A Review of the Army's Public Affairs Efforts in Support of the Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program (2000)

More than two dozen methods of evaluating public affairs programshave been described (Patton, 1982). Based on the literature and onthe professional experience of committee members, the committee identifiedeight requirements for a model public affairs program supportingthe CSDP (Table 1). Each requirement is discussed in the text.

Considerable research has been done on what does and does not workin the one-way communications of public relations, which businessesdepend on to reach and influence their customers. Companies, nonprofitorganizations, and government agencies routinely hold focus groupsand conduct surveys to elicit feedback from the public. Much lessis known about how to ensure meaningful public involvement in decisionmaking. Historically, governments and businesses have made decisionsand then announced them to the public. For many years, governmentalbodies relied on large public meetings for public involvement. Infact, it has been shown that large, open meetings are not the bestway to elicit thoughtful input into decision making (Adrian and Press,1977; Chess and Purcell, 1999; Fiorino, 1990; Laird, 1993). But nostep-by-step blueprint has been developed for designing a successfulpublic involvement component of a public affairs program.