Government spokespersons should take their job seriously

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 Government department websites are often hard to navigate and out of date.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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