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Press FAQ

A cameraman during the inauguration ceremony of the first Albanian Media Club, a self-regulatory body promoted and established with the support of the OSCE Presence, Tirana, 27 January 2010. (OSCE/Joana Karapataqi) Photo details
Answers to frequently asked questions about the OSCE by media professionals.

How do I contact ...?

Press and Public Information (OSCE Secretariat, Vienna)
Media contacts for OSCE institutions and other bodies and OSCE missions and field operations
OSCE delegations
Partners for Co-operation

Can I contact press officers in official OSCE languages other than English?

Apart from English, the press officers can be contacted in Russian, French and German. Queries in Italian and Spanish can also be answered by the press office, but might sometimes require a written answer.

Can I get OSCE press releases and media advisories e-mailed to me automatically?

Yes, go to our e-mail subscription page where you can register as a media professional. Follow the steps as shown on the screen and create your account. You can choose to receive e-mail notifications on as many or as few subjects or regions as you wish.

How can I subscribe to OSCE publications?

Subscription requests for the quarterly OSCE Magazine can be sent to osce-magazine-at@osce.org. All issues of the OSCE Magazine are available online in both English and Russian in PDF format.

You can subscribe to Highlights, the OSCE's monthly e-newsletter, here.

Is it possible to attend meetings of the Permanent Council or Forum for Security Co-operation?

Meetings of the Permanent Council and Forum for Security Co-operation, which are held in the Neuer Saal at the Hofburg Congress Centre in Vienna, are not normally open to the press. However, when there is a guest speaker, journalists may be invited to hear the speech. In such cases, a media advisory will be published on our press releases and media advisories page a few days in advance and will also be e-mailed to media subscribers.

Can I interview guest speakers?

If you are accredited you will also be invited to any press opportunity. If you wish, you can wait in the coffee bar and "doorstep" the guest. The OSCE's Press and Public Information staff might also be able to help you set up an interview.

Is there a list of upcoming OSCE events on this site?

Yes, check out the events calendar and subscribe to Highlights e-newsletter.

Is country X a member of the OSCE?

The OSCE has 57 participating States, which are:
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uzbekistan.

The OSCE also maintains close relations with two groups of countries which are not participating States, the Mediterranean and the Asian Partners for Co-operation.

I want to write about country X, can you help me?

The OSCE has 16 field operations. You can contact the OSCE field operations directly.

If you are writing about elections monitored by the OSCE in any country, your first port of call should be the press office of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE's primary election-monitoring body, which is based in Warsaw.

You can also contact Press and Public Information in Vienna and we'll point you in the right direction.

Does the OSCE have photos I can use?

We have an online photo database with more than 10,000 pictures, many of which have high-resolution versions that you can download free of charge. To find photos of a specific person or activity, go to our photo search page.

Where do I look for background information on the OSCE?

The best place to start is probably with our range of factsheets on the OSCE and its various institutions, field operations and other bodies. For a comprehensive look at the history of the Organization, see the OSCE timeline.

You can also contact Press and Public Information at the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna. We can answer most OSCE-related questions, and if we can't, we can usually put you in touch with someone who can.