Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Communications Strategy 2012-2014

Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Communications Strategy 2012-2014 Increasing understanding and improving public perception of the Houses of the Oireachtas

Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Communications Strategy 2012-2014 Increasing, understanding and improving public perception of the Houses of the Oireachtas

Introduction The current communications service is founded on two pillars: direct and indirect communications with the public. Direct communications incorporates all public information services such as web communications, social media, public events, the Leinster House visitor experience, including visitor publications and our busy public enquiries service. Indirect communications essentially means the media: newsprint and broadcast; national and local; mainstream and specialist. We are conscious that people choose to receive information in different ways; therefore we use a range of mutually reinforcing approaches to maximise the effectiveness of our communications. Research shows us that the way in which people receive information is rapidly changing. Technology is the principal driving force for this change. Developments such as smart phones and social media have dramatically altered the communications landscape and now provide a wider range of options to those who communicate information. The economic context within which we communicate has also changed: there are significantly less resources so it is essential that we use the most cost-effective strategies to communicate our messages to the public. Our research also reminds us that up to 50% of people feel they do not have a basic understanding of how the Houses of the Oireachtas work. They say that they do not know the role of parliament or its Members. Approximately 50% people also say that they have poor perception of the parliament and have a low level of trust and confidence in it. One way of addressing these challenges is to provide people with clear information about the role and work of both the Houses of the Oireachtas and its Members. This information must be provided to people where and how they prefer to receive it. In that way, everyone will have reasonable access to the information they want to increase their understanding and improve their perception of the parliament. For these reasons, our new Communications Strategy seeks to create a platform from which a comprehensive public communications service can be provided. It is balanced, coherent and focused. It builds on the achievements of previous plans and it will give a clear direction to our communications activities for the period 2012 to 2014. 1

Context National parliaments throughout the world have comparable communications strategies that combine media relations with education and information, the web, broadcasting, events and parliamentary visitor programmes. The challenges of relatively low-levels of public understanding and poor public perception are common to parliamentary democracies throughout the world. However, each national parliament has a different emphasis and focus informing their communications and public information strategies. Some have invested in the long-term return that a parliamentary education programme can provide. Others have prioritised the use of their parliament building as the central point of better public relations. Common to all such strategies are media relations and the web. Media relations are the traditional and still dominant and essential way to communicate with the public. The web offers the greatest scope to change and improve the level of understanding between parliaments and their respective citizens. It also has a very significant reach, or potential audience, and is a highly cost-effective mode of communication. In 2007 the Houses of the Oireachtas decided to join with other national parliaments in becoming proactive in seeking to address these problems by communicating and engaging with the public in a more strategic manner. Over the past five years, we have introduced a range of new initiatives and services, for example a redesigned website, a series of visitor guides, including guides in plain English, an education programme for post-primary school children, and a dedicated press service for Oireachtas Committees. The past five years have also seen Leinster House host a number of major public events such as Family Day and Culture Night. This new strategy seeks to build on these achievements. In developing it we have taken account of a number of important contextual factors, namely - The significant reduction in financial and staff resources The need to rebuild public confidence in the Houses of the Oireachtas following the collapse of the economy Ongoing negative coverage of the Houses and their Members by some sections of the media the advent of social media as an alternative form of communications the new cohort of younger and internetliterate Members The strategy for 2012-2014 places a new emphasis on certain areas while reducing the focus on others. Overall, it is a plan of action that reflects the changed economic, social, political and technological environment in which we now operate. 2

Goals The twin goals of the Communications Strategy 2012-2014 are to - Increase public understanding and improve public perception of the Houses of the Oireachtas and their Members. Our goals explained- In order to increase public understanding of the Houses and their Members, we will implement a comprehensive public information service that communicates with the public across the various media that the public choose. An integrated and reliable public information service can provide the public with up-to-date and accessible information about the parliament and the work of its Members. Our public information will be targeted and tailored for each of the different audiences. For example, adults will be able to access information via print and broadcast media (local and national) and brochures on the work of the Houses and their Members. Post-primary students will continue to have access to an Oireachtas classroom workshop and guided tours. In addition, our website will become easier to navigate and search, and more accessible to both the expert and non-expert. To improve perception, we will support factual, accurate and informed media coverage. We recognise the intrinsic role of a free press in a fully functioning parliamentary democracy. The media s scrutiny of the parliamentary system and the work of the Dáil, Seanad and Committees is an essential trigger for informed public debate and engagement with the parliament. For this reason, we will continue to place a strong emphasis on supporting the media so that it continues to report on parliamentary business. We also appreciate the power of the media in shaping public perception and influencing levels of public understanding of the role of the Houses of the Oireachtas. For this reason, we will be proactive in responding and correcting inaccurate and misleading media coverage. In doing so, we will seek to protect the reputation of the Houses of the Oireachtas and support the public s right to accurate and up-to-date information. We will also develop other platforms, for example social media, to communicate the work of the Houses directly to our stakeholders 3

