As the partial government shutdown drags on Democrats and Republicans are waging a fierce communications battle—with all the free publicity that politicians can muster—regarding which party is responsible for the stalemate. But for the majority of PR pros who for the federal government, communication is pretty much off limits. With many of the federal government’s 800,000 employees furloughed due to the shutdown, communicators working at federal agencies have no choice but to stay home. However, PR efforts at government agencies aren’t completely dark. Depending on the federal agency, there are some communicators who have been deemed essential workers, according to Jim Papa, senior VP and managing director of Global Strategy Group, who was special assistant to the president for legislative affairs during the first Obama administration.
Still, these communicators now have to conduct their PR efforts with a decidedly skeleton crew, Papa added.
Even when the government is running, federal agencies aren’t known to move too swiftly. Now, under the shadow of the shutdown, all bets are off on public affairs campaigns and other communications efforts deployed by government agencies. For instance, that PSA that XYZ department was ready to launch right before the shutdown? Put it on the back burner. Those plans to have some top government officials speak to the editorial boards of national media outlets? The scribblers will have to wait.
Ditto for press releases, video programming and other communiques. At this rate, the primary responsibility of PR pros working for the government is to keep constituents informed about the situation and maintain ties of communication as best they can.
ASSESS YOUR AUDIENCE
“The focus should be on the communication channels that are providing the biggest bang for the buck,” Papa said. “They have to use the tools that they can get the most leverage from.”
Indeed, unlike the previous shutdown, in 1994, PR people now working for the federal government can get their messages out at relatively low cost via social channels.
Papa added that it’s crucial that PR pros at government agencies communicate with their stakeholders about the impact the shutdown is having both on staffing levels and workflow. “It may be as simple as telling people that instead of responding to a voice-mail or email within an hour, it might be within a day,” he said.
With that in mind, Papa shared three recommendations for PR pros who have to operate at a handicap:
▶ Set goals and boundaries for the period of time in which you’re operating with reduced staff. You also need to pick and choose beteen which communications efforts demand the most immediate attention and those that have to be delayed.
▶ Assess and prioritize your audience. “Just like a company has many different stakeholders, so do government agencies,” Papa said. For PR people working for the government, he added, “first and foremost it’s the public, but there are other stakeholders, such as employees and the media.”
▶ For each audience, set expectations. “Stakeholders should be reassured that during a crisis the organization is making solving the problem its top priority,” Papa said.“Organizations should then communicate that, as a consequence, the regular flow of communications may be different—perhaps a bit slower, perhaps through different channels—but that each audience remains important and will continue to be engaged.”
‘CORE MISSION’
Of course, PR pros working in the private sector don’t have to deal with the specter of being furloughed. At the same time, there are plenty of occasions when communicators (whether at a PR agency or brand) are not operating at full strength because of, say, a recent round of layoffs or a natural disaster that puts a crimp on communications.
“Contingency planning is critical,” said Tracy Schmaler, managing director of ASGK Public Strategies, who served four years in the Obama administration where she managed the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice. “You need to ask: ‘What is the most important information you need to get out?’ It’s a matter of ensuring that people who are in the office are responsive to whatever is coming in.”
She added, “You can’t cover the entire realm of communications’ needs and responsibilities, but determine what is the ‘core mission’ for your PR agency or brand. You need to prioritize urgent or legacy issues/projects.”
THE FOLLOW-UP
When the PR entity—either in the public or private sectors— is back to full speed, it’s important not to let a crisis go to waste.
“When the crisis is over, you need to do another round of communication that informs people about the operation and lets them know that it may take a while to dig out,” Global Strategy Group’s Papa said. Post-crisis communications enables PR pros, he added, to hit the reset button. “How you reset presents a great opportunity.” PRN
Getting Your Message Out When Your Hands are (Somewhat) Tied
If the goal of PR is artful communications, what should industry members do when told to be silent? Here are some helpful hints:
▶ Stay Silent (except…). It is important that you remain silent if required to do so under confidentiality obligations, regulations or in connection with a pending IPO quiet period. If you do not remain silent, you and your company could face significant legal and business repercussions that could dramatically affect your business relationships, the market, and internal management. Just ask the former chief executive of Groupon, whose email a few years back touting the company’s “unprecedented growth”, resulted in a postponement of Groupon’s turbulent IPO. However, in some rare cases, such as when the media decides to run a story on a rumored deal or when information is otherwise leaked, the company may need to manage the potential PR damage by disclosing some information, which should only be done in consultation with legal advisors.
▶ Change the conversation. In the words of Don Draper, if you do not like what they are saying about you, change the conversation. While confidentiality obligations may prohibit you from discussing specific topics, they may not prohibit you from discussing all company-related topics. In such instances, consider changing the conversation to different products, campaigns or endeavors that are not subject to confidentiality obligations. For example, if you cannot talk about a company’s latest business strategy or its ongoing product recall, talk about its most recent charitable initiatives.
▶ Check with legal. Is it possible that you are taking an overly broad interpretation of your confidentiality obligations? Not only can your lawyers help interpret the legal jargon included in your non-disclosure agreements (e.g., “injunctive relief” and “specific performance”) but they can also help you determine the scope of your actual obligations. For example, most non-disclosure agreements exempt information that was publicly known or made generally available in the public domain prior to disclosure or information that becomes publicly known after disclosure through no wrongful act by you. These agreements typically have exceptions so, when in doubt, check with legal to help understand the extent of your obligations.
Allison Fitzpatrick is a partner at the law firm Davis & Gilbert LLP. She can be reached at [email protected].
This article appeared in the October 14 issue of PR News. Subscribe to PR News today to receive weekly comprehensive coverage of the most fundamental PR topics from visual storytelling to crisis management to media training.