PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION ON UN NEWS SERVICE

The Interim Head of the Department of Public Information (DPI), Shashi Tharoor, today announced the launch of a United Nations news service that will deliver, via e-mail, breaking stories and reports of other developments from the United Nations system worldwide to subscribers throughout the world.

Speaking to correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, Mr. Tharoor said that the new service, which could be accessed on the recently upgraded UN News Centre Web site (www.un.org/news), was part of the continuing effort by the Department to use the advances in communications technology to deliver news and information on the United Nations to the broadest possible segments of population in different parts of the world.

The UN News By E-mail Service, said Mr. Tharoor, was designed to help audiences around the world, particularly in developing countries, to keep abreast of all major United Nations-related developments.  Free subscribers could choose to receive updates on breaking news throughout the day and to customize their preferences by topics or regions of special interest, he noted.  Other features included an end-of-day roundup from the UN News Service and periodic alerts about major newsmaking events at Headquarters and elsewhere. 

The Service, which had been activated a week ago on a trial basis, already had over 400 subscribers, he said.  It built on the success of a recently redesigned UN News Centre portal, featuring enhanced search and navigation tools and new database-driven functions that were developed in close cooperation with the cash-strapped Information Technology Services Division of the Secretariat.

Alex Taukatch, Chief of the News Unit, walked correspondents through the various features of the UN News Centre Web site, via a visual presentation.  Among those features were links to the Secretary-General, the Spokesman's Office, DPI press releases, peacekeeping operations, background materials and other parts of the United Nations system.  One of the new features was the redesigned French site that contained many of the same functions as the English site, and work was continuing on developing the French version of the E-mail Service. 

The Director of the News and Media Division, Salim Lone, added that the

E-mail Service would be particularly useful in those countries which did not have correspondents based at Headquarters.  He highlighted the fact that each story contained multiple links, which provided a wealth of information to users. 

Asked if the United Nations was trying to "phase out" the press with its new E-mail Service, Mr. Tharoor said that the idea was to make the job of the correspondents easier.  The intent was to make information about the Organization available to people who would not otherwise have it so easily, which included the press at Headquarters and elsewhere.  The stories were made available and the press could refashion them as they found useful, whether in part or full or not at all.

Mr. Taukatch added that the stories contained numerous links to related stories, as well as to related pieces done by UN Radio and UN Television, all of which could be accessed and used by the press. 

On how the Secretary-General could be made more available equally to the big agencies, as well as the small publications, Mr. Tharoor said that there had been a decline in the number of interviews the Secretary-General had granted every year since he first took office, as a result of the enormous amount of pressure on his time.  Sometimes, he made comments to the press on his way into the Building.  Also, he was being encouraged to do more press conferences at Headquarters.  Everything the Secretary-General said gets put on the Web site very quickly, so even journalists from smaller media could gain access to that information fairly quickly.

Another correspondent asked how outsiders were expected to handle background research, resolution numbers and United Nations jargon when seasoned Headquarters-based journalists were unable to cope.

      Notingthat stories on the new service would have links to background material, Mr. Tharoor said DPI would have loved to have a much more powerful search engine on the Web site.  However, there were difficulties linked to the budget cuts that only Member States could resolve by giving the Department the necessary funds.

He stressed that the search capacity was already better than it had been at the same time last year, and efforts would be made to improve that capacity, bearing in mind the concerns of journalists.

What about resolutions, which were impossible to find on the search engine? the same correspondent asked.

Mr. Tharoor replied that DPI would try to improve links to resolutions.  There was also an issue with the optical disk system, which was not fully integrated into the Web site.  That again was a decision that only Member States could take.  Once they had done so -– and the Department had recommended it -– it would hopefully be possible to access literally every resolution going back to 1945.

* *** *