Objectives and Strategies Media The objectives of the Communications Strategy are to provide accurate and timely information about the Houses of the Oireachtas to the media; improve public access to and engagement with the Houses of the Oireachtas and its Members and communicate the functions and work of the Houses of the Oireachtas to a wide range of stakeholders. Strategies Eight strategies have been identified to deliver on our objectives - 1. Media 2. Web 3. Social Media 4. Broadcasting 5. Education 6. Visitor Experience 7. Public Events 8. Publishing Media Our policy is to be proactive and responsive in the delivery of our media service. The media service is measured by its capacity to provide accurate information about the work of the Dáil, Seanad and Committees in a timely manner and also by its efforts to disseminate it to all media in a targeted way. The core media service responds to daily enquiries from national and local media about every possible aspect of both parliamentary business and the operation of the Leinster House complex. In essence, it is a service that helps the media report information in context and with comment that is founded on fact. Since the adoption of our first Communications Strategy in 2007, a particular focus of our work has been to promote the work of Oireachtas Committees and this has achieved a significant increase in press coverage. 4

Media The national media is hugely influential in increasing levels of public understanding and shaping public opinion of the Houses and their Members. We support the national media in its work by providing journalists with accurate and timely information. Where coverage is inaccurate or misleading we are proactive in taking all appropriate steps to correct the public record. We recognise the parity between local and national media audiences, which reflects our aim of communicating with the public where they choose to receive their information. Repeated research has demonstrated that many people choose to receive their information about the Oireachtas and its Members from local media. To-date our local media strategy of delivering weekly reports highlighting the parliamentary work of local Oireachtas Members has proven to be very successful and it has increased coverage of parliamentary business in local newspapers by 272%. According to our research, local media is especially effective when communicating with those who feel they have a particularly low understanding of the role of the Oireachtas and its Members. Our media strategy for the period 2012 2014 will comprise the following elements: 1. We will build a cohesive and active voice that speaks on behalf of the institution of parliament. In this context, we will work with Parliamentary Officeholders, members of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, and chairpersons of Oireachtas Committees in comm unicating directly with national and local media. 2. We will provide national media with accurate information on the business of the Dáil, Seanad and Committees. 3. We will provide the media with information that explains how the parliament works and how it is administered. 4. We will correct promptly inaccurate, misleading or unbalanced coverage in order to protect the reputation of the Houses and their Members. 5. We will provide local media, both newspapers and radio, with weekly reports of the parliamentary work of their Oireachtas Members. 6. We will provide the media with access to the audio and visual records of the proceedings so that they may disseminate and syndicate our content. 7. We will support and advise all Members in the communication of their parliamentary work to the media. 5

Web During the course of this communications strategy we will transform our website into a highly accessible, searchable, reliable, flexible and responsive web presence. Our web service has to be customer-focused and user friendly, and it will be guided by three core principles: accessibility, reliability and flexibility. The web will become an integral part of our communications activities and, in particular, we will use it as A media service A public information, education, publishing service An instant point of access to the business of the Oireachtas and The development of our web presence during the period of this strategy will comprise the following phases: Phase 1 Consolidation: A transfer from a multiple of content management systems (CMS) to a single CMS will achieve efficiencies in terms of data creation, processing and management. For the user, consolidation to one CMS will make our information more accessible. Phase 2 Procedural: Implement web technical plan and review suitability of single CMS to long-term requirements. Phase 3 Operational: Support a decentralised web management system to ensure consistency in standards (e.g. up-to-date, plain language, good design and look and feel, integrated archiving). A tool for feedback, consultation and engagement Web communications have moved beyond websites and the traditional focus on the website has limited external relevance. Instead, the objective should be to make our content (e.g. the visual and audio records of the proceedings of the Dáil, Seanad and Committee s) easy to access and to adapt across a range of web-based communications platforms, including APP s. 6

