Post on 26-Dec-2015
Building the reputation of a statistical office through effective
communication
Helena Rafalowska
Director of Communication
Office for National Statistics
Reputation
• Based on trust and belief in an organisation’s good intentions and standards of behaviour
• Hard to build• Easy to lose
Our role
We help Government, business and the public to make sense of the world around them in order to make better decisions to improve life in Britain
Trust is central to the business we are in
• Collecting information and keeping it confidential • Producing an accurate picture of what is going on
in the world around us• Providing robust evidence to inform decisions• Enabling citizens to judge the performance of their
government
Maintaining trust is getting more challenging
• Statistics, especially on government performance are becoming politicised
• The media, our main channel of communication is becoming more contentious
• The world is getting more complicated and harder to measure
• Statistics are playing a more important role in national life
• In a web world there is no hiding place
Building and maintaining reputation
Integrity and political independence:
• National Statistics Code of Practice• High standards for methods and quality• Confidentiality of personal data• Pre-announcement of publication dates• Publication of pre-release access lists• Timed release of market sensitive
information
Issue management
• Senior level involvement• Awareness of the potential for controversy• Task force approach• Honesty about acknowledging mistakes• We always refute unfounded criticism
Reputational incidents in the national media
0
2
4
6
8
10
Error Unaware ofwider context
Surprise / lackof warning
Anti ONSbriefing / leak
Inappropriateremarks from
briefingstatisticians
Cause of incidents
No
. of
ma
jor
inc
ide
nts
Openness and transparency
• Pre-announcement of publication dates• Media access to statistical specialist• Clear communication• Direct, unmediated communication• Liberal interpretation of Freedom of Information
Act• Errors and corrections published on web
homepage
Media handling
• Straight news releases• Good relations with journalists and
commentators• Increased emphasis on more trusted broadcast
media• Media monitoring and measuring• Media and presentation training
Most frequent source of news
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Media
Per
cen
tag
e o
f re
spo
nd
ents
TV Radio Newspaper
Source:British Market Research Bureau International 2002
Most trusted source of news
0
1020
3040
50
6070
80
Media
Pe
rce
nta
ge
of
res
po
nd
en
ts
TV Radio Newspaper
Source: British Market Research Bureau International 2002
Daily newspaper circulation February 2004
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
The Sun
Daily
Mai
l
Daily
Mirr
or
Daily
Tel
egra
ph
Daily
Exp
ress
Daily
Sta
r
Times
Daily
Rec
ord FT
Guardia
n
Indep
enden
t
Newspaper title
Cir
cula
tio
n
Source: British Market Research Bureau International 2002
Television ratings
Source: British Market Research Bureau International 2002
02,000,0004,000,0006,000,0008,000,000
10,000,00012,000,00014,000,00016,000,00018,000,000
I'm a
cel
ebrit
y get
me
out of h
ere
Easte
nders
Child o
f our T
imes
ITV N
ews at 1
0.30p
m
Panora
ma
Horizons:
Thal
idom
inde
Newsn
ight
Open
Univ
ersity
: top ra
ted p
rogra
mm
es
Media monitoring
Total coverage
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
Positive
Neutral
Negative