WHAT A PRESS OFFICE DOES

• What a Press Office Is and Is Not
• Journalists and Government Press Officials
• The Duty of Dealing With the Press

"A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both," said the United States' fourth president, James Madison, in 1822.

"Let the people know the facts, and the country will be safe," said Abraham Lincoln, America's 16th president, in 1864.

These U.S. presidents were talking about how a democracy works. Their words hold true today.

For people to exercise power, they must be able to make informed choices and independent judgments. This can happen only if they have factual, credible information. They get that from a free press. A free press serves as the citizen watchdog over government. The media inform the public about governmental activity and spark debate. They hold public officials to the highest standards and report whether or not the government is maintaining the public trust.

From the American Revolution in the 18th century came the idea that the government should be accountable to the people and that the individuals who work in the government are public servants. But serving the people is a two-way venture. In a democracy, serving the people is both the job of the press and the job of government officials.

As U.S. President John F. Kennedy said: "The flow of ideas, the capacity to make informed choices, the ability to criticize, all of the assumptions on which political democracy rests, depend largely on communications."

What a Press Office Is and Is Not

"A government public affairs office is central to the whole system of communicating with the people," says Sheila Tate, who was press secretary to U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan in the early 1980s and to Vice President George Bush in his successful 1988 presidential campaign. According to Tate: "The government press operation is the daily conduit through which the press gets information on the workings of the government."

Explaining how government programs and policies have an impact on citizens is the major role of a government press office. This public information effort conveys government officials' concerns and plans to the public, and it helps the public understand how various issues could affect their lives.

"Governments have so much information that they need an effective way to distribute it to their citizens, and that's where the government spokesperson comes in," says Mike McCurry, former press secretary to President Bill Clinton. "The spokesperson is like a reporter working inside government collecting information for the public. [It is the spokesperson's role to get as much information to the public as possible."

Government press officials, then, have two roles. In dealing with the media, they are advocates for the government's position, explaining the merits of official action. They correct erroneous information and try to improve the interpretation and understanding of existing information. They also are advocates for the media within the government, relaying reporters' needs, such as the desire to do a news story on a topic that government officials may or may not be ready to discuss. Spokespersons often do reporters' work in a sense, gathering information for the press and translating what government experts have to say for the media.

"The press secretary's job is to present the president's positions and thoughts in a manner that helps him advance his agenda, while also helping the press learn what the government is doing," says Ari Fleisher, White House press secretary to President George W. Bush. "It's a balancing act that requires careful judgment in service to two masters."

The spokesperson's job is both assertive — trying to emphasize certain aspects of the news — and reactive — responding to reporters' questions. For example, in the United States, every day the White House usually puts out half-a-dozen press releases announcing new programs, appointments, or activities of the president on which it would like coverage. At the same time, reporters covering the White House contact the press office with questions for stories that may or may not be those that White House officials want done.

"Yet the job is more than just disseminating information," says Joni Inman, president of the National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC), a group representing U.S. public information officers in local, state, and the federal government. "We definitely are the link between our governments and the people, and the translators of information from government to the people, but we also have to know what is coming our way, hear what is on the street, and translate it back to our government officials," says Inman, who is director of citizen relations for the city of Lakewood, Colorado.

But a government press officer is not a magician who can transform a policy or program that is not working into something that appears to be functioning well. As the National Governors Association tells new U.S. state governors in its orientation material, public relations cannot substitute for effective programs or worthwhile ideas. A press secretary cannot create an image of honesty if government officials are not honest. He or she cannot portray a government that recognizes and responds to problems if problems persist and little is done about them. A press office cannot convince the press to write about the openness of a government that is not open or the management skills of government officials who do not manage. Nor can a press office convey a government's objectives if the government leaders it serves are not clear about those objectives.

Journalists and Government Press Officials

Government press officials should not expect to be friends or foes of journalists. Journalists should be neutral observers of government and of its actions and plans. In a democracy, press and government cannot be partners. They are natural adversaries with different functions. Each should respect the role of the other and yet recognize that a natural tension exists between the two. On the one hand, at times it's a relationship in which officials try to tell their version of events or avoid publicity altogether, and the press looks for mistakes and pushes to get information released. On the other hand, the relationship is reciprocal. Journalists need government press officers to help them understand the government's actions and plans. Government press officers need journalists to get information on the government's actions and plans to the public.

Some government press officers expect that a journalist who is a social friend will not write a story that is negative, but a professional journalist does not let a friendship with an official stand in the way of a story. Being a journalist is a 24-hour-a-day job, and a good journalist is never off duty.

"Spokespersons must have cordial but professional relations with reporters," says former Clinton White House spokesman Mike McCurry. "They, reporters, have jobs to do, and you, spokespersons, have jobs to do. You can be friends with a reporter, but you must remember reporters are always on the job and so are you."

In social situations, government officials should clarify the ground rules under which they are making their statements, such as "off the record" or "for background only." (See "Speaking On and Off the Record.") A good rule is to never say or do anything you don't want to see on the front page of the newspaper the next day.

"Spokespersons can have a friendly professional relationship with a journalist, but a personal relationship can be difficult," says NAGC's Joni Inman. "There will come a time when a reporter needs to ask probing questions or write or air a story that you may not want. You can't just rely on friendship. Something will suffer — either the professional relationship or the friendship. But you need to have the professional relationship. You need to be able to call up a reporter and say, 'You really blew that story.' "

The Duty of Dealing With the Press

In addition, government spokespersons should not stand in the way of a story. Public servants don't have the right to decide what is good for people to know and what is not good. Their job is to supply news material to all journalists, even those perceived as less than friendly.

"A good press secretary should respond to every request for information from legitimate news organizations, even if the response is a simple, 'I have to get back to you,' " says Juleanna Glover, press secretary to Vice President Dick Cheney. "Common courtesy should be the rule. Although the press might be hostile at a given moment, there always will be a time when you need them to transmit a message. When that time comes, they'll remember who was civil and who was not."

Some government officials have expressed surprise when during press conferences, journalists ask questions that are not on the subject of the press briefing. This is normal. Journalists may have little access to government officials, and they ask questions, whether on the stated topic or not, when they get access. It is part of having a free press.

"Press offices could be considered not only as a government subsidy or a government efficiency but as an entitlement that flows from the nature of a free society and the relationship of the state to the citizen," writes presidential scholar Stephen Hess in The Government/Press Connection: Press Officers and Their Offices. "What more natural function of government is there in a democracy than for it to make available information about how it is governing?"

In a democracy, Hess writes, dealing with the press is a duty.