Social Media Approximately half the adult population of Ireland are regular users of social media. 45% of adults use Facebook whilst 386,000 adults have a Twitter account (IPSOS MRBI Nov. 2011). In terms of political communication and marketing, social media is now an essential feature of an effective service or campaign. Social media is also an ideal form of communication for a national parliament. The constant output from parliament suits the instant information flow that a successful social media presence can exploit. Daily and hourly activity across the Dáil, Seanad and Committees provides rich content for dissemination across various social media. Furthermore, parliamentary content is both audio and visual and so can be applied in a multiple of ways. Our current social media service incorporates Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. Twitter- @Oireachtasnews provides an instant and reliable source of each stage of business from Dáil, Seanad and Committees. It provides access to all press releases and media notices of pending events. It links to webcasting and to photographic records where relevant. Facebook - hosts all media releases, video clips and photography of events, such as report launches. YouTube - hosts short information films, video clips of Members and major video reports. Flickr hosts a library of images from Leinster House including distinguished visitors and major events. Our social media strategy for the period 2012 2014 will comprise the following elements: 1. Developing a corporate policy for the use of social media. 2. Developing a social media-based news service. 3. Promoting access to our content via social media (e.g. Dáil, Seanad debates and Committees, broadcast content, reports, media announcements, photographs and publications). 4. Using social media to facilitate two-way communication by the Houses of the Oireachtas (e.g. public consultation by Oireachtas Committees) and 5. Using social media to promote syndication of our content. 7

Broadcasting Our aim now is to add value through the development of a parliamentary television channel, a user-friendly webcasting service and on-line syndication Since 1990 the Houses of the Oireachtas has operated a fully resourced parliamentary broadcasting service. It provides audio-visual content of the proceedings of the Dáil, Seanad and Committees to a range of media organisations. The principle recipients of this content are national broadcasters. This strategy seeks to take this content further. The Houses of the Oireachtas broadcasting infrastructure is, on average, over 10 years old. A phased equipment replacement process will be undertaken so as to avoid systems and service failure. With this upgraded system, maintenance costs will be reduced and we will be in a position to move beyond our traditional approach to broadcasting. Our traditional approach to parliamentary broadcasting was to supply content to the broadcast media rather than utilising it at source. Our aim now is to add value through the development of a parliamentary television channel, a user-friendly webcasting service and on-line syndication. A parliamentary television channel provides the public with the choice to watch the proceedings of their parliament when and where they choose. Rather than achieving prime-time viewership levels, the goal of the project is to allow the public choose when it views events in their parliament. This approach achieves maximum audience reach. Integrating conventional television broadcasting with the emergence of web television will both future-proof the service and ensure greater value-for-money. The first phase in this convergence of television and web will deliver user-friendly webcasting of all Oireachtas proceedings. In tandem with better webcasting will be the adoption of a policy of facilitating and encouraging syndication of broadcast content. In essence, syndication allows others to disseminate broadcast content. Whereby traditionally Oireachtas broadcast content was almost exclusively available only to our national broadcasters, providing the on-line facilities to syndicate our content represents a fundamental shift towards making our content available to everyone. The Houses of the Oireachtas can reach a much greater audience by bringing diversity to its broadcasting service. This will include a parliamentary television channel, user-friendly webcasting and ultimately WebTV. Moreover, making its content freely and easily available to third parties across all media, who in turn bring it to their respective niche audiences, will deliver greater value-for-money from the existing broadcasting investment. 8

Education In summary, our broadcasting strategy for the period 2012 2014 will comprise the following elements: 1. Maintenance of core service: A phased equipment replacement process will be undertaken so as to avoid systems and service failure. 2. Parliamentary Television: The current pilot transmission to the summer of 2012 is the first phase to be followed by a service that is accessible to all households. 3. Webcasting: A new webcasting facility that is user-friendly and features a comprehensive playback option. 4. Syndication: Develop user-friendly, on-line video-clip and editing tools which will be freely accessible to all. Education National parliaments with a deficit in public trust and understanding have recognised how education can help alleviate the effects of low public engagement with the institution. Educating the next generation of voters has been a policy of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission since 2007. Over 20,000 post-primary students have participated in the Oireachtas education programme in that period. One outcome has been a marked increase in the number of CSPE students opting for the politics strand of the programme since the initiative began. Currently two-thirds of Oireachtas education workshops take place on-site while one-third are off-site. The aim now is to host all workshops on-site in Leinster House as part of the visitor programme while in addition providing an on-line programme to all schools. The success of this shift from classroom-based workshops to on-line delivery of the programme will be measured by the range of engagement achieved during the lifespan of this new strategy. Our education strategy for the period 2012 2014 will comprise the following elements: 1. The development of an on-line Oireachtas classroom programme which will be available to all post-primary schools and students who wish to explore the parliamentary and political system; and 2. The undertaking of a feasibility study intothe development of a dedicated visitor space within the Leinster House Complex. 9

