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The Federal Press Office from 1949 to today

On 15 September 1949 Konrad Adenauer was elected Chancellor. A day later the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany set up the Federal Chancellery as the "office of the Federal Government". This was also the day on which the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government ("Federal Press Office") was founded. A brief retrospective: following the experience of the notorious Reich Propaganda Ministry of the totalitarian Nazi regime the first Federal Government based the structure of the Federal Press Office on organisational forms from the Weimar Republic. Adenauer wanted not only a press office in the Chancellery, but also an independent authority. The Head of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government is directly answerable to the Chancellor.

Since the end of 1998 the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government has been developed specifically into a modern service provider - a service provider for German citizens, for the media and the Federal Government.

The "Federal Press Office" ("Bundespresseamt"), the shorter term often used for the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, is, however, misleading because the Federal Press Office is not an authority which somehow regulates or even supervises the press. There is no such authority in Germany. The press is free and there is no censorship (Article 5, Para 1, Sentence 2 and 3 Basic Law).

The Press and Information Office of the Federal Government fulfils two essential tasks: providing information on the work of the Federal Government and internal information for the work of the Federal Government.

"Externally" the Federal Press Office provides information on Federal Government policy on the one hand to German citizens and on the other to the media. This includes information on measures, laws, strategies and backgrounds of policies. The freedom to form and express opinions and make judgements requires information and knowledge - those who wish to take part in politics or make decisions must know about politics.

"Internally" the Federal Press Office provides information on the news situation in Germany and the world to the Federal Government, the German Bundestag, the Chancellor and the Federal President, as well as their staff: with news and press analyses, personal reports and other up-to-date information. Comprehensive and reliable information from home and abroad is essential to making appropriate and responsible decisions and strategies.

The Press and Information Office of the Federal Government is the hub of information between German citizens, the media and the Federal Government - committed to and active for all sides.

In order for the Federal President, the Chancellor and the federal ministers to be able to react quickly they must have access at all times to information that has been systematically analysed and processed. For this reason the Federal Press Office not only provides its "customers" with information at their place of work but also when they are out and about abroad.

The press portfolio for the Chancellor, which is produced twice daily, contains selected articles from German and foreign newspapers and magazines. Electronic news reviews provide information on important news, reports, commentaries and interviews. They inform the members of the Federal Government, members of the German Bundestag and staff in ministries and parliament.

The press archive comprises around 2,500 titles of German and foreign publications. For research and documentation the Federal Press Offices uses the services of all major German and foreign news agencies, news in the major daily and weekly newspapers as well as the most important German and foreign magazines. In addition, politically relevant programmes from around 125 German and foreign radio and television stations are recorded. Of course, news from all important online sources is also analysed.

The media play a key role in democracy: they are mediators between the Federal Government on the one hand and German citizens on the other. Newspapers, radio and television provide German citizens with information and in this way help form opinions. It is therefore very important to provide the media with comprehensive information on the activities and plans of the Federal Government - this is not only the Federal Government's right, but also its duty.

The Federal Government fulfils this duty to provide information to the media using several methods: for example, through regular press conferences on current political topics. The Federal Press Conference - an independent group of German parliamentary journalists - invites the Government Spokesman and spokespersons of the ministries to attend a press conference three times a week. At this occasion the spokespersons answer all questions put to them by the capital's journalists.

Furthermore, the office of the "Head of Service" (Chef vom Dienst or in short CvD) is the first place for journalists to go with their queries. The CvD publishes the Chancellor's and the Federal Government's press releases. The Federal Press Office has a professional website for the media. In addition to up-to-date news, the website contains backgrounds, material and documents on government policy.

The picture archive contains over two million pictures of the Federal President and the Chancellor at official engagements at home and abroad.

The Federal Government also provides German citizens with information directly. For some years now the Internet has played an increasingly important role in this. The Press and Information Office of the Federal Government supplies the websites www.bundesregierung.de and www.bundeskanzler.de with up-to-date information on Federal Government policy, material and original documents - and with the Federal Government's homepage alone it reaches two to three million citizens each month. The visitors access up to 25 million pages. This accounts for far more citizens and far more information than has ever been achieved with traditional media.

In addition, numerous brochures, guides and leaflets provide German citizens with information on important cross-departmental topics of government policy. This information is also increasingly available on the Internet. This not only saves costs and resources, but also ensures that the information is very up-to-date. There are guides oriented at various target groups - printed and online - for example, for young people, women, employees, tenants and housing benefit recipients.

The Federal Press Office also looks after visitors of the members of the German Bundestag. Each member can invite two groups of visitors from her/his constituency to Berlin: 85,000 people each year. Fixed items on the itinerary for these visits are the Federal Press Office, talks with the members of the German Bundestag and experts of the ministries.