BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS ARE CUTTING INTO CORE PROGRAMMES WHILE UN MESSAGE REACHES WIDENING AUDIENCE, SAYS ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION
Press Release
PI/942
BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS ARE CUTTING INTO CORE PROGRAMMES WHILE UN MESSAGE REACHES WIDENING AUDIENCE, SAYS ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION
19960506 Addressing Information Committee, Samir Sanbar Cites Doubled DPI Workload and Successes in Public Outreach ActivitiesThe effort to sharpen public focus on the United Nations message in a fiercely competitive communications environment, while faced with the burden of budgetary limitations, was the greatest challenge facing the Department of Public Information (DPI), Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information Samir Sanbar told the Committee on Information this afternoon.
Addressing the Committee as it began the substantive work for its 1996 session, Mr. Sanbar said the continuous erosion of resources was beginning to cut into core programmes, affecting programme delivery, timeliness and quality. Budgetary reductions were affecting print coverage of meetings, multi-language radio programming, background and reference publications in hard copy, and the work of a number of information centres.
"There are more resolutions affecting DPI with specific and comprehensive public information mandates than most other departments have put together", he said. There was also a growing proliferation in the number of reports it was regularly asked to submit. All of that had placed a heavy burden on the Department, effectively doubling the workload of its staff at all levels. Mr. Sanbar reviewed the many successes of the Department during the past year. Those included its public outreach activities through radio, publications, television, guided tours, library services and promotion of major United Nations conferences and events, including the commemoration of the United Nations fiftieth anniversary. At the request of the General Assembly, it was exploring practical steps to develop a United Nations radio broadcasting capability. The DPI had also set up a United Nations Home Page on the World Wide Web of the Internet, to offer comprehensive information about the Organization and its work to a wider audience, he said. Electronic dissemination of information, at a rate of 16,000 retrievals per day, was helping to reduce the print runs of DPI materials. Work was also under way to offer selected publications for sale by way of the Internet.
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Mr. Sanbar stressed the "immeasurable importance" of the United Nations Information Centres in keeping the public informed. Their devoted staff worked long and hard, under often trying conditions, sometimes at risk of their lives, he said. However, funds allocated to the Centres had been cut more drastically than ever. Resourcefulness and creativity were laudable qualities, but they could only go so far. Such cuts were threatening the very thing that most sustained the United Nations: a well-informed public.
An opening statement was also made by Committee Chairman Ivan Maximov (Bulgaria). He said that even before the latest financial crisis, the DPI had explored innovative approaches and information partnerships to increase its outreach to audiences worldwide. It was also noteworthy that the DPI had reached the goal of gender balance, well ahead of other departments.
The work of both the Committee and the DPI had never been so important, he said. At a time of reform, far-reaching cuts and financial stringency, DPI materials and services must be high quality, cost-effective, properly targeted and disseminated through the latest technology.
The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 7 May, to begin its general exchange of views.
Committee Work Programme
The Committee on Information met this afternoon to begin its substantive work for the current session. It was expected to hear opening statements from the Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information and the Chairman of the Information Committee.
Statements
IVAN MAXIMOV (Bulgaria), Committee Chairman, said that during the last year the Committee's Bureau had met regularly with the Department of Public Information (DPI) management to discuss, among other matters, how to respond to ongoing United Nations structural and financial reform; DPI's many activities in connection with important events, such as the Organization's fiftieth anniversary celebrations and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995); close cooperation with United Nations agency partners; and interdepartmental coordination and cooperation on peace-keeping and other important matters.
He extended his appreciation to Samir Sanbar, the Assistant Secretary- General for Public Information, for his willingness to meet with the Bureau and speak openly and frankly, so that he and the Committee could strengthen the Department and heighten its effectiveness to spread the United Nations message. Mr. Sanbar's experienced leadership was recognized and valued by everyone on the Committee, the Chairman added.
