The Handbook of Public Sector Communication

17Public Sector Communication and NGOs: From Formal Integration to Mediated Confrontation?

Tine Ustad Figenschou

Introduction: NGO Communication and the Public Sector

Today, more political stakeholders are employing a greater range of media platforms in more sophisticated ways to gain political influence (Kuhn & Nielsen, 2014). Although a professionalization of communication and media can be found across the political spectrum, the distinct contextual characteristics of the actors in the private sector, the public sector, and the third sector (civil society) largely influence their strategic communication and media work. In recent years, nongovernmental interest groups or organizations (NGOs) have become more influential political communicators. For public sector organizations, NGOs and interest groups are part of an extensive range of stakeholders that also includes politicians, other public sector organizations, corporations, the media, experts, lobbying organizations, and the public. NGOs and interest groups play multiple roles in relation to the public sector—as experts, service providers and partners, service users, lobbyists, or public critics—and the ways in which this multifaceted relationship impacts on public sector communication is the focus of this chapter.

This chapter presents the key developments in and characteristics of nongovernmental organizations' communication and discusses these areas in relation to public sector communication. The primary aims are threefold: ...