Communications is Key
Written by Punchwood
In my home region of The South Pacific (TSP) activity has been very low for much of the year, and while things are starting to pick up again, they still aren’t great. I’ve been made a Deputy Minister of Regional Affairs (Interior, Communications, and Culture combined) in charge of Communications. While helping to get Communications in the region back and running again I’ve discovered a simple truth:
The key to any successful region is communication.
Sure, cultural events help to keep a region active, and a strong military and foreign policy also helps to ensure your region is a successful one. Yet without communication your region will never truly be able to thrive. The main form of domestic communication is an active media. Allowing people to share ideas and viewpoints, entertain with their articles, and keep the region informed. For new members and for nations on the Regional Message Board (RMB), active media is incredibly important for them. It allows everyone to remain up to date the goings on in the region and better understand the politics and players.
Active media also keeps pressure on government officials; they can be criticised, praised, and examined by the media. The media can conduct polls and surveys to see how voters and citizens approve of elected officials and their actions. They can show us the views of citizens on constitutional matters, where they think the region is heading, what steps need to be taken, what’s right and what’s wrong and why they think that. They tell us what the region is thinking.
The media also allows for the sharing of ideas in the simplest way. Columns like this one can easily be lost in a sea of other threads when mixed with everyday opinions. But when the individual column threads are collated into a single forum of a media outlet, they receive much greater attention, and really present the voice of the author."
In short, an active media is essential for the wellbeing of a region. Cluing elected officials in on the needs of the voters and educating the electorate on the actions of the government serve to strengthen a region, and get people more involved.
Successful communication does not just mean success domestically. While an active domestic media may be serving your region well, you also need active foreign media. For a region to grow its influence, it needs people outside its own regional boundaries to know the goings on in the region.
What does it matter if your region wants to become the premier region in culture?. What does it matter if your region’s military is quickly growing and becoming more successful unless non-natives know about these success? How can you claim your region is a fun place to come and join if you aren't telling people about it internationally? Regular dispatches gameside and getting those dispatches upvoted to the top is a key part of foreign communication. Having regular updates in your embassies across all the different regions is also key. The more people know and learn about the events in your region, the more influential and powerful it becomes, and thus the more successful.
It’s clear that Europeia would not be anywhere near as successful without its strong Communications policy. We have very active private media here and it’s amazing. We have real life stories here that make us think, laugh, and debate; there are polls, countless polls done here keeping the region informed on what direction Europeians want to take and there are countless ideas discussed here. Europeia has one of the most active private media scenes in NS, and it’s difficult to see us without it. Europeia would be a much less interesting region if it weren’t for all the creative minds running all the newspapers.
We also have a strong foreign communication policy. Whenever something major happens a dispatch is quickly written up by the Communications Ministry and the Upvote Squad gives the dispatch as many upvotes as they can get. Our ambassadors also send frequent updates to all our embassies spreading our achievements and influence throughout NationStates.
It stands true to our testament that even a persona non-grata in the region, Cormac, can write an article on Europeia praising it for its achievements and success. Europeia is known throughout NationStates for being the political region. It’s what many of us came to Europeia for and it is because of our success in Communications that people know who we are as a region.
For too long Communications has being ignored, it has often been a side project that Presidential campaigns have briefly touched on but mainly focused on other matters. Recently, however, we have started to pay much more attention to Communications at home and abroad and are just starting to reap the benefits.
If you want your region to thrive, remember this: communications is key.