The work of the Committee and the DPI had never been so important, he continued. In light of the current calls for United Nations reform with resulting far-reaching cuts and financial stringency, the Department's output had to be better than ever. Its materials and services must be of the highest quality and must be cost-effective, properly targeted, and disseminated through the latest technology, with the understanding that decisions affected not only DPI's direction, but the image of the United Nations during difficult times.
The Department had already been hard at work before the latest financial crisis, he continued. Under Mr. Sanbar's leadership, the DPI had undertaken new initiatives and explored innovative approaches and partnerships in developing a public information strategy to increase its outreach to audiences worldwide. The DPI was well ahead of other departments in reaching the goal of gender balance, which was very positive and indicative of its attitude towards genuine reform.
The Secretary-General's reports before the Committee reflected DPI's new direction, he said. One described the intensified promotional activities by the information centres in the fiftieth anniversary year, and provided details on the integration process, the enhancement of the centres and their financial
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resources. Another report detailed DPI's publishing activities and reviewed its recurrent and non-recurrent publications. It highlighted new directions, including the enhancement of sales, marketing and external outreach, the increased use of internal printing capacity and the utilization of electronic publishing activities. Austria and Indonesia had provided information on their efforts to further develop communications infrastructures in developing countries.
The challenge before the United Nations lay in its ability to communicate and convince, the Chairman said. The DPI's task was difficult in a world of competing information priorities, especially during a critical time of organizational reform and financial constraints. He assured the Department of the Committee's continued commitment to providing the necessary guidance and support for its activities.
Statement by Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information
SAMIR SANBAR, Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information, said the Department of Public Information (DPI) was making every effort, within its terms of reference, to satisfy an ever-increasing demand for information about the United Nations. In response to the surge of media and public interest surrounding the Organization's fiftieth anniversary, the DPI had tripled its production of backgrounders, fact sheets, notes for speakers and special radio and television programmes, all of which were transmitted through pouch and electronic means to specific audiences worldwide.
At a time when the world needed a powerful reaffirmation of the linkage between peace and development, there must be dramatic improvement in public understanding of the United Nations, he said. The DPI was trying to bring the Organization's message to all corners of the world, in all languages of its Member States, first and foremost, through the network of information centres and United Nations offices. Despite budgetary constraints, full use was and would be made to communicate that message in the working languages English and French.
In the current age, political decisions could be influenced by the emotional power of visual images, whose instant, world-wide transmission was now possible, he said. While interest in the United Nations was at an all- time high, the Organization and its message had to vie for the public's attention as never before. In that fiercely competitive communications environment, the DPI was working to sharpen the focus on current issues, ensure the timeliness of its outputs, and maintain quality standards to reach the widest possible audience. To accomplish all that under the burden of budgetary limitations was the greatest challenge facing the Department.
For the first time in the Organization's history, the 1996-1997 programme budget proposal for the Department showed zero growth, he said.
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Expenses had been cut further, and DPI's budget for this biennium reflected a net negative growth rate of 3 per cent. That included a 2 per cent reduction in regular budget posts. In response to new reductions mandated by the General Assembly, the departmental budget had just been further reduced by about 5.5 per cent. The DPI would have to operate with less resources, and was already doing more with less.
Such severe budgetary restrictions had consequences, he said. A point had now been reached where the continuous erosion of resources was beginning to cut into core programmes, affecting programme delivery, timeliness and quality. Budgetary reductions were affecting print coverage of meetings, multi-language radio programming, background and reference publications in hard copy, and the work of a number of information centres.
The DPI was among those departments having the greatest number of mandates in connection with resolutions adopted by the Assembly during its fiftieth session. "There are more resolutions affecting DPI with specific and comprehensive public information mandates, than most other departments have put together." In addition, there was a growing proliferation in the number of reports it was regularly asked to submit. All of that had placed a heavy burden on the Department, effectively doubling the workload of its staff at all levels. This was occurring in a department which had begun taking innovative steps to ensure cost-effective performance even before the current financial crisis gripped the Organization.
