What You Accomplish By Covering Additional Media
A skilled government communicator can:
1. Serve the public interest by giving additional millions of people your information and helping to fulfill the mission of the government.
2. Save people’s lives, health, happiness and peace of mind with your helpful information, increasing public awareness of what you are doing that benefits the public.
3. Save taxpayers money because it’s more economical to keep millions of people healthy and safe than it is to bear the alternative costs of coping with tragic consequences of neglect.
4. Protect your budget. The more media coverage you create on what Congress cares about most, the less likely Congress is to take your budget and give it to someone else.
While doing all of the above and without spending an extra hour or an extra dollar, the skilled communicator tends to help the government agency because a) people who have been well served with information are more likely to favor funding the government agency, and b) Congressmen and their aides who see the agency serving their own constituents with information in their own newspapers, are also more inclined to want the good work continued.
What Gets The Best Results
When you consider the plight of today’s newspaper editors, many of whom are doing two or three jobs after downsizing, you can understand right away what a blessing it is when a government agency sends in a series of releases bylined by a top government expert.
The newspaper benefits from having accurate, helpful columns by an expert who is obviously unbiased except for a preference that the public should be better off in some way, from having read the useful information.
Newspapers, which are all supported by local advertising and exist primarily in the wealthy suburbs of major markets, tend to be read by highly educated people who are grateful for free information that is helpful and reliable.
The government benefits by helping the public, saving the public money, and creating increased efficiency. If you have a speech or leaflet, or a website with interest value for millions of Americans, give it to them via the media for additional exposure, rather than reaching only those people who happen to hear the speech or stumble upon the leaflet or website. You can get more mileage out of the message you have worked so hard to create and make known by covering thousands of community news outlets in the wealthy suburbs.
The best and brightest government communicators, though often grossly underpaid and overworked, are nonetheless coming to work in the morning with ideas that save lives and save millions of dollars by giving the public the benefit of information that government experts have to offer. They love communications and they love to succeed. Their intellect and drive keep advancing the cause of government communications. They are asking the crucial question:
“What can we do now to produce more?”
