Page 156 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

POLITICAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

individual politician, and how it can be moulded and shaped to suit
organisational goals; and on the other, the image of the political
organisation. The latter activity may also be described as political
marketing, and will frequently incorporate the advertising
techniques described in the previous chapter. But the marketing of
political identity and image extends far beyond the placement of
paid messages in the media: it includes such matters as the design
of a corporate logo (a party’s symbol); the language used during
political interviews and in manifestos; and the general work of a
party when it campaigns in the public sphere.
The success or otherwise of the aforementioned categories of
activity depends to a large extent on the effectiveness of a third: the
internal communications of the organisation. This includes setting
up channels for transmitting information internally, co-ordinating
activity and dealing with feedback. As we shall see, some of the
great failures of party-political communication in recent years
can be attributed to inadequate internal public relations. Just as
modern corporations now routinely support in-house public
relations departments for the purpose of maximising organisational
efficiency, so must political parties develop structures of effective
internal communication.
Last but by no means of least importance in the study of political
communication, are the activities of information management. We
distinguish this category from media management as defined
above in so far as it tends to involve open and covert methods of
information manipulation by political actors in positions of power.
Information is a powerful political weapon, and its selective
dissemination, restriction and/or distortion by governments is an
important element in public opinion management. Organisations
which are not in power may still use information to attack
opponents, but this form of public relations work is inevitably most
important for a governing organisation, which has all the infor-
mation management resources of the state at its disposal, and which
may use them to exert considerable influence on the lives of citizens.

Media management
The term ‘media management’ does not, in this context, refer
to those engaged in the professional work of managing media
organisations, but to the wide variety of practices whereby political
actors may seek to control, manipulate or influence media
organisations in ways which correspond to their political objectives.

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