As part of National County Government Month (NCGM), the National Association of Counties offers the NCGM 2016 Toolkit, a resource that helps counties highlight effective programs and raise public awareness and understanding about the many services you provide to your community.

To help spread the word and celebrate NCGM, ICMA will be providing tips and best practices on various topics to help counties (and cities, too!) raise public awareness about your community's initiatives all month long.

In the Toolkit, it emphasizes that local government officials should be sure that members of the local news media are aware of NCGM and the activities your committee has planned. Examples of getting involved with the media include: coordinating newsworthy events or announcements, writing media advisories or news releases, or stopping by the news station for an interview.

It’s also important to take an active stance with the media for the entire year if local government is to function effectively in encouraging communication and the sharing of information on all sides of important community issues. An active stance is even more crucial to local government’s efforts to disseminate factual, objective information about public services, special events, public hearings, voter registration, and the many other matters that governments would like citizens to be informed about.  

As a local government leader, you need to get to know the key people in the print and broadcast media. It has been said that “good media relationships can be best achieved by the practice of a few basic principles: (1) shoot squarely, (2) give service, (3) don’t beg or carp, (4) don’t ask for kills, (5) don’t flood the media, and (6) keep updated lists.”1

Here are several other helpful suggestions that elaborate on these basic principles:

• Always be honest. Mark Twain said we should always tell the truth, because it will please half the people and astonish the other half. This doesn’t mean that you have to tell media representatives everything you know – only that everything you tell them should be true.
• Don’t play favorites. It is always tempting to give preferential treatment to one reporter or editor over another, especially if that person seems more sympathetic. Over time, this approach generates resentment among others in the media.
• Be consistent, no matter whether the news is good or bad. It’s a bad idea to court the media when times are good and then hide when things go wrong. Remember your public role. You are representing the local government and not yourself. Don’t use media relations as a means of self-promotion.
• Be available. The media contact for the local government should be available around the clock. The media should know who this person is and have phone numbers and email addresses. The contact should take calls from the media or return calls as soon as possible.
• Develop two-way relationships. Getting to know the people in the media during times when there are no deadlines or crisis builds rapport.
• Be sincere in your approach. Make sure the relationships are genuine. Trying to develop phony friendships is just a way of trying to manipulate the media, and it will sooner or later backfire.
• Be positive in your attitude. Don’t complain about every story in the newspaper or on television. Tell the media representatives when they do things right as well as when they do things wrong.

Source: The Guide to Management Improvement Projects in Local Government, vol. 14, no. 4 (Washington, D.C.: ICMA, 1990) PRM-26.

Information in this blog post has been adapted from the ICMA publication: Effective Communication – A Local Government Guide.

We want to hear what you are doing for NCGM! See what others are doing and share your initiatives here.

Other NCGM Related Posts:

How to Give Effective Presentations to the Public