Government Information Office
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In April 1947, the Taiwanese government completed all preparations for the implementation of constitutional rule and made the transition from the stage of political tutelage to that of constitutional government. All ministries, commissions and councils under the Executive Yuan were expanded, and on April 23, the Executive Yuan established the Government Information Office and agencies for health, irrigation and land affairs. The GIO was formally inaugurated in Nanking on May 2, 1947, and the Department of International Publicity, originally under the Ministry of Information of the Kuomintang, was placed under it.
On March 21, 1949, the President of Taiwan promulgated the revision of Articles 3 and 5 of the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan, whereby the organization of the Yuan was streamlined and all agencies were regrouped under eight ministries, two councils and one department. The GIO was abolished, and the Executive Yuan Council approved at its 52nd session the establishment of an Information Department under the General Secretariat of the Executive Yuan on April 5, 1949. Twenty days later, the headquarters of the Information Department was transferred to Canton along with the central government.
The further relocation of the central government to Taipei on December 7, 1949, led to another organizational change in the Executive Yuan in March 1950 when the Information Department was abolished. On April 24, the Executive Yuan ordered the establishment of a temporary institution--the Office of Government Spokesman, which was responsible for making press releases.
The original GIO was reactivated on January 1, 1954, in response to changes at home and abroad. In August 1973, the GIO became responsible for matters pertaining to the mass media, originally carried out by the Ministries of the Interior and Education and other related institutions. In addition to its domestic and international information tasks, the GIO assumed responsibilities for publication affairs, motion picture affairs, as well as television and radio broadcasting.
