We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our colleagues at the UN Guided Tours—present and past!—as they celebrate their 50th Anniversary on 6 November 2002. The Tours have been the integral "public face" of our Organization, in particular its Department of Public Information, which has this month begun a restructuring of its operations at United Nations Headquarters to address the mission articulated by the Secrerary-General in his most recent proposals for organizational reform to "ensure that its information materials and related activities have the desired impact and constitute an effective means to project the Organization’s own distinctive voice to the world at large”.

The United Nations has a compelling story to tell. And it must be told well, because public support is essential for strengthening the Organization. In this edition of the UN Chronicle e-mail alert, we feature some of the articles we have carried in this regard—including one a little older than the Guided Tours themselves!

Issue 4, 2002

• “It Took 25 for Men to Break the Gender Barrier: Fifty Years of the UN Guided Tours.”
  by Pauline Karakat, for the Chronicle

Issue 4, 1998

• “Art... at Home in the United Nations.”
  by Edward B. Marks, author of A WORLD OF ART



• “ Should the United Nations try to be popular?”
  by Thomas B. Kirkbride

Issue 4, 1997

• “Communicating Effectively:
  The United Nations in the National Media”
  by Hans Dahlgren, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the UN

Historical articles from our archive

• “Conclusions of UN Freedom of Information Conference 1948”
  
  
• “UN Freedom of Information Conference 1948:
  What Conference Achieved.”
  by Carlos P. Romulo, President of the Fourth General Assembly of the United Nations (1949-50)

These stories and more can be found at UN Chronicle Online at www.un.org/chronicle.

The UN Chronicle print edition is published by the United Nations Department of Public Information in English and French, and co-published in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. It is not an official record; the views expressed in individual articles do not necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

To subscribe to the magazine, contact UN Publications at publications@un.org or (800) 253-9646, or go to www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/order.htm.

Please pass this UN Chronicle E-Alert on to anyone whom you think it might interest.