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Mapping Digital Media Colombia
Reporters: Jimena Zuluaga and María Paula Martínez
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Context Colombia is the third most populous country in Latin America, with 43.5 million inhabitants (in 2009). It has a very diverse cultural heritage that includes Spanish colonists, Africans brought as slaves, and the native indigenous population. The Colombian territory was a Spanish colony for over three centuries, and gained its independence in 1810. Colombia is a constitutional republic made up of 32 departments and a capital district. For many years, the liberal and conservative parties dominated the national government and were the only two political forces accepted by the constitution.1 However, since the late 1970s they have lost popularity and several independent parties have appeared. Traditional parties currently have a majority in Congress, but the recently elected president (Juan Manuel Santos, 2010–2014) represents the Social Party of National Unity (Partido de la U), a recently formed coalition. Although Colombia is one of the most resilient democracies of Latin America, with a history of almost uninterrupted elections,2 it has struggled for decades to maintain democratic values in the midst of a long-lasting internal armed conflict that deeply harms the country in political, social, and economic terms. The conflict between the guerrillas, the paramilitary, and government forces over land control has raised the level of violence and the illegal drug trade has affected the national economy in corrosive ways. With GDP increasing over the past few years and an income per head of US$ 4,930 in 2009,3 Colombia is classified by the World Bank as an upper-middle income country. It is also considered the fourth-largest economy in Latin America. However, over 46 percent4 of the total population lives below the poverty line, and the country has the second-largest5 internal displaced population in Latin America, with an estimate of between 3.3 million and 4.9 million people6 displaced by the internal armed conflict. The world economic crisis has hit the country in a very modest way. Since 2008, the inflation rate has fallen from 7.67 percent to 2.31 percent in 2010. GDP per head has also shown a positive trend over the past years and the unemployment rate has remained stable (see Table 1).
The results of a plebiscite held in 1957 established the liberal and conservative parties as the only political parties. For the following 16 years they alternated in the presidency, with regular elections every four years. 2 Colombia had uninterrupted elections from 1830 to 1953, when General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla led a coup d'état and became president. However, he stayed in power for only three years, as he was ousted. In 1958 elections were called again. Since then, presidential elections have been held every four years. 3 World Bank Data, GNI per head, Atlas Method, 2009, at http://bit.ly/fBZCNz (accessed 1 December 2010). 4 CIA World Factbook, 2008, at http://bit.ly/1J7ZTF (accessed 1 December 2010). 5 Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and Norwegian Refugee Council, Building momentum for land restoration, Geneva, November 2010, p. 7. 6 There is a debate regarding the actual size of this population. The lowest figure comes from the government's Registry of Displaced People (Registro Único de Población Desplazada, RUPD) and the highest is provided by the Consulting Office for Human Rights and Displacement (Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento, CODHES), a civil society organization that puts together a variety of sources, including under-registry people and intra-urban displacement. 7 National Statistics Department (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística, DANE), [publication date?], at http://bit.ly/h0fHON (accessed 5 December 2010); DANE and CNTV, "Anuario Estadístico de la Televisión en Colombia" (Statistical Yearbook for Television in Colombia), 2009, pp. 11, at http://bit.ly/eVVTnd (accessed 5 December 2010) (hereafter DANE and CNTV, "Anuario Estadístico").
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Social Indicators7 Population (number of inhabitants): 43.56 million (2009) Number of households: 11.85 million (2009) Figure 1. Rural–urban breakdown8 (% of total population), 2005
!"#$%& '()& *#+$,& -.)&
Figure 2. Ethnic composition9 (% of total population)
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/01234& 56)&
Figure 3. Religious composition10 (% of total population)
DANE, "Censo Nacional" (General Census Report), National Level, 2005, at http://bit.ly/e56rtJ ((accessed 5 December 2010). 9 CIA, The World Factbook, at http://bit.ly/sT6j (accessed 1 December 2010). 10 CIA, The World Factbook, at http://bit.ly/sT6j (accessed 1 December 2010).
