The Practice Of Government Public Relations A Case Study Of Ethiopian Government Communication Affairs Office

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the PR and communication practices ofrnthe Ethiopian GCAO is responsive to the diverse information needs of the public. Itrnattempts to explore the efforts and the overriding challenges the GCAO is facing tornreach out and communicate with citizens in concomitant with the constitution’srnstipulated rights. Moreover, the study will be conducted based on the two wayrnsymmetric public relations model, where public relations departments give equalrnemphasis to the interest of the public as that of the institutions. In-depth interview andrndocument analysis are tools used to conduct this study. With regard to in-depthrninterviews, six key informants were selected by the researcher in consultation with thernorganization being studied. The informants were selected by their assumed critical rolernto play in the Government Communication Affairs Office. Generally, as a qualitativernresearch, data was gathered in the aforementioned tools and interpretive analysis wasrnmade. While collecting, analyzing and interpretation of the data, common proceduresrnwere observed. In the in-depth interviews, for example, consensual semi-structuredrninterviews were recorded and additional notes were taken to strengthen them. Thernrecorded interviews in turn were transcribed; thematic areas were translated intornEnglish by the researcher and narrated; the data were categorized into themes; andrninterpretive analysis was made afterwards. As to the document analysis, four usefulrndocuments supporting the research were reviewed all of which have to do withrngovernment public relations, media and communication practices either directly orrnindirectly related with GCAO and the country as well. This was purposely done to gainrnan insight into the environment in which the public relations practices are conducted inrngovernment organizations of which one is GCAO of Ethiopia.rnThe findings of this research have revealed two things. Firstly, they ascertained thernexistence of challenges in the Office which has kept perceptions about governmentrnpublic relations very distorted among the public. Second, despite achievements torntransform government public relations, what has largely emerged is a change in formrather than in content as compared with past public relations practices. Factors rangingrnfrom lack of transparency, poor understanding of PR role, and non recognition of PR asrna management function are challenges identified. Additionally, political, economic andrncultural conditions as well and poor information and communication infrastructuresrncoupled with legal structures are other factors hampering the progress of governmentrnpublic relations practices.Therefore, the researcher finally recommended GCAO to work in a professional andrnresponsible manner and, for instance it should focus on education based assignmentsrnrather than appointing the well-connected to positions they do not merit. The process ofrn“building a society enriched with information and actively participate in the country’srnaffairs” as a stated goal cannot be achieved without clearly defined policy andrncommunication strategies as well.

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