The art of politics is to a large extent also the art of communications. To be a good or even a great communicator makes a lot of difference when it comes to convincing sceptical voters of the merits of apolitical message. This does not mean that expertise in communications can substitute the contents of the message. But it certainly improves your chances of being heard if you also know a little about how best to reach an audience.

This was also a much debated issue when I started to work as a political journalist in the late 1960's. After the presidential campaign in the United States between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, Joe McGinniss wrote his classic "The Selling of the President 1968". That was a critical study of political advertising. Now it seems as if almost everyone accepts that political leaders need not only advertising, but also extensive communications strategies. And that is true not only on the national level, but also increasingly in local politics. Most government leaders even have their own offices of communications.

When I started to work as Press Secretary to Olof Palme in the 1970's, I was quite alone in that position (and also had a chance to do some foreign policy work on the side). Today, the Swedish Prime Minister has three press secretaries and several other assistants in his own press office and that is only in addition to the official information service of the Government of Sweden. This reflects not a change of interest in the media on the side of the Prime Minister of Sweden, but rather an increased recognition of the growing importance of communications in today's society.

But the need to communicate is not only the concern of national political leaders and organizations. The task of communicating through the media is equally important for international organizations, and not least the United Nations. This part of the global political system also needs to tell its story to its citizens, even if they are scattered all over the world, in 185 individual countries.

The size of the audience for news about the United Nations makes this particular issue of communications both easier and more complicated. Easier, because in essence you can tell the same story, all over the world. But also more difficult, because there is no natural outlet for stories about the United Nations. True, there are a few television networks which can be described as global, and also a small number of newspapers with a more international readership. But, in general, those who work at the United Nations will have to go to the national media to obtain a reasonable coverage in most of the Member States.

For certain events related to the United Nations, there is no lack of interest in national media around the world. The recent crises between the United Nations and Iraq is one example of an issue where coverage did not need to be sought. But there are not many examples like that.

Much of what the United Nations does is very much a hidden story for most national media. One reason, of course, is that few such media can afford to cover the United Nations regularly. Another reason given is that media audiences do not care much about global politics. Local news is fine, national news OK, but global news rarely interesting-that seems increasingly to be the line to take in many newsrooms.

Even if it may be the current practice to give global news low priority, it does not mean that this has to be accepted by everyone. We who work with and for the United Nations can well argue that United Nations activities in many instances are more interesting and deserve better coverage.

When I make that argument, I do not think primarily about struggles in the Security Council or confrontations in the General Assembly. What I have in mind is all the good work that is being done by UN officials in the field, in all kinds of difficult circumstances. This could well be communicated in a much better way.

I know that in a discussion like this, I can be accused of being both biased and partial. Yes, I am biased in favour of the United Nations, and I do think that the success stories of the Organization also need to be told. But I also happen to believe that it is important for citizens around the world to be more fully aware of what their only truly global Organization is doing with the support it has received. In telling that story, the national media has a very key role. And in helping the media to play that role, the United Nations and all its members should become even more able and also better equipped to communicate these stories to the national media.

About the Author:

Ambassador Hans Dalgren was State Secretary from 1996. He was Secretary-General of the Commission on Global Governance and Head of its Geneva Secretariat, from 1992 to 1994. In 1982, he worked for a year as Press Secretary to Prime Minister Olof Palme. From 1977 to 1982, Mr. Dahlgren was Press Secretary to the Chairman of the Social Democratic party, Mr. Palme. Mr. Dalhgren worked as a journalist from 1971 to 1977, including four years as a political correspondent at "Aktuellt", the daily television news programme of TV One. In 1975, he spent a year as First Secretary at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Assistant to the Foreign Minister, before rejoining "Aktuellt" as Deputy Foreign Editor until 1977. From 1967 to 1968, he was President of the Swedish Student Union.