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Linguistic composition Spanish is the official language of Colombia. However, 62 indigenous languages and two Creole languages are also recognized by the Political Constitution as official in the territories where they are spoken.11 Economic Indicators Table 1. Economic indicators 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011f 2012f GDP (current prices) (US$ 146.62 161.00 210.51 233.72 232.40 283.10 308.57 327.19 bn) GDP (US$, current prices) per 3,418 3,709 4,792 5,258 5,167 6,220 6,700 7,021 head Gross National Income (GNI) 7,030 7,640 8,300 8,550 8,600 n/a n/a n/a 12 (current US$), per head Unemployment (% of total 11.8 12.0 11.2 11.3 12.0 12.114 n/a n/a 13 labor force) Inflation (average annual rate, 4.8 4.4 5.6 7.6 2.0 2.315 n/a n/a % against previous year) !"#$%&'!"#!$%&'()*+#n/a: not available Sources: International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Bank; DANE [need full reference]
11 12
Ministry of Culture (Ministerio de Cultura), at http://bit.ly/egkmam ((accessed 1 December 2010). Data calculated based on GNI per head by World Bank Statistics, at http://bit.ly/gS7ruL http://bit.ly/hzsE99 (accessed 17 February 2011). 13 DANE, Continuous Household Survey. 14 Ten-month average data until October 2010. 15 DANE ten-month accumulated data until October 2010.
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
1. Media Consumption: the Digital Factor 1.1 Digital Take-up 1.1.1 Equipment Most Colombian households are not prepared to access content provided by digital media. Despite the government's efforts to close the digital divide, digital media penetration rates are still low and there is a wide gap in access, equipment, and digital services between urban and rural areas. According to DANE,16 by 2009 internet penetration in rural areas was almost insignificant (0.8 percent), while in urban areas it reached 16.2 percent of total households. The same happens with personal computers, present in only 2 percent of rural households in comparison with 25.7 percent of urban households. Nonetheless, this gap is smaller in the case of television. Since 2006, television sets are the most popular home appliance in Colombia, exceeding refrigerators, laundry machines, ovens, and fixed-line telephones.17 Television has a national penetration of 85.3 percent of households, 92.2 percent in urban areas and 61.7 percent in rural areas. (See Table 2.) Despite their low penetration, personal computers showed a significant increase rate in the period 2005–2009: the number of households with a personal computer increased by 68 percent. Table 2. Households owning equipment, 2005–2010 2005 2006 2007 2008 No of % of No of % No % No of HH18 THH HH of of of HH ('000) 19 ('000) TH HH TH ('000) H ('000 H ) TV 8,159. 85.0 8,396. 85.5 n/a n/a 10,452. set 1 1 3 Radi 6,815 71 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a o set PC 1,401 14.6 1,610 16.4 1,82 18.6 2,694 3 Source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 1.1.2 Platforms
% of TH H
2009 No of % HH of ('000) TH H
2010 No of % HH of ('000) TH H 91.2 77 26.1
88.4 10,480. 2 n/a n/a 22.8 2,705
87.4 11,084. 4 n/a 9,358 22.6 3,172
16 17
DANE and CNTV, "Anuario Estadístico," p. 12, at http://bit.ly/edeYYw (accessed 11 December 2010). DANE and CNTV, "Gran encuesta integrada de hogares (GEIH). Modulo de Televisión" (Great Integrated Household Survey, GEIH. Television Unit), 2009, at http://bit.ly/dC9Dvp (accessed 18 December 2010) (hereafter DANE and CNTV, "Gran encuesta"). 18 Total number of households owning the equipment. 19 Percentage of total number of households in the country.
