Аннотация
The research investigates how institutional hierarchies and administrative constraints shape the communication practices of Public Information Officers (PIOs) in Almaty local government and public institutions. The Excellence Theory guided this phenomenological study, which described the experiences of 20 PIOs using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The findings showed that PIOs in Almaty Oblast struggle with bureaucratic approval chains, role ambiguity, and risk aversion suppress communicative initiative, while adversarial media relations and low public trust reinforce external asymmetry. Together, these forces created a context of systemic communication dysfunction, in which transparency and dialogue are structurally constrained despite official reforms under the Listening State initiative. Scientifically the study extends the Excellence Theory to a post-Soviet governance context, in which institutional asymmetry prevents communicative reforms to achieve symmetry. The practical contribution of the study draws attention to the need of structural, not rhetorical, transformation toward dialogue, autonomy, and professionalization for PIOs to be the most effective. Keywords: public information officers, local government, bureaucracy, public trust, media relations, Kazakhstan, communication challenges