Tory political staff have seized almost total control of routine government communications and now require nearly all public comment to be pre-cleared by the Prime Minister's Office or the Privy Council Office, say some current and former communications bureaucrats and diplomats.
Though defenders say this sort of political vetting has always occurred, civil servants say the Tories have wrapped all government communications up in political red tape, radically reducing the amount of information disclosed to the public.
Despite its bland and inoffensive name, bureaucrats across Ottawa know well the intense communications control the Harper government has brought to bear though 'Message Event Proposals,' in particular.
"You say 'MEP' and the bureaucracy just cringes, because they can't stand these things called message event proposals," said one former communications official. "Basically what it is is micromanaging the message right down to the ground."
After a prolonged search, The Hill Times obtained an example of a MEP, a three-page document. An exhaustive document, the Message Event Proposal amounts to a sort of media shadow play that attempts to predict how information will play out in the press. It asks for a "desired headline" and "desired sound bite," "web highlight caption," "desired picture," "key questions and answers," and "official talking points." It also asks for details on event backdrops, props, speech length and tone, and attire of the speaker.
Many front line communications bureaucrats say they fill out multiple MEPs on a busy workday, and that this paperwork process has become an essential part of their work.
The MEP system was introduced in 2007, when Sandra Buckler was director of communications in the PMO. Prior to this government wide edict, communications bureaucrats said, upon receiving a reporter's questions, they would simply prepare a response and have it approved by their immediate superiors. This approval would often be granted by mid-ranking officials such as deputy directors or directors, with only the most sensitive disclosures being scrutinized by political staff in ministers' offices.
But since the MEP system has been in place nearly all messaging that could or will be picked up by the media must receive approval from political staff before release.
"Pretty much everything is approved by a minister's office and/or though the Prime Ministers Office," said one former communications bureaucrat. "A large part of the job of a communications officer is to ensure that MEPs are done, and they're long documents to have to work on."
"It's a new tool introduced by the Tory government," the former official continued. "It's almost as though they're adding further red tape to a place that is famous for having red tape."
Communications officials say the long process of getting MEPs approved routinely causes them to miss reporters' deadlines. They say it also prevents them from having informative background discussions with journalists, and has in general reduced the flow of information from the government to the public.
Generally, officials told The Hill Times, the PMO and PCO want to receive these communications proposals three days to a week in advance of an event or deadline. Of the many civil servants consulted for this story, none were willing to reveal their names for fear of retribution from their superiors, both bureaucratic and ministerial.
Communications bureaucrats said their morale if very low these days because they are not being allowed to do their jobs, adding that some of their colleagues have quit because of the sharply reduced freedom of action.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade appears to have been particularly affected, and diplomats complain that the requirement of message approval from Ottawa severely hampers Canadian diplomacy abroad. Diplomats said the most cutting edge tactics for improving perceptions of Canada amongst foreign publics—known broadly as public diplomacy—are near impossible to do on an inflexible script.
"It's killed public diplomacy, outreach and media relations," said one diplomat who did not want to be identified. "Why is that? Because you can't do any of those things if it's pre-scripted."
Aware of the approval headaches involved, much action stops before it gets off the ground. They said this "chill" is pervasive, and deters officials from taking advantage of proactive or rapid response communications activities.
"Most say, 'Forget it, it's not worth it: I'm not going to do any public diplomacy or outreach,' " the diplomat added. "Anything that's remotely sensitive ends up in PCO."
Condemnations of the MEP system were harsh.
"The existence of this draconian, Orwellian, unprecedented prerequisite to clear any and all public statements that might be picked up by the media reflects, in my view, a level of micromanagement in the public service, a lack of confidence, trust and respect, and a commitment to total control of the message the likes of which has never been seen before," said one civil servant.
The diplomat even questioned the legality of MEPs, noting that "public servants have not given up their freedom of expression."
Other diplomats complained they are straight jacketed by MEPs, and that speeches and Powerpoint presentations are combed over before being approved.
The Hill Times asked the PMO to explain the purpose and function of the MEP system, but no information was provided. A parallel request to the Privy Council Office elicited a carefully-worded response, which itself was likely approved though a MEP.
"It's a basic tool to provide basic information about upcoming events and announcements," said PCO spokesman Raymond Rivet. "We use it to plan and coordinate communications...there's not much more to be said."
When asked if MEPs play a message approval role, Mr. Rivet repeated the pre-approved lines. He would not confirm if MEPs are ever turned down, and would not speak about the role of PMO officials in the process.
Kory Teneycke, a former director of communications at PMO, said the MEP process helps the Tories "model and game out an event," something that all governments do.
"The government has a message that they're trying to communicate, and you want to have message consistency across the government as much as possible," Mr. Teneycke said. "The discipline of going through that process of planning will make you be far more successful than if you were to just leave it to chance."
Declared Mr. Teneycke: "I think they've always existed in one form of another."
While almost all government agencies fell quickly into line with the MEP requirement, the Canadian Forces have resisted. With a stable of soldiers trained as Public Affairs Officers, the Canadian Forces have successful maintained a degree of communications sovereignty, and often do not seek messaging approval from the PMO or PCO. These days, the Canadian Forces often provide the fastest, most efficient and most informative responses to media calls in Ottawa.
Soldiers told The Hill Times that generals often balk at and dismiss the notion that they will stick to approved media 'lines,' and consider such suggestions to be intrusions.
Bureaucrats agree that political control over communications was heaviest in 2007 and 2008, but has started to relax in the past year or year-and-a-half.
Message Event Proposal Document
jdavis@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
Source: The Hill Times
0 comments:
Post a Comment