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Since 2000, audiences and media platform preferences began to change. Until 2000, free-to-air TV, transmitted in analog signal, dominated the Colombian media landscape. Since then, the number of pay-TV subscribers has almost trebled. They grew from 842,000 subscribers to 3.1 million in nine years (2000 and 2008). However, in rural areas the penetration of pay-TV is still low (with 11.2 percent of total households) due mostly to coverage problems and costs. As regards socio-economic levels (a social stratification system that divides society into six levels, where 5 and 6 represent the upper classes), free-to-air TV has a penetration of 67.7 percent in level one and 8.4 percent in level six, while pay-TV has 21.7 percent penetration in level one and 91.6 percent in level 6.20 (See Table 3.) The television system in Colombia has a total of 764 operators divided into free-to-air and pay-TV. Free-to-air TV has three public national channels, eight regional public channels, two private national channels, and 48 local channels. Pay-TV is divided into 54 cable subscription-based operators, two satellite subscription-based operators, and 647 community operators.21 As is shown in Table 3, terrestrial reception TV is the most popular platform in Colombia; however, since 2005, the percentage of households owning the equipment has decreased due to the digital take-up. According to the data, the percentage of cable reception grew from 15.6 in 2005 to 26.5 in 2009. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is a new service that is fast gaining popularity among Colombians. It was launched in 2008 by UNE-EPM Telecomunicaciones, a division of Empresas Públicas de Medellin SA (Medellin Public Enterprise SA, EPM), the largest telecommunications company of its kind in the country. Since then, its penetration has grown from 65,300 subscribers [or what?] in 2009 to 90,900 in 2010. Table 3. Platform for the main TV reception and digital take-up in Colombia, 2005–2010 2005 No of % of HH22 TVHH 23 ('000) 6,805.6 83.4 2006 No of HH ('000) 6,823. 2 % of TVH H 81.2 2007 No of HH ('000) n/a % of TVH H n/a 2008 No of HH ('000) 7,293.8 % of TVH H 69.7 2009 No of HH ('000) 7,212. 4 % of TVH H 68.8 2010 No of HH ('000) 7,483. 2
Terrestri al reception of which n/a digital* Cable 1,276.2 15.6 reception of which n/a digital
20 21
1,478. 17.6 4
2,407. n/a 5
2,830. 5
2,936. 1
DANE and CNTV, "Anuario Estadístico," p. 11, at http://bit.ly/edeYYw (accessed 11 December 2010). CNTV, "Actualidad y Futuro del Mercado de Televisión en Colombia" (Actual State and Future of the Television Market in Colombia), June 2009, p. 9, at http://bit.ly/hxYk5W (accessed 12 December 2010). 22 Total number of households owning the equipment. 23 Percentage of total number of Television households (TVHH) in the country.
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Satellite reception of which digital IPTV Total
77.3 n/a
94.5 1.13
0 0 8,159.1 100.0
0 0 8,396. 100.0 1
0 n/a
0 n/a
0 10,452. 3
0 100.0
65.3 10,480 .2
0.62 100.0
90.9 11,084 .4
0.8 10
*Data not available as digital broadcasting only started in 2010 Note: n/a: not available Source: Calculations based on data from ITU and National Commission of Television (Comisión Nacional de Televisión, CNTV) Colombia has taken a major leap in connectivity. Internet penetration has grown fast, as have mobile and broadband services (see Table 4). According to IESE-CELA,24 between 2006 and 2007 Colombia scored the highest increase—among Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru—in internet users, reaching 182 persons per 1,000 inhabitants, in internet servers reaching 1.7 devices per 1,000 inhabitants, and in information and communication technology (ICT) expenses per inhabitant, scoring US$ 281. However, it is important to mention that Colombia is still in the last place among these countries in the Information Society Index (ISI), which means it has the poorest ICT penetration.25 Mobile telephony has shown an even larger increase rate than pay-TV. It rose from 50.8 percent to 92.3 percent of total population, a growth of 82 percent, from 2005 to 2009. Table 4. Internet penetration rate (total fixed internet subscriptions as % of total population) and mobile penetration rate (total active SIM cards as % of total population) 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Internet 1.5 2.0 3.1 4.4 4.9 7.2 of which broadband 46.3 70.7 87.3 94.0 93.4 n/a Mobile telephony 50.8 68.1 76.5 91.9 92.3 n/a Note: n/a: not available Source: Calculations based on data from ITU and the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (Ministerio de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones, MinTic)26 1.2 Media Preferences 1.2.1 Main Shifts in Media Consumption
IESE-CELA, "Indicador de la sociedad de la información" (ISI) (Information Society Index Report), 2008, p. 37, at http://bit.ly/hcexfh (accessed 17 February 2011) (hereafter IESE-CELA, "Indicador"). 25 IESE-CELA, "Indicador," p. 19. 26 The source for internet penetration data in 2005–2009 was the ITU. For 2010, see MinTic, "Informe Trimestral de Conectividad" (Quarterly Connectivity Report), at http://bit.ly/aub72Q (accessed 12 December 2010) (hereafter MinTic, "Informe Trimestral").
