Editorial

Expanding the public space to debate and access issues of public interest is a privilege for those who believe in the freedom and equality possible in democracies. A privilege for those who study the complexity of communication produced in political, governmental environments; generated by organized society, social groups and individuals, on the streets, on networks, in images and which is decisive for the relations between the state, mediaand society. Determinant for citizenship.

This observatory was built from the enthusiasm, doubts and certainties of students and professors dedicated to problematizing power relations and political tensions around public and private interests expressed in public events, debates, journalistic coverage, institutional actions, communication government, public image, public media, communication networks, sensitive issues and others.

The brand of political communication has defined Nucop's research since 2001, but different theoretical and empirical findings allowed exploring and deepening the concept of 'public communication'. From this perspective, theoretical-methodological experiments have been carried out in search of parameters for the adequate deepening of the concept, generally restricted to governmental communication.

Another perspective of analysis is situated in the public interest approach, from the responsibility of private organizations. In a complex sense, organizational communication goes beyond the perspective of materialized authorized speech for different audiences, as it comprises all communication flows that refer, in some way, to the organization. Under the prism of systemic interdependence, whenever the organization's manifestations, of any quality (messages and/or actions), relate to issues and/or themes of public interest, they enter this space and demand to be configured under the prism of public communication , considering, among other things, responsiveness, accountability and the circulation of truthful information. In this sense, themes such as social responsibility, quality of life at work, sustainability, workers' health and humanization of labor relations, employability, respect for diversity, harassment and gender issues break the limits of the organization's private dimension, slide into place public interest and therefore need to be addressed as such. Organizations are parts of the political-socio-cultural system, they are open and interdependent systems, they disturb and guide other systems, therefore, they demand their commitment. Social responsibility and organizations have been studied by GCCOP since 2011.

The commitment of this Observatory is to public communication constituted by the confluence of the state, society, organizations and the media around events, decisions and complex and sensitive topics of public interest. In this direction, the main objectives of OBCOMP are: to make scientific production related to political communication, public communication and organizational communication related to the public interest accessible; facilitate access to information, legislation, media, communication products and actions generated by public and governmental institutions; promote events, entities and observatories with objectives related to the Observatory, encourage and maintain debates, analyzes and criticisms on complex, sensitive and important themes for society and the qualification of democracy.

Porto Alegre, August 27, 2015.