Hey everyone!
Well the end for me finally came when I finished my placement about week ago. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have been involved with such a wonderful team and can honestly say I feel much more confident in my ability to perform PR tasks in the real world. If it weren't for the Department of Culture and the Arts, I would not be able to now say that I am capable of conducting effective media monitoring for a large organisation, that I am capable of managing a project from scratch (from program design to resource coordination), that I am knowledgable in the government procedures and regulations that public servants work within, that I capable of drafting government policies and that I am aware of the stringent conditions that must be observed when dealing with the media in the public sector.
These are just some of the many skills that I have picked up throughout my placement. I would just like to quickly highlight a few things that I learnt about media relations within government during my last week. DCA had a hectic week of media relations a few days back, with a major enquiry coming through to the office. As the corporate affairs officers ran around pulling information from various departments, Cherie (one of the senior officers) sat me down to discuss some of the principles that are followed in such situations. Cherie higlighted that:
- every single type of communication with the media cannot leave the DCA office without approval from the Director General (DG). This is critical as the DG may be aware of external government issues that could affect a response.
- noone has the authority to make public comment to the media in coversation EXCEPT the DG, who acts as the spokesperson. Even then, those who do, cannot express their personal opinions on government matters (this was particularly relevant as one journalist had asked 'Do you believe that enough funding has been allocated to X...'. Cherie was involved in answering this question and showed me how to redirect such an answer by following the lines of 'DCA is working in partnership with many other state bodies to ensure that W.A's cultural assets are promoted effectively... ' and steering away from giving a personal statement. I thought this was quite clever as I did not know how to approach such a question!
- ministerial statements must be given as much ownership has possible by providing statements that are direct quotes from the Minister/spokesperson. This way the media has a concrete government statement to use as opposed to general statements with no ownership.
I now have a stronger appreciation for the role of government in our community and I'm actually considering a career in the public sector, something that I would not have considered before PR 393. I also now have a clearer idea of the area I may wish to pursue in PR. I am happy to report that I will be continuing with DCA for a few months as I have been offerred a contract position with them! However, I will be moving to another area known as Research and Information. Still, I am excited to continue my learning across government, R&I do alot of communication activities downstairs as Corporate Affairs is such a small team and cannot perform everything!
Thankyou everyone for sharing your insights over these past weeks. I have really enjoyed reading up on what everyone has been doing and please know that your advice has been very useful. I have taken note of many of the suggestions and links posted up! Goodluck to everyone with your reports and whatever the future will hold for you. Maybe we will meet again one day :)
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