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Since 2005 [yes?], the main change in media consumption has been the increase in internet use by 21 percentage points, from 14.9 percent in 2005 to 35.9 percent in 2010. In 2010, as shown in Figure 4, internet consumption reached fourth place for the first time, displacing the printed press. Nevertheless, the data do not show a decline in consumption of traditional media such as printed magazines and newspapers. Nonetheless, printed media—magazines and newspapers—do not even reach 50 percent of the population. (See Figure 4.) Television is still by far the most popular medium in the country in terms of consumption. Television usage stayed stable at around 94 percent since 2005. The time of the day users report watching more television is the evening (93 percent in 2010), followed by midday (52 percent in 2010).27 According to 2009 data, users reported watching on average 2.7 hours of national television and 1 hour of international television from Monday through Friday. During weekends, the average for national television was 2.5 hours and for international channels 1.1 hours per day.28 After television, radio is the second mass media in terms of consumption. Nevertheless, as Figure 4 shows, usage decreased 12 percentage points, from 76.6 percent to 64.7 percent. Figure 4. Media consumption (%), 2005–2010
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2005 2006
TV Radio
Internet Movies
CNTV and Colombian Association for Media Research (Asociación colombiana de investigación de medios, ACIM), "Estudio General de Medios" (General Media Study, EGM), 2010, at http://bit.ly/hdsVf6 (accessed 1 February 2010) (hereafter CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios"). 28 DANE and CNTV, "Anuario Estadístico," p. 1, at http://bit.ly/edeYYw (accessed 1 February 2010). 29 CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2007, at http://bit.ly/f7cvFp; 2010, http://bit.ly/hdsVf6 (accessed 30 November 2010). The method used for this study is structured questions about media consumption. Interviewees are asked to report media consumption over the last month. For years with two or three data points per year, the second point for each year was used.
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Source: CNTV and Colombian Association for Media Research (Asociación colombiana de investigación de medios, ACIM), Estudio General de Medios (General Media Study, EGM), 2007II and 2010II29 As of December 2010, television broadcasting in Colombia was still analog. The National Commission of Television (Comisión Nacional de Televisión, CNTV) and the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (Ministerio de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones, MinTic)30 are leading the digitization process. In 2012, CNTV will end operations and it will be replaced by the National Agency for Television, which will lead the TV digitization process along with the MinTic. The process of broadcast digitization began in 2006 with the comparison and evaluation of three standards: the European, the American, and the Japanese. In August 2008 CNTV chose the European standard, DVB-T. Colombia is one of the few Latin American countries to choose the European standard. According to the MinTic,31 the main reason for choosing it was that the European standard performed better technically considering the complex topography of the country. Besides, it was the only one that guaranteed mobile television on the same band, and proved to be stronger in general for mobility and portability. The European standard proved to be cheaper for operators and users, and also, since is the most popular standard in the world, it is expected that Colombian users and operators can benefit from the scale economy generated in the market. The international cooperation proposal for the transition process presented by the European Union (EU) was considered best by CNTV. In December 2011 CNTV decided to update the chosen standard to DVB-T2, which is the newest version of the European standard.32 January 2010 saw the first test broadcast of DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television), covering some areas of the northern and western parts of Bogotá, the capital city.33 The MinTic's Minister stated in December 2010 that it was expected that by 31 December 2010, 25 percent of the national territory would have a digital television signal.34 The open television private channels, Canal Caracol and RCN, met this government request and their digital signal could be received in 25 percent of Colombia. [what does 'open television' mean in this report? 'free-to-air'?] Figure 5. Pay-TV television consumption, 2001–2010
30 31
http://www.mintic.gov.co Interview with Lina Enriquez, Adviser to the Vice-minister ofMinTic, Bogotá, 5 November 2010. 32 http://bit.ly/siN9FJ (accessed 14 January 2012). 33 http://bit.ly/eWkeAL (accessed 5 December 2010). 34 Radio interview with the Minister, Caracol Radio, 1 December 2010, at http://bit.ly/hAwHUl (accessed 8 December 2010).