He then reviewed some of DPI's achievements over the past year. Those had included extending its reach to key audiences with a multiplier effect, such as educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, the business community, and governmental institutions at national and local levels. It also involved forging strong partnerships with media organizations worldwide, particularly in the field of broadcasting, and harnessing advanced information technologies for the production and the delivery of public information programmes.
He said the Department had been involved in establishing new levels of departmental and inter-agency cooperation, particularly through the Joint United Nations Information Committee, which he chaired. The DPI was also introducing a series of far-reaching management initiatives that have made it a more streamlined and functionally better integrated operation.
The DPI had also set up a United Nations Home Page on the World Wide Web of the Internet, to offer comprehensive information about the Organization and its work to a wider audience, he said. A major effort was currently under way to develop that electronic window even further by the same-day posting, on the Web, of United Nations publications, press releases and important documents. Only last week, he had established a special unit for that purpose under his personal supervision. Electronic dissemination of information, at a rate of
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16,000 retrievals per day, was helping to reduce the print runs of DPI materials. Work was also under way to offer selected publications for sale by way of the Internet.
In February this year, the Department set up a mechanism to strengthen its capacity to generate fair coverage of the United Nations and to ensure a rapid response to inaccuracies in media reporting. Monthly updates of fact sheets that seek to correct common misperceptions conveyed in the media were being made available on the World Wide Web and were being widely disseminated in local languages by United Nations information centres. Efforts are also under way to place op-ed pieces and other readily accessible materials in the media.
Since 1991, there had been four regional seminars on promoting pluralistic and independent media, jointly sponsored by the DPI and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), he said. The latest took place in Sana'a, Yemen, bringing together some 150 Arab journalists, media owners, representatives of regional press organizations and media experts.
The Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General was the focal point for journalists covering the United Nations, for information concerning the Secretary-General, in particular, and the Organization, in general, he said. Despite the acute shortage of resources, that Office had never been as active as it was today. The Spokesman conducted a daily noon briefing for correspondents, followed by a similar briefing for missions. The audio of the noon briefing was available to United Nations offices around the world, to permanent missions in New York, and on the Radio Bulletin Board. The Spokesman's Office was also involved in planning and organizing the Secretary- General's media-related activities.
He stressed that the dissemination of public information on global development issues remained a top priority. The cycle of United Nations conferences of this decade -- from human rights to population, from social development to the advancement of women -- had produced a legacy of priority issues for follow-up by the DPI. Currently, the Department was in the final phase of preparations for the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), to be held next month in Istanbul. Earlier this year, it actively contributed to preparations for the Assembly's resumed session on public administration and development.
The DPI's initiatives regarding international peace and security involved work on three tracks, he said. Those included ensuring a coordinated approach to public information relating to individual peace-keeping and other field operations, improving the capacity to reach wider audiences, and communicating the message that peacemaking and peace-keeping efforts must be complemented by international support for post-conflict reconstruction.
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In addition, DPI's interdepartmental consultative mechanism to coordinate public information in peace-keeping and other field missions was now fully operational, he said. Senior officials of the Department of Political Affairs, the Department of Peace-keeping Operations, and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs were participating in an interdepartmental working group, which had adopted guidelines on public information aspects of field missions.
In cooperation with the Permanent Missions of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the DPI organized a programme of special events to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, he said. The Department organized a special briefing for non- governmental organizations, art exhibits, a documentary film screening, and a memorial concert. It also provided radio, television and print coverage of the anniversary event and produced a special radio programme, "Chernobyl: Ten Years After".
In view of the rapidly changing political situation in the Middle East, the DPI had engaged in consultations with the concerned parties to assess the advisability of holding in Gaza in 1996 an international encounter for journalists on the question of Palestine. It had also embarked on organizing in the fall of 1996 a new training programme for Palestinian media practitioners, along the lines of the successful programme completed by the Department in the fall of 1995.
