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Good Journalism, Good Government: Running A Responsible Press Office

© Marguerite Hoxie Sullivan.

Marguerite Sullivan Date: May 10, 2006 Time: 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) View Webchat Transcript

What are the roles and characteristics of a press representative? How can an organization mount an effective media campaign? What tools are available to a press office to deal with unexpected events that require a quick response? Join Marguerite Sullivan, a communications specialist with extensive experience in journalism, government and with nongovernmental organizations for a USINFO webchat on how to manage a press office.

Guest Biography: Marguerite Hoxie Sullivan is a communications specialist with extensive experience as a journalist, an executive in government and with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), working on democracy, education and women’s issues. Currently, she serves as director of the U.S. UNESCO Affairs Office and as the executive director of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

In work supported by the U.S. State Department, World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development and media organizations, she has trained journalists and government and NGO executives in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean countries on issues of freedom of the press, transparency, ethics and being effective communicators. For the U.S. Department of State, she wrote "A Responsible Press Office: An Insider’s Guide" on running an effective press office. The book, based on her extensive work in other countries, has been translated into nearly 30 languages and received awards from the National Association of Government Communicators, Public Relations Society of America and Women in Communications Inc.

Most recently, Sullivan served as vice president of the International Republican Institute, an NGO that works to advance democracy around the world. Sullivan began her professional career as a journalist, working for newspapers in Boston and California before moving to Washington, where she was a reporter and columnist for Copley News Service. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and Washingtonian magazine among others.