Monitoring and Evaluation – “colossal waste of money” or crucial strategic tool?

Government spending on media monitoring is justified in order “to ensure policy is reported accurately and inaccuracies are rebutted”. This was the response of Michael Wills, a junior minister in the justice department, to attacks on the government spend on media monitoring from the Conservatives.

Here at Metrica we couldn’t agree more. The tabloid press likes nothing more than to sensationalise politics, be it policies, specific events or responses, or politicians themselves. Only by scrutinising this coverage will government PRs be able to respond effectively and highlight where the lines between casual sensationalism and outright lies have been blurred, or where the responses of the Left or Right have grossly distorted the facts.

Of course, a critique of government activity, sensationalist or not, is of paramount importance to any democracy. The media plays a vital role in the dialogue and debate that is both characteristic of and crucial to our political system. Opinions on policy in education or justice will inevitably be polarised and only by debating them can we achieve workable solutions.

But how can we expect the party in power to participate in this dialogue without being allowed to examine the media in which it is conducted?

PR professionals must be given the opportunity to pull together an overall picture of how the activities of their department are being perceived (or distorted). Furthermore, as the media landscape fragments, specialist expertise is vital if PRs are to identify where the debate lies.

The Guardian reported the deliberations between Mr Wills and Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative shadow culture secretary who raised the issue in parliament. The article referred to the overall media monitoring spend of various government departments and other independent bodies before quoting Mr Hunt’s assertion that this “is a colossal waste of money, and taxpayers will be furious that when everyone else is tightening their belts the last thing to get cut is the government’s own PR”.

It’s important to distinguish between PR and media monitoring or media evaluation. As well as informing strategy, monitoring and evaluation are used by PR professionals to prove their worth. Consequently, evaluation is also the means by which their employers will measure their value to the department, organisation or company.

As a taxpayer, I firmly believe in scrutinising the performance of anyone with a government funded salary, as well as the need to identify and eliminate waste. As we move into a recession, employing tools to do both should be considered more important than ever.

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