In light of the United Nations strong commitment to the African continent, the Department had also participated in the launch of the United Nations System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa. With its active involvement, a live satellite link was set up so that the Secretary-General, the President of the World Bank and the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) could jointly launch the Initiative.
He stressed that the United Nations Information Centres were the link between the Organization and its audiences away from Headquarters. Their role was to encourage, stimulate and service the media. They were modestly staffed offices with very meagre resources, whose role was of immeasurable importance in keeping the public informed. Their devoted staff worked long and hard, under often trying conditions, sometimes at risk of their lives, "like our colleague Onassini Lahrache, who was killed at his duty station in Algiers". Their role was crucial. "They are far from passive bystanders handing out press releases and flyers; rather, they are active partners for many at local and regional levels."
To ensure cost-effectiveness, reassessments were constantly made to identify and assist those centres with proven need for better action and performance, he said. However, this year funds allocated to the information centres were cut more drastically than ever before. Resourcefulness and
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creativity were laudable qualities, but they could only go so far. Such cuts were threatening the very thing that most sustained the United Nations: a well-informed public.
He drew attention to a serious matter that the DPI faced regarding a number of Information Centres, which were established and operated entirely on host government funds. He had urged the governments concerned to fulfil their financial obligations in order to avert the closure of those centres. In some cases, the level of the annual contribution did not meet the full cost of the posts. It was expected that the staffing level of those centres would be proportionately cut in order to avoid a budget deficit.
The integration of the information centres and field offices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was continuing on a case-by-case basis, he said. "While we can point to successful cases under the integration agreement, we must also acknowledge that much is left to be desired in other cases." In every host country, success depended on the Acting Director and the UNDP Resident Coordinator, as well as on the national officers. The DPI had proposed more training for national officers on United Nations requirements, as well as systematic briefings for the Acting Directors.
Non-governmental organizations accredited to the DPI were briefed regularly on the current situation of the United Nations and on priorities for the Organization, he said. They were also provided with information and materials to encourage them to initiate their own outreach activities.
The general public continued to visit Headquarters at the rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a day, he said. Stops on the tour route that were temporarily off- limits, such as the Security Council and the Trusteeship Council, had been restored. However, security considerations had necessitated reducing the number of visitors per group by 40 per cent, reducing the capacity to accommodate requests for guided tours. A considerable number of people wishing to take the tour have had to be turned away.
All of that also had a devastating impact on the finances of guided tour operations, he added. None the less, the DPI intended to upgrade areas of public access, as well as to incorporate a full schedule of exhibits in the Public Lobby for 1996, using new technologies and computer graphics and drawing on the UN50 Trust Fund or other sources of financing.
He said the United Nations Speakers' Bureau was faced with unprecedented requests for special briefing programmes, often combined with a guided tour, from various organizations. In February, the DPI joined forces with Turner Educational Services to coordinate an "electronic field trip" to the United Nations. A live teleconference over two days was beamed to hundreds of schools across the United States, including a series of live on-line "chats" with students and teachers.
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For five decades, United Nations Radio had served as a medium of information, education and promotion on issues of international interest and concern, he said. United Nations peace-keepers had seen the power of radio to guide, to assure and to educate people in Cambodia during the successful mission of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). They had also seen how, through the power of radio, hate campaigns had been mounted by a certain radio station, leading to the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.
The need for the development of a credible and effective medium of mass communication had never been greater, he said. In 1995, United Nations Radio produced and disseminated more than 3,500 documentaries and news updates in 15 languages, with programmes being rebroadcast by an estimated 1,600 broadcasting organizations worldwide. At the request of the General Assembly, the Department had set out to explore practical steps to develop a United Nations radio broadcasting capability.
The Department's approach in planning that project was based on a number of factors, he said. Those included achieving greater efficiency and productivity by streamlining resources and adopting more advanced production practices; releasing part of the resources now allocated to production and dissemination to partially offset transmission costs; and seeking support from partners in the common system, as well as from Member States, organizations and relevant communication and broadcast institutions.