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
30%! 2001! 2002! 2003! 2004! 2005! 2006! 2007! 2008! 2009! 2010!
Source: EGM 2007II and 2010II35 As mentioned before, an important change in media consumption during the last five years is the increase of subscription television (pay-TV) (see Figure 5). From 2005 to 2010 it grew 18 percentage points, from 61.6 percent to 78 percent. This contrasts with the increase of the first half of the decade, in which pay-TV consumption grew only five points. 1.2.2 Availability of a Diverse Range of News Platforms
Given the low internet penetration,36 most people are still oriented towards traditional media as their main sources of news. Most online sources are online versions of traditional media, such as newspapers, television channels, and radio stations. The most visited Colombian website is Eltiempo.com,37 belonging to the largest newspaper in the country. However, most of these sites have developed their own multimedia content and offer different information online; mostly videos and photos that complement the written stories. Information search is the most frequent use of the internet. In 2009, 92 percent of users reported this as their main online activity; the second most common online activity was communication, with 80.3 percent.38 Most Colombians get their news from television. In 2010, news was the second most popular use of television—behind entertainment—with 86.3 percent, showing an increase of five percentage points since 2005 (see Figure 6).
CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2007, at http://bit.ly/f7cvFp; 2010: http://bit.ly/hdsVf6 (accessed 30 November 2010). The method used for this study is structured questions about media consumption. Interviewees are asked to report media consumption over the last month. 36 Fixed and mobile internet penetration by subscribers was calculated at 7.27 percent for March 2010: MinTic, "Informe Trimestral."
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Figure 6. Television usage, 2005–2010
2007! Entertainment
2008! Movies
2009! News
Source: EGM 2007II and 2010II39 As a consequence of the increase of pay-TV, international channels have gained audience (from 41.8 percent in 2005 to 55.8 percent in 2010)40 and may be expanding the range of news sources, at least in television. Another consequence of the increase of pay-TV is the appearance of privately owned cable television channels. Cable Noticias was launched in November 2007, NTN24 was launched in November 2008, and Canal El Tiempo was launched in October 2010. These three channels broadcast news 24 hours a day, a novelty in Colombian television. 1.3 News Providers 1.3.1 Leading Sources of News The media market is small for the size of the country and its population. There are two newspapers with national circulations and one or two regional or local newspapers per region; three national public TV channels, eight regional public TV channels, and two national private TV channels; and two main radio networks. There are also more than 650 community radio stations,41 and Colombia is a pioneer
37 38
Netcraft.com, at http://bit.ly/fu2m0d ((accessed 12 December 2010). The third most popular use is entertainment (52.2 percent), and the fourth education and learning (50.6 percent). Finally, 10.9 percent report using the internet for online banking: DANE, Uso y Penetración de Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación en hogares y personas (Uses and Penetration of Information and Communication Technologies), March 2009, at http://bit.ly/bvpPU ((accessed 8 December 2010). 39 CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2007, http://bit.ly/f7cvFp; 2010, http://bit.ly/hdsVf6 (accessed 30 November 2010). 40 CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2007, http://bit.ly/f7cvFp; 2010, http://bit.ly/hdsVf6 (accessed 30 November 2010).
