JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - National ...

The Return of Public Relations to the Public Administration Curriculum?
and that everything in these fields is therefore fair game. … What they
publish can profoundly affect the fortunes of those they write about.
Everybody is aware of their power, administrative agencies no less than
the others. Agencies therefore work hard to keep on good terms with
the members of the fourth estate (Kaufman, 2001, p.29).
Swoboda (1995) published the results of his research on media coverage of
local government budgeting. LaPorte and Metlay (1996, p.344) discussed the
importance of external relations in a government agency’s effort at
accomplishing trustworthiness. Several chapters in the Garnett and Kouzmin
(1997) handbook on the larger topic of administrative communication
specifically discussed public relations. While not based in academia, Library of
Congress researcher Kevin Kosar (2005) has tracked Congressional efforts to
control the external communications activities of Federal agencies. Weiss
(2002), who started her academic career in business administration, also wrote
about public information as a tool of modern governance.
Several academic researchers from public administration have published work
on subjects closely related to external communications, such as freedom of
information and government transparency. Probably the most prominent is
Roberts (2006), who won several awards for his book, Blacked Out: Government
Secrecy in the Information Age, which offers an international perspective. He also
published articles on media coverage of government, the relationship between
New Public Management and information, and the increasing limitations on
access to information (Roberts, 1997, 2000, 2005). Focusing more specifically
on the U.S., Piotrowski (2007; Piotrowski & Van Ryzin, 2005; Piotrowski &
Rosenbloom, 2002) researched the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
and transparency in American governments. Finally, Holden (1996) observed
that “The potential interconnection between public opinion and the success of
public administration is one of the most profound realities to which political
science may yet direct new attention” (p.35). The non-refereed monthly
publication PA Times, put out by the American Society for Public
Administration (ASPA), featured two articles in mid-2008 on government
public relations (Cohen, 2008; Survey on Government Communicators, 2008).
Given ASPA’s membership base of both academics and practitioners, these
recent articles are another indicator of the reemergence of this subject on the
public administration agenda.
The third sign that public relations apparently is returning to the public
administration curriculum is found in pedagogic literature. Waugh and Manns
(1991; Manns & Waugh, 1989) made the case in the late 1980s and early 1990s
for the importance of including communications (both external and internal) in
MPA curricula. Similarly, Garnett (1992, p.xv; 1997, pp.764-765) argued twice
in the 1990s to incorporate communications into the MPA curriculum.
518 Journal of Public Affairs Education