What is political communication? How does political communication differ from government communication? How is political communication applied? And finally, which means of communication are used to reach voters? This article provides insight into the answers to these questions.
Transparency
When it comes to citizens as voters, political parties, representatives and media play a leading role. The voter market is central here: the idea behind this is that elections are about a market of buyers and suppliers. Political parties make voters a certain offer and through their vote voters may or may not take advantage of a party’s offer. Communication is, as in any market, also of great importance in the voter market. This is partly about transparency: communication aimed at making the offer of the political parties transparent. However, this is only partly the case, because political parties may sometimes have an interest in obfuscation or a lack of transparency.
Difference between political communication and government communication
Making policy development and policy implementation transparent, in order to justify, make understandable and assess the policy. That is one of the most important functions of government communication. Betteke van Ruler, professor by special appointment of Professionalization of Communication Management at the University of Twente, makes a distinction between political communication and government communication. Where political communication aims at influencing the will, government communication aims at policy information. By definition, a politician will make attempts to influence the will of his potential voter, he wants to profile himself positively and will try to do this in every possible way: as a person and through policy. A minister can use a spin doctor for this; a communications professional who tries to influence his target groups in such a way that he determines the image of the minister himself. Spin doctoring falls under political communication and not under government communication. Working on desired images means that the emphasis is on those aspects that benefit the image, while other aspects are deliberately not highlighted. This is therefore essentially different from making a policy process transparent, according to Van Ruler.
Application of communication tools
In order to organize the coherence between all kinds of forms and functions of communication, the following classification, derived from the government position, is used:
Corporate communication
- Overarching communication about the content of the policy.
- The right to exist of the organization; the company behind the brand.
Policy communication
- About policy.
- As a policy.
- For policy.
- In policy.
Organizational communication
- Focused on continuity of your own organization.
- Internal communication, labor market communication and crisis communication.
Corporate communications
At national level, corporate communication concerns the government level. However, each department also has its own interpretation of corporate communication. The same applies to various parts of ministries. The most overarching level is government in the broadest sense. The government communicates little about the main lines of its policy and the departments in turn show little about how they contribute to that main line. People who are interested in this can visit the website www.government.nl for more information.
Policy communication
This concerns communication per policy file, in all phases of policy. However, many government policies are complicated and therefore difficult to communicate to society. Communication tools used in policy communication to reach voters are:
- PR and (press) information
- Campaigns
PR and (press) information
Political parties make frequent use of PR and information. Particularly during election periods, voters are actively informed about the positions that parties stand for. This happens, among other things, in planned information meetings where politicians talk extensively about their views on society and where voters are subsequently given the opportunity to ask questions about this, but also in debates where politicians compete with each other. In addition, information is also largely provided through the media (television) and the written press (newspapers).
Another medium that falls under information is the internet. Each political party has at least its own website at national and regional level. In addition, there are many other websites that relate to politics, such as: www.parlement.com and www.overheid.nl.
Example PvdA
The website www.pvda.nl communicates about positions, plans and PvdA politicians, among other things. Each policy file is discussed in detail from the Pvd A positions. Some examples of policy files are asylum policy, foreign countries, work and income, education, environment and culture. The PvdA also has regional and local websites such as www.pvdarotterdam.nl, www.denhaag.pvda.nl and www.leidingen.pvda.nl.
Campaigns
Campaigns must have a clear campaign structure. A political party should campaign continuously, not just during election times. Campaigns must have a clear message and campaign leaders must have a good image. An election campaign must have a good election program and the political party must also communicate this program clearly. The campaign must have one clear leader who takes responsibility and is decisive and it is best for the campaign to choose one important theme as the guiding theme for the party’s profile.
Communication tools that can be used in campaigns include:
- Free publicity; press releases, internet, interviews and debates on television and radio.
- Paid publicity; advertising/airtime on TV and radio, promotion in newspapers and on the Internet, billboards, pamphlets and flyers, posters.
- Conferences.
- Discussion evenings.
- Debates.
- A series of short visits in various (small) towns.
Organizational communication
Political parties must have good internal communication. For example, they must have direction in mind, a clear identity and good structure and internal organization. Advisors must be on the same page and listen carefully to each other.