Diatr. GENERAL A/41/328 9 May 1986 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH Forty-first seseion Item 113 of the preliminary list* PROGRAMME BUDGET FOR THE BIENNIUM 1986-1987 Evaluation of the News Service of the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs Note by the Secretary-General 1. Ae requested by the Committee for Programme and Co-ordinc.ilon at ite twenty-fifth session, the report of the Administrative Management Service on the evaluation of the News Service of the Department of Political and Security Council AffairA is annexed to the present note. Under normal circumstances, reports of the Administrative Manaqement Service are internal documents for Secretariat use only. Exceptionally, however, because of the epecial interest expressed by the members of the Committee for Proqramme and Co-ordination and Member States, this evaluation report ie beinq made public. The evaluation report is provided in its entirety, a8 prepared by the Administrative Management Service, but itR ennexes have been omitted to reduce caste. 2. The Secretary-General conaiders the conclusions and recommendations of the report to be, in qeneral, soundly based an.i has reservations only about the recommendation that the daily bulletins be reduced from four to two a day. The utility of these bulletins ts much enhanced by their timeliness. If they were reduced to two a day, Borne of this value would be lo&*.. The Secretary-General would therefore prefer that the present four daily bulletins be keduced by only one. This would aeem to coincide with the views expreesed by other end-users. 3. Aa the sources utilized for the daily press review have been expanded and its coverage extended in accordance with the findings in the evaluation, :he Secretary-General believes that there would be value in continuing the daily press review for a further period of three months in order lo as8e88 ite value in the light of these changes. * A/41/50/Rev.l. 86-12950 1954m (E) / . 0 A/41/328 English Page 2 ANNEX Evaluation of the News Service of the Department of Political- and Security Council Affairs (Prepared by the Administrative Management Service of the Secretariat) CONTENTS Paragraphs Page I. ‘NTRODUCTION .............................................. 1 - 7 3 A. General ............................................... 1 - 4 3 B. Objectives and methodology of the evaluation .......... 5 - 7 3 11. ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL AND SECURITY COUNCIL AFFAIRS NEWS SERVICE ................................................... 8 - 59 4 A. History and mandate of the Political and Security Collncil Affairs Newr Service .......................... 8 4 B. Objectives of the News Service ........................ Q - 12 4 C” Description and assessment of outputs ................. 13 - 40 5 D. Sts 4fing and redeployments ............................ 41 - 49 15 E. Costs of the Political and Security Council Affairs New8 Service .......................................... 50 - 53 19 F. Twenty-four hour wire service monitorinq .............. 54 - 59 21 III. CONCLUSIONS ............................................... 60 - 69 22 IV. RECOMMENDA’i’KONS ..~..,,......C..,,..,..,...........~..,...........“.... 24 / . A/4 l/328 Englirh Page 3 I. INTRODUCTION A. Genera 1 1. This evaluation of the News Service of the Department of Politic81 and Security Council Affairs (PSCA), hereafter referred to au the New8 Service, hre been prepared by the Adminietrative Management Service (AMS), at the request ef the Secretary-General. The eva lust ion plan was approved, on behalf of the Secretary-General, by the Chef de Cabinet on 14 Novemtcr 1985. 2. This final report enlarges upon the progrerrs report which WII rubmitted to the Executive Office of the Secretary-*General on 23 December 1985. 3. It will be recalled that since the evaluation exercire began, the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly diacursed the New8 Service at conridersble length. The progress report of December 1985 rummarlzed the Committee’8 deliberatione in this regard. On 14 December 1985 the General Aamemb!y, in eection XI of resolution 40/252, decided: “to maintain for 1986 the current staffing resources of the New8 Service of the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs pending consideration by the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the General Asaemb Y of the Secretary-General’s report on the evaluation of the Newr Service”. 