Responsibilities

The Public Information Office for the City-Parish Government was established by ordinance of the City-Parish Council in April 1975. The function of this office is to provide, plan, and organize programs and services designed to inform the public and to generate support from the public for local government. The office works with each City department to plan and promote special events and coordinate the release of daily news through press releases, city website, as well as Metro21, the city's governmental cable TV channel.

Spokesperson Role

The Public Information Officer serves as the Official Spokesperson for the parish in cases of natural emergencies and therefore has a close working relationship with the EBRP Office of Homeland Security.

Government TV Channel

Metro21, the city's governmental cable TV channel, is owned and operated by the Office of Public Information and has been in existence since September 1999. On March 29, 2012, the Metro Council passed Ordinance 15281 amending the Franchise Agreement, allowing both Cox Communications (Cable Channel 21) and AT&T (Cable Channel 99) to broadcast Metro21 directly from the Office of Metro21. In 2012, The Public Information Office implemented a Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) access channel through AT&T.

Metro21, a 24-hour cable channel, broadcasts to 200,000 homes in East Baton Rouge Parish, providing programming that showcases the accomplishments of City Government, driving the messages of the Mayor, City Council and the respective East Baton Rouge Parish City agencies to all residents. The channel also broadcasts state-affiliated programming and community-wide public service announcements, and the Arts Showcase, promoting arts and humanities in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Public Information Office is to nourish good citizenship by promoting and earning public trust; to provide leadership and high quality service by consistently communicating with citizens about their needs and aspirations; to work with all Council members, the Mayor and all City-Parish departments so that procedures, programs and events within the government can be properly reported to the public; and to provide emergency communications in the event of a disaster to the citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish.