, messaging is everything to a political entity, whether it’s a serving government or an opposition. Messaging ensures policies are communicated to the masses in a timely and effective manner. In essence, they convince the masses of your government’s efforts to deliver on your promises ‒ in the case of the coalition administration, the ‘Good life for all’.
To be effective in a political environment such as ours, where propaganda has been the order of the day for two decades, the messengers of the government must have a multi-pronged, simple, but effective approach to the dissemination of policies, and the management of conflict. Government messengers don’t sleep; if there is a crisis at 2am, a press release must be sent out at 2.30am in order to control messaging. Whenever there is a controversy in this administration, too often an official communication is released long after the damage has been done. That isn’t effective communication; many times staunch supporters of this government are left to do the damage control, while the PR personnel decide whether the release ought to come from the first or second floor of Parade Street.
This administration has done many things since coming into government, but poor messaging and public relations have failed to effectively relay these achievements to the masses. This should not be allowed to happen, but it has, time and time again. Take, for instance, the 2017 budget. I have read the entire document, and any honest, unbiased Guyanese will deduce that the Minister and his team at the Ministry of Finance produced one of the most progressive, people-centric budgets in recent history. Knowing that some controversial, but necessary measures would be included in this budget, the public relations team ought to have already crafted a plan to blanket the airwaves in a coordinated effort to dictate messaging, and not leave it to the PPP propaganda machine to distort their policies. Using NCN each night, not even in prime time, to conduct benign, uninspiring interviews is an outdated approach to messaging. We are living in a time when everything is driven by data analysis, or analytics, and this is what ought to drive the government’s PR outreach.
Do a proper statistical analysis of the most effect radio and TV entries ‒ when are viewers/listeners more likely to tune in ‒ blanket those shows, and get your message out. The time for solely depending on NCN to get out your message is over; the PPP can attest to that. Those responsible for PR at the highest levels of government must work together, and completely reassess and rebuild the PR strategic plan. They should use temporary media (Moseley’s Jumpstart, Casual and Stan Gouveia’s afternoon shows, WR Reaz’s programme, the DJ shows on all the stations in the critical time slots), and deliver an effective message. The should visit the neighbourhoods and share literature, and in essence, operate as a desperate opposition seeking to unseat a formidable incumbent. The coalition has done a lot in a short time, but the messaging outfit needs a complete revamp, desperately and urgently.
Yours faithfully,
Jeumayne Dummett
