How to return a phone call

The guide outlines best practices for government communicators, emphasizing the need for proactive communication plans, professional relationships with the media, rigorous training for spokespersons, and honesty to maintain credibility. It stresses the importance of crisis management, digital presence, and sufficient investment in communication departments to effectively 'sell' policies and ideas.

• Effective communication requires a methodical plan that identifies key messages and target recipients, avoids clashing announcements, and ensures every public message answers the 'Five Ws' (who, what, when, where and why).
• Public officials and the media should maintain a symbiotic, professional relationship based on mutual respect and access to improve accuracy, acknowledging the inherently adversarial nature of the relationship in democratic societies.
• To maintain credibility, communicators must adhere to 'golden rules' including honesty, accuracy, returning phone calls, respecting deadlines, and treating all communications as 'on the record'.
• Crisis management requires a pre-established plan that avoids cover-ups or silence; instead, leaders should deliver bad news quickly and in person, engage the press early, and provide regular updates.
• Governments must invest sufficiently in professional staff and promotional materials, treating communication departments as central rather than peripheral, and apply marketing principles to persuade the public to support policies.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2008). How to return a phone call. https://saiia.org.za/research/how-to-return-a-phone-call/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. How to return a phone call. 2008. https://saiia.org.za/research/how-to-return-a-phone-call/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=How to return a phone call |date=28 April 2008 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/how-to-return-a-phone-call/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2008how, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{How to return a phone call}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2008}, month = apr, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/how-to-return-a-phone-call/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }