Public Relations vs Political Communication

PUBLIC RELATIONS VS POLITICAL COMMUNICATION REPORT Paula Anderson – 2018 Copyright All Rights Reserved

Public Relations and Political Communication Messages are both ways to reach your publics/stakeholders. The Excellence Theory in Public Relations lays the foundation on how strategic communication can be used in corporations, nongovernment organizations and politics. My case study will study how political communication messages are used in Ghana and whether their strategies were effective. The goal of this research is to determine the impact of political communication in presidential campaigns.

An in-depth analysis will cover the presidential elections that occurred in the 2012 Ghana elections. Political communication has parallels with Public Relations and I plan to study the different communication methods used during the campaign processes. The results of the 2012 presidential elections were as follows: National Democratic Congress (NDC) 5,574,761 representing 50.70 percent. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) received 5,248,898 representing 47.4 percent. Based on the political history of Africa and its underdeveloped resources as a nation, I plan to answer the following questions about the country’s political communication and voting process.

Literature Review: In Ghana, you have the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP). The communication messages can be negative and positive based on literature review from the book “Political Marketing and Management in Ghana” Political Communication and Public Relations in the Ghanaian Media: Building an Emotional Environment with Propaganda.”

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Propaganda has been used in political campaigns and some of the advertising messages are negative against the other political party. “Negative communication involves defamations, deceit and exaggerative promises all in a bid to persuade the electorate by appealing to their emotions instead of their reasoning” (Abugre, 2017).

During my research, I did an analysis of advertising video by both parties. The NDC communicated a message that focused on building relationships with stakeholders/voters. This campaign message emphasized people first and focused on creating jobs to reduce poverty. In comparison, the NPP communicated a message helping others using the Excellence Theory in Public Relations. The video showed candidate, Nana Akuffo-Addo, connecting with publics and other leaders. “For an organization to be effective, according to the theory, it must behave in ways that solve the problems and satisfy the goals of stakeholders as well as management” (James E. Grunig).

Another PR strategy that was used in Ghana was voter education and registration drives to increase awareness of political parties. There were collaborative efforts between Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and political parties to help strengthen democracy. According to the article (Debrah, 2014), the relationships were based on trust and not antagonism. CSO(s) are defined as “clubs, associations, social movements and informal networks and designed to work with effectively with the government to bring change and assist with the following: (1) legitimize the public realm (2) establish democratic culture (3) build state capacity for democratic governance (4) increase partnerships for service delivery (p.195). In Ghana, there are structured CSO that are neutral of the political process. According to the article, they are seen as

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credible and trusted sources. The engagement with political parties occurred at the highest level in the 2008 and 2012 elections because there was transparency and feedback to constituents.

Building relationships with stakeholders is the foundation for changing and influencing behavior and attitudes with publics. Effective communication between the CSOs and political parties opened up discussions and allowed them to build consensus (Debrah, 2014). The last key aspect was the voter education and registration. As with all elections, it is important to educate voters about the significance and meaning of voting. There were forums held to address key issues in their “campaign manifestos.�

Traditional media has played a significant role in presidential elections, but new media platforms have engaged voters about the political process and candidates. The ultimate goal for each candidate is to attract voters based on policies and issues expressed during their campaigns. Social media has become the new communication platform for youth and adults. The two-way conversation is what makes this communication channel, so attractive. In Ghana, social media presence is not as high compared to the United States.

According to the article Political Parties and Social Media Ghana, in 2013 Africa had a 16 percent internet population with 67 million smartphone users and in 2014 there was a 26.5 percent increase and by 2025 it is expected to increase by 50 percent with 360 million smartphone users (Gyampo, 2017). This literature focuses on how the four main political parties use social media to communicate messages to voters. The two main political parties: National Democratic Party (NDP) and New Patriotic Party

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(NPP). For each party, there is a General Secretary and serves as the Chief Commander.

Traditional media posed barriers previously because you were at the mercy of a journalist to report your news. However, with social media, the instant communication with others creates what the author describes as a “dialogic transmission system” versus a “monologist transmission model.” It differs from traditional media due to “quality, reach, frequency, usability, immediacy and permanence (p.189).

Social media allows two-way communication and Facebook ® is a one of the platforms used to communicate with the youth. The youth make up 60 percent of the voting population in Ghana and this is a communication tactic to encourage youth voting (Gyampo, 2017). Another effective method is reaching out to floating and undecided voters. Based on the Excellence Theory in Public Relations, Ghana uses social media according to this theory. The political parties also connect with stakeholders, generate support, membership and raise funds.

As mentioned, the instantaneous flow of information helps to transmit messages quickly to voters. With positive advantages, there are also negative advantages of social media and there are times when posts to Facebook ® are not verified or authenticated by traditional media sources. The author noted an examples of three police officers who were arrested on March 20, 2016, which in many causes, it is what journalists should do before running a story in the media.

