Publicity in Local Government
The lack of public interest in local government is one of the most serious administrative defects in this country. Means of remedying this evil are suggested in an admirable and most convincing report on " Relations Between Local Government and the Community," issued by the National Association of Local Government Officers. It makes out a strong case for more and better publicity as the means for establishing an active partnership between the citizen, the councillor and the local government officer, working together in the interest of the community. Just as every Government department has its public relations officer, so it should be in the case of every major local authority, where behind the officer would be a public relations com- mittee. It is proposed to enlarge the duties of such an official TO include not only explaining the local authority to the citizen, but the citizens to the local authority, to whom it would transmit their wishes and complaints. The object of this illuminating report is to find better means of injecting the spirit of a live democracy into all the affairs of local administration. The Press would be actively encour- aged to report meetings and decisions of the Council. Information bureaux would be established, films and exhibitions promoted, public meetings for the discussion of local problems encouraged, and in the schools and in youth organisations no means would be neglected to instil an interest in the functions of citizenship. Local govern- ment has become the weak spot in our democracy. Publicity issued from within, and free criticism directed from without could go far to stimulate the interest that is at present so disastrously lacking.
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