INTERNATIONAL

The Federal Government on the Internet

The Internet is already an establish element in public relations work of the German federal government. An ambitious and successful Internet site is run by the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government.

The Press and Information Office of the German Federal Government is responsible for press and public relations work carried out on behalf of the federal chancellor and the German government as a whole. With its new website the government is traveling and entirely new route with regard to political information and communication. The Internet has become, as it were, a "classical" medium for press and public relations work. The Internet has become the government's key information platform.

The platform is used to provide the public with the first-hand information on the work being done by the government and, at the same time, to create opportunities to engage in a dialogue with the government. This lends a new quality to the process of disseminating information on government policies and activities to the public.

The government has created a kind of electronic "newspaper" with a news staff who provide government related news items on a daily basis, e.g. the federal chancellor's speeches, articles on key policy issues, state visits, results of cabinet meetings, etc. The government is pursuing and ambitious project in digital communication on four sites, making it possible to provide: # direct and up-to-date information on government activities; # competent, transparent, and interactive presentation of policy issues and decisions; # direct and equal access to the government.

Information is presented in four languages: those of our readers around the world who don't know German can use our English, French, Spanish sites. Maintained by the Press and Information Office, these sites are reliable sources of up-to-date information. They also constitute archives containing important documents on government activity.

The federal government's presence on the Internet has two constituent parts: www.bundesregierung.de and www.bundeskanzler.de

The Press and Information Office has a password-protected area containing information for the media. Information is posted on this site for use by the media representatives in reporting on government policies and activities. It includes announcements of scheduled press events, accreditation calls, programs, background papers, as well as current press releases.

The Press and Information Office also maintains a website for use by German missions abroad, embassies, consulates, representative offices. This global Internet is an effective instrument for successful press and public relations work around the world. The activity of presenting German policy abroad and engaging in cultural communication is supported by current news items, background reports, and a comprehensive information service.

The sites www.bundesregierung.de and www.bundeskanzler.de target a new public constituted by Internet users at home and abroad. They focus on providing information on current political events as well as presenting complex policy issues and decisions in a manner that is transparent and easy to understand. The Internet is still a very new medium. But so many people here in Germany and elsewhere in the world have access to the web that a very specific public has developed. The Internet is a very transparent medium. Any policy statement and any item of information can be subjected to scrutiny and criticized. Precisely because the Internet offers almost unlimited access to information the government pages need to be very reliable and carefully designed. The Internet is international. Although the actual target group of the government's website is people living in Germany, the same pages also represent Germany abroad. For this reason the government selects parts of its German pages for translation into English, French and Spanish.

The government's Web pages are the result of creative and flexible teamwork within the Press and Information Office and with the federal ministries. A newly created Internet news staffis responsible for selecting and editing the contents posted on the website. This group coordinates its work closely with the office of the government press spokesman's chief-of-staff and the individual sections. The office of the government press spokesman's chief-of-staff liaises between the Chancellery and government spokespersons, on the one hand, and the general public, on the other.

The various sections at the press and information office supply the Internet staff with background information coordinated with the respective ministries regarding current areas of government work. A special staff group is responsible for providing texts in foreign languages.

The Internet news staff is responsible for the release and coordination of information posted and for web page design. The Internet news staff has to assess the political relevance of the information it receives and select it accordingly. The primary concern in the daily work of the Internet news staff is that of updating the contents of the first page, the "cover" page of the government's Internet portal.

The page is intended to provide people using the website, including journalists and other persons with influence on public opinion, with information regarding current issues. This information may be in the form of speeches, press releases, or articles written by the various sections or the Internet news staff. When the federal chancellor travels abroad on government business a member of the Internet news staff always accompanies him and reports live on the meetings held.

The Internet news staff is also responsible for detailed background information and documentation of government work. The start page has links to more detailed information at deeper levels of the website where the news staff provides comprehensive documentation of government work in focal areas such as "right-wing extremism" or "internet for all". There are also links to related information on ministry web-sites. These focal areas and a complete "A-Z" list of topic appear in double form i.e. on the opening page and in an archive of policy statements, documents, and link collections. The Internet news staff has the support of 120 editors in 23 sections, 2 staff offices, as well as the office of the government press spokesman's chief-of-staff.

