Public Relations

In 1999, Public Relations Division continued its efforts to promote space activities throughout Europe, in close cooperation with national space entities, other European organisations and industry.

For the media, more than 20 press events were organised (press c o n f e rences, attendances and briefings at launches, confere n c e s , exhibitions, parabolic flights, etc). There were a record of over 250 requests from writers for individual interviews with ESA to p management and programme specialists. 56 Press Releases and 21 Information Notes were distributed to more than 2000 contacts on the media mailing list. A number of press trips were also organised during the year to promote coverage of special events (launch of XMM, launches carrying ESA astronauts, etc.).

A special effort was also made in 1999 to promote European space activities with the younger generation. To celebrate the launch of the XMM mission in December, for instance, two competitions fo r E u ropean schools we re organised with the themes: ‘Draw Me a The joint ESA-CNES- P avilion at Telescope’, and ‘What's New Mr Galileo?.’ The first competition was the Le Bourget Air Show open to children aged 8 to 12, from schools in the 14 ESA Member General view of the interior of the P avilion States. Classes got together to produce a drawing of a telescope. One class per Member State was selected, and their drawings were included in the official XMM logo on the Ariane-5 launcher. ESA invited one child per country, representing the winning class, to French Guiana to see the XMM launch. For the second competition, open to youngsters aged 13 to 15, classes had to write a one-page vision of astronomy and its benefits for humanity. The winning classes – again one per Member State – were invited to Kourou to visit the , Europe's , to witness the final preparations for the XMM launch first-hand. More than 400 European students participated in this initiative.

The winning ‘Draw Me a Telescope’ competition entries, incorporated into the ESA XMM logo on the fairing of the Ariane-5 launcher

The Press Conference on 12 May following the Ministerial Council Meeting, in Brussels

60 Television and Video

Video production and broadcaster relations continued to develop at a rapid pace, addressing media relations, video production/distribution, and the monitoring of television coverage.

Early in the year two new tools to foster broadcaster relations were introduced: the ESA Television Forward Planner, and Video News Release Advisories. The Forward Planner is a 12–16 page magazine sent out six times per year to 500 television journalists. It provides a three- month outlook on upcoming events and sto r i e s . Advisories are sent to a more targeted list drawn from 2000 contacts and offer specific news stories, including new video material, and event and interview opportunities. The thirteen Advisories in 1999 covered practically all ESA Programmes.

P roduction of video material distributed on cassette continued, with the trend being to wa rds shorter programmes. In addition to the news-related Video News Releases, the general pre s e n tations and fo o ta g e compilations on specific ESA programmes were updated The new ESA TV Broadcasting Studio, within the Erasmus User Centre where necessary. The ESA Video Archive now contains over 1500 items and access through the Internet was improved with a new interface.

The major step forward in video production was the introduction of the ESA TV Service on 15 September. Produced in the multimedia studio of the Erasmus User Centre at ESTEC, it offers broadcasters and the space community a daily, edited video feed. This material is distributed via satellite, every day at the same time on the same transponder. The ESA TV Service also covers Ariane launches and Shuttle missions, and it is open to productions for national space agencies and industry. A new Internet site carries the programme information and is updated daily. Subscribers receive daily or weekly programme schedules by e-mail or fax. The number of subscribers doubled from 180 to 360 in the three months to the end of 1999.

ESA television coverage in Member States and the USA is now monito red through a network of national companies. A special effort will be made in 2000 to distil the feedback from these different sources into a coherent tool with which to optimise the impact of ESA ’ s communication with broadcasters.

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