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THE MEDIA

successful textbook donation campaign, the department raised more than $230,000 in 1975 to buy new textbooks for distribution free of charge to some 2,000 needy students.

Government Information Services

The Government Information Services is a major link between the government, the people of Hong Kong and the rest of the world. The department is organised in three main divisions-news, publicity and public relations-with certain services common to all three.

The news division is responsible for issuing to the media all government an- nouncements, varying from information on matters of government policy to routine notices and weather reports. It channels information to newspapers, news agencies, radio and television stations; produces a daily information bulletin in both Chinese and English; deals with press enquiries 24 hours a day; and, in times of emergency, becomes the nerve centre of all communications.

Through its teleprinter and facsimile networks, the division is able to relay information speedily to the media for public dissemination. The system provides for all information and announcements to reach the English and the Chinese media simultaneously.

The daily information bulletin supplements the teleprinter and facsimile services and gives factual information on government projects as well as routine notices and statistics. It is distributed to more than 120 newspapers, news agencies, and television and radio stations.

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The division's press enquiry service operates 24 hours a day and during the year answered an average of 200 queries a day. The news division also maintains a comprehensive press and reference library which is used daily by local and overseas journalists as well as by students and members of the public.

During typhoons, severe rainstorms or any other emergency, the division is quickly transformed into a communications control centre and manned round-the- clock by teams of officers working in shifts. Liaison officers are also deployed to key departments directly involved to ensure that up-to-the-minute information on the situation reaches the news division for dissemination to the media and the public.

The GIS publicity division consists of three sub-divisions—publicity and market- ing, creative, and editorial. The creative sub-division is responsible for all government films and photographic work, and also all design and display services. Editorial division produces the Hong Kong yearbook and a wide variety of government publications. It is responsible for the sale of all government publications and is the Hong Kong agent for the publications of many overseas governments and inter- national agencies. The division also has a section looking after overseas publicity with particular reference to film and TV teams visiting Hong Kong. Publicity and marketing division handles the promotion of campaigns and the distribution of all publicity materials.

The main objective of the public relations division is to foster better under- standing between the people and the government. The division achieves this largely