Government spokespersons should take their job seriously
They are well-paid public servants, but diligence is the exception
The position in which most government spokespersons seem to leave their phones. Photo: Grethen de Waal
Dealing with government spokespersons is a source of intense frustration for reporters. Being unresponsive or providing poor responses has become the norm.
Here’s a typical example:
On 20 June, a freelancer reporting for GroundUp wrote to the health department’s Doctor Tshwale about the National Climate Change & Health Adaptation Plan. He asked three straightforward questions.
Having had no reply, ten days later — 30 June — the reporter sent the same email to Foster Mohale, departmental spokesperson.
Both Tshwale and Mohale have emails and numbers which appear on recent departmental statements.
There was no response.
On 3 July the reporter followed up with both Tshwale and Mohale with WhatsApp messages, to which he received no reply.
On 16 July he tried to call both numbers. Mohale didn’t pick up, but Tshwale did. He said he was in a meeting and told the reporter to call back at a specified time. The reporter did so but Tshwale didn’t pick up, nor did he return the call.
This story is not unusual. Though of course there are some very diligent government spokespersons, they appear to be the minority. The failure of many others to respond promptly - or at all - is a widespread problem for journalists trying to get facts. Some spokespersons are high-handed and rude, without the moral high ground to justify such behaviour. For example, read this article about the City of eThekwini, in particular the response by spokesperson Gugu Sisilana.
Yet spokespeople earn high salaries. Finding out precisely just how high is difficult. Government department websites are often hard to navigate and out of date. Nevertheless, as far as we can tell, government spokespeople like Mohale earn more than R1-million a year. That’s a very decent salary paid with public money. Part of their work is to respond promptly, courteously and competently to queries from reporters.
Official government communication policy, for instance, notes that: “A government institution must respect media deadline requirements and endeavour to provide open and equal access to all news media.”
“All media queries must preferably be acknowledged in a reasonable time that directly relates to the particular medium – whether print, broadcast or online.”
“Communication channels should be kept open at all times and the media updated on any of the pending media enquiries.”
Sometimes, of course, government spokespersons may be overwhelmed with queries from the media. Most journalists - sadly familiar, from their own shrinking newsrooms, with work overload - would understand if they can’t reply at once. But there surely is no excuse not to reply at all.
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Letters
Dear Editor
We have read and understood the editorial article (titled: Government spokespersons should take their job seriously published on 19 July 2024) in which you vented your frustrations as a result of us missing the important deadline of one of your freelance reporters. We understand very well the nature of freelance job because one earns wages on a per-job or article submitted, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused by our unintended actions.
We are duty-bound as government communicators to respond promptly, courteously and competently to all media queries from reporters including your freelance reporter, irrespective of the size of the media house they come from or their seniority in the
newsroom.
As the Department of Health communicators and the sector at large we will not succeed to empower the citizens with accurate health information to make well informed health choices to live healthy lifestyles, without the media, hence we value any given opportunity, either through a media query or opinion piece to educate the public.
As health communicators and fellow colleagues in other public institutions have got the responsibility to build and maintain good working and beneficial media relationships to enable our key stakeholders (journalists) to do their work without barriers, and missing one deadline should not translate into personal animosity between ourselves because of the nature of interdependence of our work.
We would like to unconditionally apologise and assure your freelance reporter and any other media practitioners that there is no agenda or intention to ignore media query from any journalist because our conduct is governed by Policy on Communication for South African Government Institutions which says:
"A government institution must respect media deadline requirements and endeavour to provide open and equal access to all news media, and all media queries must preferably be acknowledged in a reasonable time that directly relates to the particular medium – whether print, broadcast or online.”
Our door remains wide open for future robust engagements as your dependable colleagues, and we view your article as a constructive criticism than personal attack on us, unless we are wrong because a healthy criticism is important in any relationship, either romantic or professional, but finding balance is equally vital. Do not judge us by one incident.
Dear Editor
The situation is even worse than what you describe. In my many years in journalism, I have completely given up trying to get any response from an ANC government spokesperson on any topic, at any time. A typical scenario goes like this:
Maybe they answer their phones, maybe they don't. They will never call back and never respond to messages.
If, on the off-chance a spokesperson answers their phone, they will ask for an e-mail, WhatsApp or text. They seldom respond to those.
If they do respond, it is with an anodyne, one-size-fits-all boilerplate response that could mean anything.
SOE spokespeople are even worse. They are actively afraid of journalists and avoid them at all costs.
If they are compelled to host journalists for any reason (like some machinery launch or enterprise sod-turning), they keep them corralled, never answer any questions, and prevent them from speaking to anyone in an official capacity.
Instead, I rely on informants, civic society and NGO spokespeople, DA spokespeople, civic pressure groups. Fortunately, there are enough of these to keep the wheels of journalism turning.
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