Better govt communication

I would like to see government better communicate the reasons for their decisions. This could be done by investing a bit in informing the public of key decisions and the evidence.

Why the contribution is important

People don't really know this and the media misses a lot. Some decisions only affect small groups but in a big way. And most people aren't going to read cabinet papers or go out of their way to get info.

by GaryS on March 01, 2021 at 12:50PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.2
Based on: 4 votes

Comments

  • Posted by design55 March 01, 2021 at 21:51

    Communication is the key to all things required to make an informed, factual, reasoned and logical outcome of any decision. The problem occurs when only a small amount of information is released or given to the public by Government Ministries or Local Government Authorities and organisations and the Media. That leaves the public to speculate and fill in the gaps which leads to mistruths, conspiracy theories and mistrust. So when situations arise that require full involvement by the countries population then it becomes difficult to bring everyone together and time is wasted conveying the message again and again. Also a problem we have in todays world is that there are so many ways in which to communicate, which medium do you use. An enormous logistical and expensive nightmare.
      Television, newspaper, phone, social media, personal contact via workshops, etc., etc. Which do you believe.

  • Posted by Cantyman March 02, 2021 at 16:07

    Quite similar to my idea - I totally agree.

  • Posted by land077 March 02, 2021 at 18:06

    A way to more specifically facilitate communication, would be to widen the scope of the 'RealMe' system to include aspects of e-mail and social networks (such as newsfeeds and discussion - moderation and anti-spam and anti-phishing would be much more easily implemented). I mentioned this in some other idea which the mods are probably a bit hesitant in publishing.

  • Posted by jasonbrown1965 March 03, 2021 at 09:39

    ".. and the media misses a lot.."

    Good point. Speaking as an independent journalist, the problem is a sheer lack of capacity within mainstream newsrooms. Job losses have continued for decades now, and newsrooms down to around 20% of what they once were.

    Boohoo, right?
    Everyone has suffered job losses, the media is no different.

    Except "the media" cannot miraculously conjure up news coverage with hands it does not have, through newsrooms that no longer exist. And no other sector is responsible for responsibly informing mass audiences. There is plenty of information available, much of it high quality, yes.

    Without mass media however to convey quality info to mass audiences, increasingly urgent mass change is impossible. This is a point made well by @design55 above ^ when they state that an absence of access to information:

    " ..leaves the public to speculate and fill in the gaps which leads to mistruths, conspiracy theories and mistrust. "

    Like so many other challenges, the challenge for #opendata is not just to gain better access to closed data within governments and related agencies, but to ensure that open data gets to the audiences who need it, and can act on it.
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