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
country in Latin America in activism and regulation for this kind of broadcasting. However, these radio stations are not leading sources of news. Print Media Figure 7. Readership of general (not specialized) newspapers, 2009–2010
1.400.000 1.200.000 1.000.000 800.000 600.000 400.000 200.000 0 El Tiempo ADN Bogotá Q'hubo Cali Al Día Barranquilla Q'hubo Medellín
756.910 668.299 483.027 435.515 1.179.040 1.107.753
463.462 443.444
439.657 415.989
392.168 330.092
287.965 284.283
237.815 208.407
206.288 143.782
205.1 143.711
El Espacio
El Espectador El Colombiano
ADN Cali
ADN Mede
Source: EGM 201042 El Tiempo is by far the most widely read newspaper in the country.43 It is a traditional daily, and has played an important role in the political and media history of founded in 1911 Colombia. The second paper in terms of readership, ADN is a free newspaper launched in 2008 by the publisher of El Tiempo, Casa Editorial El Tiempo (CEET).44 ADN has regional editions in the four main cities: Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, and Barranquilla. ADN follows the template of ADN Spain, since the Spanish media group Planeta is now the majority shareholder of CEET. The third and fifth ranked newspaper in number of readers, Q'hubo,45 is sold in 15 cities, including Cali and Medellín. See Figure 7. Both ADN and Q'hubo are considered popular dailies (diarios populares). They focus on local information, news is presented next to large pictures, and texts are short. They do not publish extended reportages or chronicles, and lack in-depth political analysis or debate.
Community radios are the third model of radio broadcasting in Colombia in addition to public and commercial stations. They are created by the communities to serve their own local interests. They are usually non-profit and their business model is based on the contribution and people's participation in content creation. 42 CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2010, tercera ola (third wave). 43 See http://www.eltiempo.com 44 See http://www.diarioadn.com.co 45 See http://www.qhubo.com
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
The fourth, Al Día Barranquilla, is a recently launched tabloid that circulates in the city of Barranquilla. The sixth, El Espacio,46 is a tabloid printed in Bogotá but with circulation in other cities, founded in 1965. The seventh, El Espectador,47 and eighth, El Colombiano,48 are both traditional newspapers founded in Medellín more than a century ago and represented, during the first half of the twentieth century, the political views of the two main political parties: the liberal party (El Espectador) and the conservative party (El Colombiano). El Espectador, founded in 1887, is Colombia's oldest newspaper. Nowadays it is printed in Bogotá and has a national circulation. El Colombiano is printed in Medellín and has regional circulation only. Figure 8. General print magazines readership, 2009–2010
1.600.000 1.385.513 1.265.851 1.400.000 1.151.961 1.103.500 1.130.851 1.018.564 1.200.000 1.000.000 800.000 600.000 400.000 200.000 0
1.019.770 911.961 804.996
693.650 661.146
525.859 488.502 515.711 473.411 448.927 411.660 447.494 425.115
Source: EGM 201049 TVyNovelas,50 the most widely read magazine in the country, is a biweekly gossip magazine owned by Editorial Televisa.51 Televisa also owns Caras (sixth in order, also a gossip and social commentary magazine), Vanidades (eighth, a women's magazine), Tú (ninth, a teen magazine), and National Geographic Magazine in Spanish (tenth). All these magazines are considered to be entertainment, without serious news content. (See Figure 8.) In the second place is Soho, a men's magazine also known for its writing by famous journalists and writers.52 Soho is published monthly by Publicaciones Semana, a local publisher that owns various
46 47
See http://www.elespacio.com.co See http://elespectador.com 48 See http://www.elcolombiano.com 49 CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2010, tercera ola. 50 See http://www.tvynovelas.com.co 51 See http://editorialtelevisa.com.co
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
