Abstract

The management of information is of special importance in municipal institutions because citizens hear about their local government’s achievement of political objectives through messages identified as public communication. The municipal communication structures are essential in these processes, which are designed to shape positive perceptions of government action. However, these structures have undertaken very few initiatives to examine the treatment of news events in the press. In this paper we present a tool to analyze the media agenda concerning municipal affairs, based on political and administrative management of municipalities, in a context in which the management and evaluation of information is added to the standard functions of the communications office.

Abstract

The aim of this research is to determine whether web pages and portals aimed at municipal transparency are in fact used as public relations tools directed at liaison with local stakeholders. The study focuses on the municipalities of the Autonomous Community of Valencia, using a methodology based on the InfoParticipa map via a content and regression analysis. Five main models of transparency web pages and portals were identified in this study, all showing, in general, a low level of compliance with transparency and participation indicators. The online site, although the most heavily used by the municipalities, was the model with the lowest levels of compliance. Separate websites or website sections, the model most widely used by municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, greatly favor relations with citizens and local associations. In contrast, the media and participatory bodies are the stakeholders that are less well addressed from the perspective of public relations in the transparency web pages and portals adopting all the models. The results obtained by linear regression analysis show that independent websites and website sections are significant for the whole dataset. Nevertheless, for small municipalities, independent websites and the Diputación (provincial government) template are the most significant models. The latter model provides the opportunity to address stakeholder relationships for small municipalities that cannot afford to draw up their own designs.