ABSTRACT
During the period under review, that is, from 1989 to 1996, there were principally two Departments of the United Nations (UN) Secretariat which were responsible for information dissemination within and about peacekeeping operations. These were the Department of Public Information (DPI) and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). DPI is in essence a department of the UN that services constituents, in particular the media, with accredited correspondents at UN headquarters and at its regional offices. DPI has produced thousands of publications of varying length, as well as its own films, videos and radio programmes in the official UN languages. When the 'Peace and Security Programmes Section' of DPI was established following that Department's restructuring, it began to cooperate closely with the Department for Special Political Affairs under Marrack Goulding. Differences between DPKO and DPI continue to exist, in particular with regard to the appointment of mission spokespersons and other information staff in the field.
