Government public affairs activities can have far reaching influence. The potential audience for government information is large, both locally and nationally. All citizens need to know how to file their taxes, obtain social security benefits, get their trash removed, summon the police or fire departments, and obtain many other government services. Government public affairs specialists provide this information, and more. Frequently the biggest challenge of government public affairs is overcoming public apathy to give people the information they need to make informed choices.
Government public affairs activities produce many tangible products, including publications, videos, and posters. The government versions of these communications tools often are less elaborate or expensive than their counterparts in industry; however, the mission oriented nature of government means agencies often devote more resources to products with a purely social value than can be justified in the private sector.
Some government public affairs activities result in highly visible mass media products. For example, government public affairs specialists coordinate the Smokey Bear, Woodsy Owl, and McGruff the Crime Dog programs; military recruiting programs; and other efforts involving large amounts of public service or paid advertising.
What You'll Earn
Like all government jobs, government public affairs positions generally offer greater stability than comparable positions in the private sector. Pay is usually better in the government than in small nonprofit organizations or small businesses, but it cannot match the pay of major corporations and philanthropies. Retirement benefits in most government jobs are on a par with those in the larger nonprofit organizations and corporations. Government agencies also offer good vacation, sick leave, and health insurance benefits.
The chief public affairs officer in a government office often works directly for the head of the office. As a member of the manager's primary staff, the public affairs officer is well situated to advise the top officials of the office on how to integrate public affairs concerns into their decision making. The public affairs officer also serves as the head of a staff which provides input on public opinion and implements the public affairs plan of the agency.
Government agencies practice public affairs when they try to increase public awareness, whether it be of food safety, the dangers of not fastening seat belts, or changes in the tax law. They practice public affairs when they try to get people to change their behavior by eating more nutritious food or having their blood pressure checked regularly.
Agencies must make the results of government studies available to the public, make people aware of the government services available to them, inform people of their rights under new and existing laws and regulations, keep legislators informed of what is going on in the agencies. Government agencies, like all organizations, need to involve their own employees in decision making and give them the information and skills they need to do their jobs properly.
Agencies practice public affairs when they solicit and analyze public input concerning such things as changes in regulations or plans for construction projects. This type of public affairs can be done informally or under laws requiring agencies to publish formal notices soliciting public comments during prescribed time periods. A wide array of outside individuals and groups expect to be involved in decision making, and in many cases have a legal right to be included.
Finally, agencies practice public affairs when they develop plans to build and maintain relationships with various constituencies, such as industry associations, consumer groups, professional associations, and groups of officials at other levels of government in short, anyone affected by the policies and decisions of the agency.
The press officers, speech writers, and other public affairs practitioners who work for elected officials at all levels of government have more latitude to influence public opinion. However, they are most often interested in making sure the public understands how an official's actions are responsive to public opinion, and only rarely in changing the opinion of the public.
The public affairs functions of government require agencies to devote resources to developing and maintaining many different channels of communication, including those between agencies and the general public, the media, legislators, and a wide array of specialized publics. Agencies must also communicate effectively with other agencies at all levels of government and with their own agency employees.
The Scope of Government Public Affairs Activities
The public affairs units in government agencies range in size from single person operations in small local offices to operations with more than a hundred people in the national headquarters of major federal offices. In smaller offices, whether at the city, county, state, or federal level, many public affairs functions are not performed by public affairs professionals but as extra duties by employees who are actually specialists in some part of the program run by their office.
The variety of government offices is astounding, ranging from institutions such as public schools, colleges, vocational schools, libraries, museums, and hospitals to social services programs such as housing, social security, and welfare. All large military units and installations have public affairs organizations, as do government research facilities, prisons, and law enforcement agencies. Natural resource management agencies such as the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management employ many public affairs specialists, as do agencies with regulatory powers in banking, food and drug safety, commerce, transportation, energy, and environment. School districts, soil and water conservation districts, housing authorities, transit authorities, all engage in public affairs activities, as do disaster preparedness agencies, rural and urban development agencies, and various governmental and quasi governmental offices that administer grants in the sciences, arts, and humanities. The Internal Revenue Service and other tax administration agencies at the federal, state, and local levels have public affairs programs. Finally, a surprisingly large number of federal agencies have public affairs personnel serving abroad.
The National Association of Government Communicators, a leading professional organization for government employees who work in the field of public affairs, estimates that the federal government, the 50 state governments, more than 3000 county governments, and nearly 200 city governments (cities with populations of 100,000 or more) employ about 40,000 people in public affairs. This figure includes employees whose primary duty is to build relationships with various groups as well as the writers, editors, videographers, photographers, designers, printing officers, and others who create the products that make information available to internal or external publics.
