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Suggestions For Local Governments With News to Share

The Internet is a great equalizer. With very little barrier to entry, pretty much anyone can share their opinions online. This is great, insofar as it gives a voice to people who may not have had one before, but the cold truth is, not everyone is committed to the facts. Rumor, speculation and outright lies can fester in the virtual world like nowhere else.

The trustworthiness of our news sources can no longer be assumed. Savvy media consumers are right to question the truth of anything they read on the Internet. Even when viewing the website of a reputable news company, the reality is that traditional news sources have been forced to move at blogging speed to stay competitive, and often stories are revised and updated as truer truths are uncovered.

Individual citizens are provided with so many options (both reputable and not) from which to cull their news, that it’s hard to know where they are turning for news and more importantly, who they trust. To those in the roles of municipal leadership, this is vital information, as it dictates how you reach your citizens with important local news.

The Pew Research Center published a study in 2011 investigating how people get their local news, and what topics they are most interested in. The study found that key factors like size and location of a community have a big influence on how its citizens get their information. The more rural the community the more dependence there tends to be on local newspapers. In urban areas, a mix of newspapers, Internet and television are what people turn to. The most popular local topics are weather (89% of people get it), breaking news (80%), local politics (67%), and crime (66%). The least popular on the list are zoning and development information (30%), local social services (35%), job openings (39%), and local government activities (42%).

Smart cities work with the media to push out news (both good and bad) to the sources that their citizens trust for local news. From there, a small cadre of active residents engage and spread that information. Therefore, it is important that cities consider what information they’re putting out, and what venues they’re using to do so.

Tripepi Smith would like to offer up six suggestions for local governments looking to engage their populations with current, important information.

1. Start now. Building credibility with the primary sources of media in your town takes time, and cannot be done in times of crisis. One of the fastest ways to build relationships with news outlets is to share both good news and bad. If you are always coming up roses, you will have entered the spin zone.
2. When engaging with the media, remember they are interested in the story, not the facts. So weave the facts into a story. Provide comparisons or analogs that can help explain the context for the facts.
3. Know who the opinion leaders are in your community: reporters, news anchors, bloggers, Patch editors, community activists. Engage these people to learn their interests, hear their views, and determine what motivates them. Collect their emails. They are the 5% that will act as information hubs to the rest of the community.
4. Craft a kitchen cabinet. Find the people in your community who are respected, present themselves well, and have a voice of reason. Engage them, take them to lunch, and invite them to special events. They will come to know the workings of your office well enough that when needed, they may rise to speak in opposition to irrational voices of anger.
5. Embrace social media as a powerful tool. Social media takes the concept of word of mouth communications and puts it on steroids. Cities can use it as a tool to engage more members of the public. Share news through channels like Facebook and Twitter, then listen to what your citizens (both supporters and detractors) have to say in response.
6. Lastly, create your own media. Use a community newsletter, a city manager report, the cable channel, a YouTube channel, your city website and more to convey facts and information about the city. You should, with help from a PIO, craft a calendar that matches up with a 12 month news event horizon. Do you have a POA contract coming up in 9 months? Is your city manager’s contract up for renewal next year? Is there a trial date set for a lawsuit that impacts the city? Look proactively at these and start early on crafting a story arc and the  facts that support the story. Creating media empowers your message. It is a lot easier for a supporter to share a YouTube video than for them to describe in details the facts of a situation. Plus, the message remains consistent.

City government has a primary job to deliver efficient services to its residents. That objective can be inhibited by divisive voices who leverage falsehoods to score political points. Cities need to ensure that the facts of a situation, good and bad, are made readily available and in a format that is easily consumed. Armed with truth, positive media relations, an ongoing outreach effort and a kitchen cabinet of supporters, there is a lot of work cities can do to ensure smoother sailing when rough seas hit.