Public information and communication for public participation in Spain

Abstract

The field of social communication is a product of the tensions that make up the colliding interests polarizations such as diversity-concentration; democratization-hegemonic dominance; local-global; exclusion-participation. These dichotomies, in democratic regimes acquire a special significance, so communication management, the right of citizens to inform and be informed not just represent manifestations of communication policy, but of the social construction of citizenship (Castells , 2010). The effective exercise of that right assumes then: diversity of sources, actors and subjects and balanced information. Access to qualified information and appropriation of ICTs for citizen participation is of primary importance if it is to all social actors have an active role in the responsibility to contribute in the process of social, economic, political and cultural development (Cáceres, 2014). However, the development of technologies for government-citizen relations more fluid, direct and frequent has not automatically translated into increased participation and democratic practices (Moreno Sardà, 2012). Therefore, the potential benefits of Web 2.0 to create communities, to discuss matters of public interest and share information can only move from potential to reality if they are accompanied by the existence of communication practices and quality brackets, as well as diversity and depth information from governments (Alvarez Nobell, 2011 and 2013). Several authors (Borja and Castells, 1997; Colombo Vilarrasa, 2005; Almansa, 2009; Canel and Sanders, 2009) agree to list a number of dimensions of communication management that must be addressed: relationships with governments and social media; government communication, issue management; internal communication, among others. This research aimed to contribute to the knowledge on the contribution of public information and communication processes for citizen participation and social accountability for sustainability and democratization of development processes. For this purpose, resources and communication practices used by local governments in Spain in its institutional web that facilitate citizen participation, monitoring and management evaluation was analyzed. The results show the development in the sense that municipalities (of more than ten thousand inhabitants) in the regions of Andalusia, Aragon, the Canary Islands, Galicia and Madrid, been made on the production of news of the actions of government and opposition, enabling direct channels of contact management relations in social networks or the use of tools to report incidents, complaints or suggestions. To Canel and Sanders (2010), when the communication focuses on building relationships, forced to conceive the public differently from what is conceived when thinking only in achieving the vote; and thus the prospect of analysis and study expands as it may raise government communication such as establishing a relationship (and participation) in the long term with citizens.