The Power of Communication: Managing Information in Public Organizations

Diversity in the News? A Study of Interest Groups in the Media in the UK, Spain and Denmark

“…First, some citizen groups may also possess news value due to their representation of broadly appealing causes such as protecting the environment (Binderkrantz et al, 2015), or those fighting to stop violence against women. Second, citizen groups may be more prone to use outsider tactics such as scaling a construction crane to unfurl banners, engaging in a sit-in, or the use of violence, which are often assumed to be more attractive to the media (see Graber 2003;Iyengar and McGrady 2007;Tilly and Tarrow 2006). However, even though citizen groups may also possess news value and engage in strategies that attract attention, their capacity to get into the news has a more variable character and we therefore expect the resources of economic groups to be more important for the overall patterns of media coverage.…”

“…This "elite status" might be explained by formal rules governing the political system -especially in the case of closed policy communities, or neo-corporatist arrangements -but also informal rules related to the seniority of an interest group or tradition (Bennett 1990, Iyengar and McGrady 2007, Graber 2003Baumgartner and Chaqués-Bonafont 2014). The tendency of reporters to develop common understandings of who the important sources are will reinforce this effect: thus groups that attract some media attention will be likely to attract more attention in the future (Danielian and Page, 1994;Thrall et al, 2014: 139-145).…”

Community Response Grids: Using Information Technology to Help Communities Respond to Bioterror Emergencies

“…5 Internet-based systems are particularly appealing for emergency response and recovery, because the Internet was originally developed as a national security measure that would continue working in the event of the destruction of major communication points, intelligently routing traffic around congested or nonfunctioning parts of the system. 4,6 Instead of expecting residents to maintain and have access to battery-powered radios as part of an emergency kit, it is more timely and appropriate to base emergency information and response on increasingly ubiquitous portable, wireless devices such as cell phones, PDAs, and laptop computers. Further, creating an emergency information system that allows residents to both send and receive information from the sys-COMMUNITY RESPONSE GRIDS tem through the same communication technologies increases its value to residents and professional emergency responders.…”

“…4 Based on lessons from recent medical crises (SARS), natural catastrophes (Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Asian tsunami), incidents of large-scale violence (the shootings at Virginia Tech), and terrorism (9/11, the London and Madrid bombings), telephone, radio, and television-based emergency response systems cannot meet all of the needs of communities. Further, as the Virginia Tech incident demonstrated, the use of online alert methods-such as email alone-is of little value if people are not likely to be near computers when the email is sent.…”

Breaking bad news without breaking trust: The effects of a press release and newspaper coverage on perceived trustworthiness

“…One core idea behind proactive communication is that it can be used to counterbalance negative media coverage (Graber, 2003;Liu et al, 2012). But are proactive forms of communication by public organizations effective for this purpose?…”