Political parties also use the platform as a way to have a voice and receive feedback from voters. However, some of the post are viewed as “partisan and emotional sentiments” can lead to “excessive politicization and polarization in Ghana’s body politic

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(Gyampo, 2017). While social media is viewed as a means for attracting young voters, the percentage of youth voting is not high - of the 60 percent voting population - only 3 percent actually vote.

Traditional media play a significant role in the messages that are communicated to voters whether it is favorable or unfavorable. Negative advertising and other communication messages can damage another candidate’s credibility or cause voters to reconsider voting for a particular candidate. According to the article on the Ghanaian media, there was an emotional appeal to attract voters instead of reasoning. Two newspapers, Ghanaian Lens and The Daily Guide, represent the voices of each party.

Ghanaian Lens supports the view and ideologies for the NDC and The Daily Guide supports the NPP. One of the earliest forms of PR is press agentry which has been defined as propaganda and is used to influence public opinion. While the concept of persuading voters is correct, when negative communication involve “defamations, deceit and exaggerative promises all in a bid to persuade the electorate by appealing to their emotions instead of their reasoning,” the higher goal of attracting voter is destroyed.

As political communicators, there are messages on television, print and radio media, and digital media platforms (Facebook ®, Twitter ® and Instagram ®). Each of these channels is used to reach and attract voters. In Ghana, social media was not used as heavily like it was in the 2012 US election. Newspapers also played a key role in the political communication messages. There are 50 newspapers and they are used to highlight political party platforms, analyze manifestos, detail activities of the National

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Election Commission and provide profile commentaries on candidates. As mentioned earlier, some newspapers have a bias toward a political party.

Radio ads are another form of political communication messages. Since radio stations are segmented by demographics like age and music genres, it is easier to target messages to specific voters. According to the Ghana Presidential and Parliamentary Elections 2012 Final Report, there were special programs that discussed political positions, parties and candidates. Also, reporters were bringing instant updates from the ground about various activities.

Data Analysis: The articles researched about this topic explained how the Excellence Theory in Public Relation has been effective in the 2012 Ghana Elections. The four political parties established relationships with constituents to increase voter awareness and registration. The Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) worked with the political parties to create dialogue and strengthen relationships. Social media which is considered new media was used to help engage young voters. Although it offers instant communication and direct feedback, it cannot be the primary source of communication for capturing votes. The campaign videos for the 2012 election did not depict any negative messages. It highlights a sense of community and building relationships with constituents and leaders. In one of the videos, a campaign song was created. While each video did not have any negative messages, it can be viewed as connecting with voters and leaders to improve democracy.

Conclusion

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In closing, political communication messages have to be strategic just like public relations messages. Voters are considered as stakeholders because as a politician you are asking individuals to vote based on policy views and stances. Although political communication is based a political party values, beliefs and ideology, there are communication methods that connect voters through various channels. The media play a significant role in how these messages are conveyed to voters. Some newspapers in Ghana support a specific party and communicate based their direct relationship with that party and social media platforms like Facebook ®, Twitter ® and Instagram ® have played a vital role in voting process. Due to the two-way symmetrical communication, voters and candidates can connect instantly online without having the interference of journalists, reporters and news broadcasters. This direct communication has been significant because it gives real-time qualitative data to candidates about their messaging in a short time period and allows candidates to get immediate feedback.

References:

Van Gyampo, Ransford Edward (2017). Political Parties and Social Media in Ghana.

Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 10, no. 1 (p. 186-205) Abugre, James B. (2017). Political Communication and Public Relations in the Ghanaian Media: Building an Emotional Environment with Propaganda. Political Marketing and Management in Ghana. (p.17 – 33) 7

Grunig, James E. Excellence Theory in Public Relations. University of Maryland Debrah, Emmanuel. Civil Society Organizations and Political Party Electoral Engagements: Lessons from the 2008 and 2012 General Elections in Ghana. The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 7, no. 3 September 2014 (p. 195-208) Musah, Atindow, The Journey of Presidential Elections in Ghana from 1992 to 2016. https://www.modernghana.com/news/787795/the-journey-of-presidential-elections-in-ghana-from-1992

Website Resources: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/election-2012-how-tv-networks-handled-coverage/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ghana-election/ghanas-opposition-leader-akufoaddo-wins-presidential-election-idUSKBN13Y0HA http://www.mfwa.org/country-highlights/abusive-campaign-language-in-newspapersghanaian-lens-most-abusive/ http://www.mfwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Report-On-Indecent-CampaignLanguage-In-Newspapers-Nov-1-15.pdf Youtube Videos - Accessed April 23, 2018 Good Evening Ghana Ghana TV Ad - NPP Rally Nazim Burke: It's Time to Put People First

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