The United Nations Radio Information System, available by telephone 24 hours a day, had been further expanded with the addition of the twice-weekly press briefings from Geneva. The Daily Highlights were now being posted directly onto the UN Home Page and can be accessed by any Internet user, anywhere in the world, within one hour after they have been posted. Missions with access to Internet can view the Highlights directly from their own computers. However, despite all those efforts, DPI's Radio Service was suffering from the freeze on posts and declining resources. As a result, the longstanding regional and linguistic balances it had always maintained were in real jeopardy.
He cited the expanding usage of DPI's video and television productions by the media. Over 1,200 television news packages were produced in 1995 and sold to broadcasting organizations and television news syndicators with world- wide distribution. The DPI television production "Year in Review" reached as many as 360 million households via satellite broadcast in six languages. The audience for the news magazine "UN in Action" was estimated at 160 million viewers per week, both through CNN worldwide and through DPI distributions in English or with Arabic, French, Spanish or Russian adaptation, to broadcasters in 106 countries. The Department was committed to regular internal evaluation to ascertain effectiveness, usefulness and timeliness of its information products and activities.
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He said the Department also maintained a modest, though very effective, production of 30-minute videos. One of its most recently released videos, "A Place to Stand", won three major awards at international film festivals. In addition to producing "UN in Action", the series "World Chronicle", as well as various feature documentaries and television spots, the DPI had collaborated with the Department of Humanitarian Affairs to prepare the videotape "Landmines: The Global Crisis".
Coverage of intergovernmental meetings was an important part of the Department's daily work, he said. Along with the Committee, he was concerned that the service be maintained at highly professional standards, both in English and French. However, the capacity to produce press releases on the whole range of United Nations meetings had been seriously affected by the current financial crisis. That was most unfortunate, as DPI's meetings coverage has long been regarded as indispensable by correspondents, delegations and Secretariat officials alike. Press releases constituted the only immediately available written news source on the proceedings of United Nations meetings.
The Sales and Marketing Section of the DPI had achieved record sales revenues in 1995, including a 44 per cent increase in revenues for the Bookstore, he said. In the Blue Books Series, nine titles had been produced in just over a year, ranging from the UN and Apartheid to the UN and Iraq- Kuwait. The series had established itself as an invaluable tool for researchers, and government or publishing house would be proud of such a high level of quality output. Over 10,000 copies had already been sold.
He said the Publications Board, which he chaired, had focused more sharply on determining relevance and quality before a decision to publish was made. In a move that would increase productivity and timeliness, all publishing units had nearly completed their move to a common desk-top publishing platform. However, while the DPI had pioneered the use of many aspects of electronic communication, the current cutbacks would inevitably retard that progress. Resource constraints were also causing delays in publications or forcing products to be routed back to external printing. Similarly, the UN Chronicle -- the Organization's flagship publication -- had been compelled to temporarily suspend its Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish editions.
The Dag Hammarskjöld Library continued to play a vital role as the United Nations primary research facility, he said. The number of reference queries answered was constantly rising, reaching more than 85,000 in 1995. The amount of information available through databases and CD-ROMs was rapidly expanding and had enabled the Library to provide its users with electronic dissemination of full-text or bibliographic information from on-line databases, electronic journals, and government and research publications available in the public domain via the Internet.
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The Library also managed a network of 351 depository libraries in 142 countries, which made United Nations documents and publications available free of charge to users around the world, he said. It also provided direct electronic access to the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS). In 1995, 47,800 records were added to the UNBIS database files with over 200 users accessing the system more than 67,000 times. UNBIS Plus on CD- ROM continued to be published quarterly.
In closing, he stressed the need to communicate a strong, unified image of the Organization, taking advantage of the latest technology. All of that must be accomplished despite structural and budgetary limitations on the Organization and at a time when the influence of electronic media on international policy and decision making was on the rise. With the continued support of the Committee, the Department would redouble its efforts to spread the message of the United Nations in an integrated and forceful way, at the lowest possible cost.
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