Visitors Public Events Leinster House is one of the most established and recognisable identities in Irish minds. In a country where public interest in politics is considered to be exceptionally high, Leinster House is the centre of that public interest. For this reason, it is important that our communications strategy seeks to engage with the public and improve the public s perception of the parliament. The current visitor experience comprises a public tour that hosts up to 80,000 people per annum; a public events programme that hosts up to 10,000 people per annum; and an education programme that hosts over a 1,000 students per annum. Our visitor facilities include a shop and merchandising, visitor brochures, a public information film, access to refreshments, and an audio-visual room. Providing the public with the opportunity to visit Leinster House is a critical part of our communications strategy. The challenge now is to maintain our level of visitor engagement within the context of reduced resources and to improve the visitor experience by using existing resources (e.g. the education programme) and facilities (e.g. a room dedicated to visitors) more efficiently. Our visitor strategy for the period 2012 2014 will, therefore, comprise the following elements: 1. Providing limited walk-up access to the Leinster House visitor experience. Public Events Since 2008 the Houses of the Oireachtas has run a range of public events. Events, especially large scale public events, are a highly effective and established means of communication. They achieve a level of public understanding and media recognition far beyond the number of people who attend them. However, by their nature they are also costly to run and because of this represent a higher public relations risk than other forms of communication. In view of the significantly reduced financial resources and other competing priorities it will not be feasible to run large scale public events, such as Family Days, during the period of this strategy. Instead, a number of smaller events will be hosted annually and on a once-off basis. These will include - The annual Culture Night which is held each September and which provides visitors with access throughout the parliamentary complex. (Leinster House has been a participating venue since 2009). - The National Bravery Awards which are co-hosted with the Department of Justice. These recognise acts of bravery by Irish citizens and present the Houses of the Oireachtas with a lead role in a national civic event. 2. Improving our shop and merchandising. 3. Developing our tours and 4. Scoping and costing the creation of a Leinster House visitor space. 10

Publishing Publishing The Houses of the Oireachtas Service publishes on behalf of the Dáil, Seanad and Committees. These publications should be easily understood by the public. This publishing strategy seeks to ensure we publish to the public in a way that is consistent in both design and the language we use. This publishing strategy seeks to ensure we publish to the public in a way that is consistent in both design and the language we use To-date the Houses of the Oireachtas Service has developed a publishing style guide, undertaken a series of staff workshops introducing the concept of plain English and produced a plain language guide explaining how the Houses of the Oireachtas works. Using plain language makes good business sense. It allows the reader to understand better your information, enables you to provide a more efficient customer service and leads to fewer complaints and repeated questions. The next step is to ensure that a plain language publishing policy is consistently implemented and supported. Publishing must also include web content and design as well as traditional publications. During the course of this strategy we will therefore ensure that - - The primary publishing units within the Oireachtas (Committees Section, Office of the Commission and Secretary General and the Communications Unit) apply the plain English style guide to all documents intended for the public; - Training in plain English is provided to all staff involved in publishing and web content management. Follow us on: 11

Performance Measurement Framework Goal/Objective Outcome/Indicator Data Source Responsibility for Reporting Frequency of Measurement To increase public understanding of the Houses and their Members A 10% increase in the level of public understanding over the lifetime of this strategy (baseline for 2012 is 50%) Web and Education key indicators Independent market research Mark Mulqueen Annual To improve public perception of the Houses and their Members A 5% improvement in the level of public perception over the lifetime of this strategy (baseline for 2012 is 45%) Independent market research Mark Mulqueen Annual To provide accurate and timely information about the Houses of the Oireachtas to the media A 5% increase in coverage of proceedings of Dáil, Seanad and Commitee Media monitoring, Internal tracking Mark Mulqueen Annual To improve public access to and engagement with the Houses of the Oireachtas and its Members A 10% increase in webbased engagement; webcasting viewers; TV audience reach; syndication Visits, followers, Google Analytics, internal tracking Mark Mulqueen Annual To communicate the functions and work of the Houses of the Oireachtas to a wide range of stakeholders Regular spokespersons, weekly local radio and newspaper reports, Committee coverage, on-line promotion of proceedings Internal tracking; Google Analytics Mark Mulqueen Annual 12