What is not available on the government's website? There are no permanent chat rooms for virtual discussions. This is based on a decision to limit permanent interactivity in favor of fulfilling the government's obligations to provide information and documentation services. On the other hand, chats with members of the government on specific issues are very much part of government dialogue with the public. A considerable amount of the editorial work done goes in answering e-mails that fall within the news staff's area of responsibility.

Text courtesy: Deutschland E4 N 3/2001 June/July, Embassy of Germany in Kathmandu.

Humanitarian Assistance and Battle against Terrorism go hand in hand

-Paula J. Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, US

This week's military action against terrorist bases in Afghanistan is part of an overall US led strategy to eradicate global terrorism. The media coverage to military response to the terrible attacks of September 11 has tended to overlook another crucial aspect of Bush Administration strategy-addressing both immediate and long-term problems plaguing the people of Afghanistan.

Compassion is an integral component of President Bush's foreign policy, and it motivates America, even in these trying times, to continue to lea the international effort to provide humanitarian relief to those most vulnerable. As the President has asserted, "We have no compassion for terrorists, or for any state that sponsors them. But we do have compassion for the millions around world who are victims of hate and oppression-including those in Afghanistan. We are friends of the Afghan people. We have an opportunity to make sure the world is a better place for generations to come."

Afghanistan has suffered 22 years of war, three years of severe drought, and five years of the brutal, repressive Taliban regime. As a result, more than half the Afghan population is malnourished and millions are at risk of starvation. More than three million Afghans have fled their homes and escaped to neighboring states.

Over the past two decades, the United States has consistently been the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. During the fiscal year ending September 30, the US provided more than $ 185 million in food, health care, water and sanitation services, and shelter to vulnerable Afghans. That amounts to roughly two-thirds of the total aid to Afghanistan from all international donors.

On October 4, the President announced an additional $320 million in aid, which includes $25 million in immediate assistance for those Afghans who have escaped the Taliban into the neighboring countries in South and Central Asia. Our key goal is to reduce the numbers of deaths of innocent Afghan civilians and to help those Afghans who have already fled. Other countries are stepping up to the plate as well, pledging $400 millions to bolster our efforts.

By confronting the growing famine in Afghanistan, we will greatly increase the Afghan's chances of survival this winter. We will also discourage Afghans from fleeing in the first place and offer incentive for those who have fled to return. We provide food and other essentials to vulnerable Afghans in ways that ensure that the assistance reaches those in need and is not diverted or stolen by the Taliban. We have a range of options to accomplish both goals: avoiding large-scale of food within Afghanistan, opening food pipelines into the country from every direction, and supplying the markets with an abundance of food to depress the inflated prices.

Recent airdrops of food to hard-to-reach are a temporary measure and comprise less than one percent of the total food aid going into Afghanistan, 99 percent of which is transported overland into the country by the World Food Program and distributed locally by non-governmental organizations. The US currently provides 80 percent of all food contributions to the WFP that benefit the Afghan people.

The people of Afghanistan know that their plight is being addressed not by brutal, unpopular Taliban dictatorship but by the international community, led by the US. We already have underway and active information campaign through such means as the VOA to describe to the Afghan people our efforts to help. Our goal is to make clear to them and everyone that our conflict is not with the Afghan people or with Islam, but with the terrorists hiding in Afghanistan and with those who harbor them.

Humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people responds not only to the immediate crisis on the ground, but also lays the groundwork for Afghanistan's development in the months and years to follow the current crisis. The provision of food and medical supplies will reduce illness and mortality. Stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan and facilitating a return to normal life will create conditions under which longer-term development problems in that country can at last be addressed. That process will remove openings that extremist group otherwise would exploit. Hence, humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan also serves as a vital tool in our overall fight against terrorism.

The tragedy of September 11 was an attack not only against Americans, but against humanity and the civilized world. The terrorism perpetrated that day left thousands dead and injured, including nationals from roughly 80 countries, and represented an assault on freedom throughout the world. The US government has forged an international coalition to defeat the terrorists and those who give them safe harbor.

The US was certainly not the first to fall victim to terrorism's ravages. The 23 million people of Afghanistan have suffered enormously because of Taliban regime's repression and its willingness to harbor Osama Bin Laden and his network of terrorists. America has always understood that we can never rid the world of evil unless we also do our part to fill the world with good. That is precisely the path that the President has chosen to pursue.

Text courtesy: USIA, Kathmandu.