From Nov. 18 to 19, international experts are meeting in Bogota, Colombia to discuss the situation of the media, legislation, ownership concentration and/or control and the impact on freedom of expression and the exercise of journalism.
The international conference "Free and independent media in plural and diverse media systems" was organized by the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and UNESCO, and is organized and promoted by National Television Authority of Colombia (ANTV).
The representative of UNESCO for Latin America, Guilherme Canela, and the Special Rapporteur of the IACHR, Edison Lanza, opened two days of discussion which aim to “articulate the points of view of regulators, academics and especially, of public and private media, whose important work is the primary platform for free expression,” ANTV said.
The debate is conducted through lectures, discussions, workshops and panels in which representatives of civil society, media, journalists and audiovisual regulators of the Americas will participate.
Topics such as the role of community media, the role of investigative journalism in democracy, the impact of the digital age on freedom of expression, among others, are being discussed.
On Nov. 19, discussion begins at 8:30 a.m. (Colombian time). At one of the activities planned for 11 a.m., the Special Rapporteur will present a draft of "the main guidelines of the thematic report on standards of freedom of expression and regulation, public policy and best practices to prevent and reduce the concentration of media.” The Special Rapporteur made a public call this year to produce the report.
This international conference has the support of the Platform of Regulators of the Ibero-American Audiovisual Sector (PRAI for its acronym in Spanish), the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), Deutsche Welle, Observacom and Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Ibero-American Journalism (FNPI for its acronym in Spanish).
To follow the event live and in Spanish, click here.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