4. The Secretariat hae undertaken that “the result6 of the evaluation will be available to the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination In time for its twenty-sixth 8eesionn, which is now scheduled to take place from 28 April to 30 May 1986. B. Objectives and methodology of the evaluation 5. The two-fold man?ate of the evaluation waBt (a) To evaluate both the utility of the News Service to clients and its efficiency with regard to internal ar;angemente; (b) To make recommendations on any improvements that could be made. 6. Through the use of structured interviews , work sampling and flow-charting, work study techniques and systems and procedures analysis, the evaluation team undertook the following: (a) Review of the operations, schedule, collection and selection methods for the news obtained from wire services) (b) Review of the preparation and publication methods of the daily and weekly news bulletins and reports) / . A/41/328 English Page 4 (c) Procedural study Of the diaaemination channels and distribution patterns of daily and weekly news bulletin8 and reports) (d) Detailed analysis of responsibilities and work-loads of the staff of the News Service) (e) Content analysis on a sample basis of news coveraqo in the daily and weekly bulletins and reports) (f) Survey of users9 views on the benefits of the enhanced News Servicer (g) Review of organizational relationships related to the News Service’8 operations and mission, including the relationship with other information inputs to the Excrutive Office of the Secretary-General and related linkages to the Department of Public Information and other Departments and Offices as required. 7. Before undertaking desk audits and conducting interviews with the staff concerned, the evaluation team looked in some detail into the background of the News Service. It followed closely the debates in the Fifth Committee and took into account the points raised during the twenty-fifth cession of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination. The team paid special attention to the question of possible duplication with the outputs of other departments of the Secretariat, especially the Department of Public Information (DPI). To that end, it conducted several interviews with DPI staff and visited a number of inatallations in that Department. II. ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL AND SECURITY COUNCIL AFFAIRS NEWS SERVICE A. History and mandate of the PSCA News Service 8. The gathering of new8 relating to political issues for the Secretary-General and its distribution to other appropriate officials had been under way in the Secretariat lonq before the present Secretary-General decided “to develop a wider and more systematic capacity for fact-finding in potential conflict areas”, as stated in his 1982 report on the work of the Organization. The PICA News Service, which was established by the Secretary-General in his capacity as Chief Administrative Officer of the Organization, doee not supersede any orqani?ational unit of the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs. Its objectives were integrated Into the work programme and the activities of the Section for Co-ordination and Political Information within that Department, which was created in 1975 by merging two units , one for co-ordination and the other for political information, in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General. 8. Objectives of the News Service 9. It will be recalled that the News Service, as constituted at present, grew a8 a consequence of the Secretary-General’s annual report on the work of the /..C A/41/328 English Page 5 Organization, presented to the General Aesembly at its thirty-seventh session and the in-depth analysiu of the available public sourcea of information undertaken SUbSeCWently by a workinq group of thrQe Under-Secretaries-General. In his report, the Secretary-General specifically stated: “In order to carry out effectively the preventive role foreseen for the Secretary-General under Article 99, I intend t0 develop a wider and more systematic capacity for fact-finding in potential conflict areas. Such efforts would naturally be undertaken in close co-ordination with the Security council. ” 3.J 10. In order to carry out his function8 under Article 99 of the Charter, the Secretary-General can draw on an information-gathering network of which information in the public domain form8 only one part. He is in frequent contact with Governments of Member States at the senior-most levels a8 well as with their representatives to the Organization. Likewise he is in constant contact with his senior colleagues both at Headquarter8 and in the field as well as with hia close aides. Of all the public sources of information that reach the Secretary-General, the NOW8 Service is but one. His Executive Office prepare8 for him on a weekly ba8iS an exteileive cortpendium of international press and wire service coverage of and comment on a wide ranqe of matters, including rituatione that might place under threat the maintenance of international peace and security. His spokesman, whore staff monitors the Reuters wire service and who is in constant contact with all the member8 of the united Nations Correspondent8 Association, frequently alerts him and hi8 aides to breaking news that. might merit their attention. He is providad with daily summaries of the local press by hi8 repreeentatives in areas where the Organization maintains peace-keeping operations. In addition the publicly available information of local origin provided by the United Nations Information Centre8 (UNIC) around the world is analysed in hi8 Executive Office and UMmCiZOd on a weekly basis. These sources of information are highly valued by the Secretary-General and his close collaborators a8 they have been modified and honed over time. 11.