The Information Services Department (ISD) is the

Hong Kong Government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong Special administrative regions of China, ...

's public relations office, publisher, advertiser, and news agency, serving as the link between the government and the media. It was also commonly called Government Information Services (GIS).

History

In September 1945, following the end of the Japanese occupation, the

British Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

appointed a Press Relations Officer to communicate with remaining war correspondents. The unit was retitled as the Public Relations Office (PRO) when the civilian administration resumed governance of Hong Kong in 1946. The PRO was renamed as the Information Services Department (ISD) on 1 April 1959. On 8 June 1963, ISD's headquarters moved from the fifth and sixth floors of the West Wing of the

Central Government Offices The Central Government Complex has been the headquarters of the Government of Hong Kong since 2011. Located at the Tamar site, the complex comprises the Central Government Offices, the Legislative Council Complex and the Office of the Chie ...

to the top two floors of the new Beaconsfield House on Queen's Road Central. In the 1970s, ISD launched new social development campaigns that are now ingrained in the

collective memory Collective memory refers to the shared pool of memories, knowledge and information of a social group that is significantly associated with the group's identity. The English phrase "collective memory" and the equivalent French phrase "la mémoire c ...

of Hong Kong people. These included the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign, which was promoted using the iconic ''Lap Sap Chung'' litterbug character designed by ISD officer Arthur Hacker. Following the 1995 sale of Beaconsfield House to a private developer, the Information Services Department relocated to the nearby

Murray Building The Murray Hong Kong was a government office building on 22 Cotton Tree Drive, Central, Hong Kong. It has 27 stories and housed some of the key decision making bureaus of the Hong Kong government. The building was auctioned off for re-dev ...

in 1996. Today, it is headquartered at the Harbour Building in

Sheung Wan Sheung Wan is an area in Hong Kong, located in the north-west of Hong Kong Island, between Central and Sai Ying Pun. Administratively, it is part of the Central and Western District. The name can be variously interpreted as ''Upper Dist ...

. It also once had offices in the

Former French Mission Building The Former French Mission Building is a declared monument located on Government Hill at 1, Battery Path, Central, Hong Kong. It housed the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong from 1 July 1997 to 6 September 2015. Antiquities and Monuments O ...

. In July 2022, the department rejected an Access to Information request after some media outlets were banned from covering events regarding 25th anniversary events on 1 July 2022. In response, the

Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

confirmed that there would be a full investigation into the matter. In September 2022, Fletch Chan, head of the department, was part of a team that organized of a media event with

John Lee John Lee may refer to: Academia * John Lee (astronomer) (1783–1866), president of the Royal Astronomical Society * John Lee (university principal) (1779–1859), University of Edinburgh principal * John Lee (pathologist) (born 1961), English ...

. When ''

Hong Kong Free Press Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) is a free, non-profit news website based in Hong Kong. It was co-founded in 2015 by Tom Grundy, who believed that the territory's press freedom was in decline, to provide an alternative to the dominant English-languag ...

'' (HKFP) asked the ISD about why they could not attend, the ISD told HKFP to contact the event organizer.

Organisation

The department is organised into four divisions: *Local Public Relations *Publicity and Promotions *Public Relations Outside Hong Kong *Administration

Directors

References

;Bibliography *

External links

* {{authority control 1959 establishments in Hong Kong Hong Kong government departments and agencies