The UN has shaped up well to the demands of global media, writes Hedayat Abdel Nabi No one experiences the interaction of media with the UN like international correspondents; it is this category of media that deals on a daily basis with UN news, through UN officials and UN documents. At the outset, I would say that the UN at 60 has successfully made the relation between media and the UN a swift and efficient stream of information and news using lead technologies. What has been an added asset to the UN is the presence of a number of charismatic leaders in the system, among them UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland. Jan Egeland, the brilliant Norwegian humanitarian expert, has offered the media, every now and then, a full plate of elegant and attractive quotes and sound bites that in turn has helped to alert donors through the media to the gravity of humanitarian crises in Darfur, Niger, Northern Uganda and other regions. The concept of disaster preparedness and management and its urgency to the world has also been consolidated in practice by this first class Norwegian UN communicator. Another UN leader whose charisma, communication skills and humanitarian outlook has impacted positively on the relation between the UN and the media, is the new high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres. Guterres' interaction with the media is first class. His press conferences are always a centre of attraction to media. When the UN listens to calls by the media, it is highly rewarded, when it gives a deaf ear, the wagon slips from its grips. And in this regard I would like to talk about the repeated calls by the Geneva press corps to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to hold an annual news conference at the world's humanitarian capital, Geneva. Time constraints prevented him from giving an official news conference for more than three years, until he found space on Monday 10 October 2005 to address the Geneva press corps. My modest assessment of this lengthy press conference was that it was one of Annan's best interactions with the press, if not the best. In a world of the Internet, e-mail, mobile phones and satellite transmission, the UN has capitalised on all new technologies to service the media better. The whole story of the UN and its contribution to humanity is the story of it interacting with the general public and donor member states through the media. And in this regard I would think that it would be important to turn the UN's consolidated appeals for aid in dealing with crises into TV spots or documentaries, as an information tool for the general public and donor countries, which would be an addition to hard news reporting Such TV spots and documentaries should not be the monopoly of the West; the UN must move forward and prepare such items for the Arab world where the general public is very generous, especially in the Gulf region. A living testament to the success of this call is the outreach of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to the general public in the Gulf region where huge donations pour in to assist appeals in the aid of Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories and neighbouring Arab countries. Turkey, a regional power in the greater Middle East, has made substantial and important contributions to relief and recovery efforts during and after the Tsunami in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Therefore, such items aiming at attracting the general public and donor countries must not miss a country like Turkey. From my vantage point in Geneva as an international correspondent working with the Kuwait News Agency, and as a former UN information expert, I would tell the UN at 60: Bravo, big applause, you have earned an A-plus for your interaction with the media.
