Page 404 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International

We at the UN consider the media to be our partner in fighting against war,
poverty, injustice and human suffering of any kind. There are many examples of
how the UN and the media go hand in hand. Very often journalists provide the
UN with "early warning" of the aggravation of the situation in a certain crisis
area. Journalists, by giving attention to the victims of crises in faraway countries
which are not in the public eye, help them to receive more aid and assistance
than they otherwise would. The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, is
advancing the concept of "preventive journalism" by which he means identify-
ing matters of public concerns, digging up information and rousing the
international community to action. He urges the journalists to improve the
quality of their reports by being more aware of the effect the reports can have.
The Secretary-General is looking forward to working with journalists “in diag-
nosing the world's problems and, in the best tradition of preventive medicine,
finding cures to those ills before they rage unchecked".

The UN and the journalists are actually doing complimentary work in
sharing this information with people and Governments. The UN as a global
forum involved in the search of common solutions for its Member States, sets
the norms of international behaviour, accumulates "know- how", develops rec-
ommendations and makes reports on various problems. The journalists,
analyzing and interpreting this data, disseminate it all over the world, thus facil-
itating the access of Governments and especially the peoples to the unique
repository of political, social and economic knowledge.

The UN has a long tradition of close cooperation with journalists. Today
there are 250 journalists permanently accredited to UNOG, approximately the
same number as at the UN New York Headquarters. During important events,
such as big international conferences, their number may increase up to 1,500.
UNOG provides the journalists with one of the best facilities for their work -
technical support, organization of regular press conferences and press briefings,
distribution of UN documents, press releases and press kits, etc.

UNOG also keeps abreast with new technological developments. As it is
known, the tools and methods the journalists use today have changed and
continue to develop dynamically. Many of these changes involve, in one way or
another, a "network of networks," - the Internet which has started a major
revolution in information access and delivery.

To help the journalists have access to the largest possible number of
sources of information, UNOG is currently installing a number of computers in

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