Three new UNESCO documents to be launched at the VI Latin American Forum on Public Media
The upcoming celebration of the VI Latin American Forum on Public Media: Economic, Social and Cultural Sustainability (June 25-26, Bogota, Colombia) will see the launch of three new working tools by UNESCO.
This forum, which has been promoted by the World Bank since 2011; encourages debates and exchange of opinions and experiences on the role, obstacles and challenges of the public media in the development field.
UNESCO recognizes that in recent years new media institutions and a number of media, including public media, have been created occupying the electromagnetic spectrum for the first time or in a much stronger way.
UNESCO specialist Guilherme Canela expresses that: "Different parties are becoming concerned about a series of new issues such as how to support this phenomenom? how to ensure that these medias are really public, and in line with international standards? how to ensure accountability, transparency and sustainability in the process?"
As the United Nations specialised agency for the protection and promotion of freedom of expression, UNESCO supports this process through different strategies, including the production and dissemination of tools to facilitate open, pluralistic and informed debates among stakeholders.
UNESCO’s participation in the IV Latin American Forum on Public Media will also be used as an opportunity to circulate the publication "Quality Indicators of Public Broadcasters - Contemporary Assessment" (available in Spanish, French, English and Portuguese). This paper has the premise that public broadcasters cannot and must not rely solely on analytical instruments and studio audience (ratings), according to market criteria. A new set of external indicators should be developed to allow objective evaluations of performance, and ensure permanent comparisons and quantifiable improvement processes.
International experts Eugênio Bucci, Marco Chiaretti, and Ana Maria Fiorini, in colloboration with UNESCO, propose a compilation of a large set of indicators related to information transparency, public resources utilization, diversity in the production of public broadcasters, originality, and concern for the new languages and platforms, among many others.
The document, Draft Indicators for Media Viability (available in Spanish and English), includes an additional proposal of indicators developed by UNESCO in close consultation with the Deutsche Welle Akademie. These indicators are designed to measure the levels of sustainability of the media in any country of the world. This initiative follows the same methodology as the UNESCO/IPDC Media Development Indicators (MDIs). Its use allows UNESCO and its partners to collect data on the viability of media organizations, as well as to assess the outlook of the media nationwide.
The preparation process included a discussion during the "Regional Conference on Sustainability of the Media", also organized by UNESCO in 2014. Twenty five experts on media participated in the panel. An international consultation was also held, which involved fifty eight media experts and media monitors from all regions of the world.
Finally, the VI Forum will be an opportunity to release the publication "Principles and Good Practices for Public Media in Latin America" (available in Spanish), written for the Organization by two of the most important Latin American experts in public policy studies and communication: Silvio Waisbord and Martin Becerra (they will attend the forum as well). According to the authors "The development of public media is a challenge recognized by States and civil society organizations in Latin America as an essential part of the democratization of social space. This paper analyzes the characteristics of public media, their relationship with governments, commercial broadcasters, public and community organizations, and financing strategies and management. The goal is to contribute to the public debate on building and sustaining media inspired by public principles in the region". This is a new addition to the Debates Series of the Communication and Information Sector of the UNESCO Office in Montevideo.
The event will be attended by more than 30 experts, public administrators, researchers, academics, analysts, directors and producers from different countries throughout the region, including Guilherme Canela from UNESCO; Enriqueta Cabrera, Canal Once in Mexico; Gustavo Arevalo Bolivia Canal 7; Valerio Fuenzalida, Chilean professor; John Dinges from the Carter Center in the US, Blanca Rosales of the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of Peru; Patricia Alvarado of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; André Barbosa of the Brazilian Communication Enterprise; Patricia Villegas of Telesur and Marco Antonio Bravo, Manager of the News Agency of the Andes.
Watch the event online here
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