thematic magazines, including Revista Semana,53 a news magazine and one of the most respected investigative outlets in the country, in third place. Semana is a weekly and has been seen for decades as an independent outlet that has investigated and reported power-related scandals. 15Minutos, in fourth place, is a gossip magazine, and TV Guide is published monthly by Telmex, the biggest cable television operator. Cromos,54 in fifth place, is a biweekly news magazine owned by the Santo Domingo Group (as majority shareholder). This group also owns El Espectador newspaper and Canal Caracol, a private television channel. Revista Coomeva is an institutional magazine, published by Coomeva,55 a cooperative that provides, among other services, loans, health services, and insurances to their associates. Online All the sites listed in Table 5 are the online versions of traditional media. Although most of them have developed multimedia content and offer different information online, some of them are corporate sites that provide other content besides news. In the first place, Eltiempo.com56 is the site of the most read newspaper in the country. Eltiempo.com is not only the most popular news site, but the most visited Colombian website.57 El Tiempo's print readership for 2010 was 1.18 million people and the website traffic for December 2010 was 3.5 million unique visitors.58 The site second in order, CanalRCNmsn.com,59 belongs to the most widely viewed private television station. CaracolTV.com60 (fourth) is the site of the second private channel. Both these sites provide news, information, and content related to all television programs, such as soap operas, contests, and reality shows. The third, ElEspectador.com,61 is the site of the second national daily. In fifth place, Semana.com is the site of the most important news magazine in the country.62 The sixth, ninth, and
52 53
See http://www.soho.com.co See http://www.semana.com 54 See http://www.cromos.com.co 55 See http://www.coomeva.com.co 56 See http://www.eltiempo.com 57 See http://bit.ly/fu2m0d (accessed 12 December 2010). 58 See http://bit.ly/f4A2OC (accessed 12 December 2010). 59 See http://canalrcnmsn.com 60 See http://caracoltv.com 61 See http://elespectador.com 62 See http://www.semana.com
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
tenth are regional newspapers: ElColombiano.com63 from Medellín (the second city in the country) and the region of Antioquia; ElPais.com.co,64 originates in Cali (the third city in the country) and the Valley region; and ElHeraldo.com.co65 from Barranquilla (the fourth city in the country) and the Caribbean coast region. The eighth, CityTV.com.co,66 is the site of a local TV channel in Bogotá, owned by CEET. The site posts videos from all the shows of the channel, not only from the TV news. Table 5. Most visited news websites by number of monthly visitors, December 2010 [can we have December 2011?] Site No. of unique visitors (estimated cookies) 3,500,000 3,200,000 1,500,000 1,400,000 930,000 820,000 750,000 470,000 430,000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
63 64
ElTiempo.com67 CanalRCNmsn.com68 ElEspectador.com69 CaracolTV.com70 Semana.com71 ElColombiano.com72 Caracol.com.co73 CityTV.com.co74 ElPais.com.co75
See http://www.elcolombiano.com See http://elpais.com.co 65 See http://elheraldo.com.co 66 See http://www.citytv.com.co 67 See http://bit.ly/f4A2OC (accessed 12 December 2010). 68 See http://bit.ly/dWPNCv (accessed 12 December 2010). 69 See http://bit.ly/heJrmc (accessed 12 December 2010). 70 See http://bit.ly/gkBhmW (accessed 12 December 2010). 71 See http://bit.ly/eykBTQ (accessed 12 December 2010). 72 See http://bit.ly/eiysVg (accessed 12 December 2010v 73 See http://bit.ly/icFbzs (accessed 12 December 2010). 74 See http://bit.ly/e5uEfX (accessed 12 December 2010). 75 See http://bit.ly/gNBUqL (accessed 12 December 2010). 76 See http://bit.ly/fsNwFG (accessed 12 December 2010).
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
10 ElHeraldo.com.co76 Source: Google Ad Planner Radio
Three main radio networks control most of the radio audience in the country. Caracol, the first radio network created in the country, leads with almost 40 percent of the audience. Caracol Radio was formerly a sister network of Caracol Televisión, but it is now owned by the Spanish media group Prisa. In the second place is RCN Radio, sister of RCN Television Network, with nearly 30 percent of the audience. The third network is Olímpica, with a little over 10 percent. See Figure 9. Figure 9. Audience share of main radio networks, 2007–2010
45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
40,1% 39,5% 39,5%
30,7% 29,8% 28,9% 28,3%
11,2% 11,3% 9,4% 10,4%
Source: "Estudio colombiano de audiencia radial" (Colombian Report for Radio Audience, ECAR), 2010 The top radio stations are in constant battle among the leading networks. Caracol Network has five stations in the top ten, and RCN has four. The first five places of the chart vary almost every quarter the report is made. The radio stations leading the chart are as follows. Caracol Básica, the leading news station in the country, is the main radio station of Caracol Network. It is mainly a news station, but also has some segments of varieties and entertainment, and cultural programs. La Mega (owned by RCN) is a youth radio station. Oxígeno (owned by Caracol), Olímpica Stereo (owned by Olímpica) and Tropicana (owned by Caracol) are tropical music stations, and so are Radio Uno and Rumba Stereo (both owned by RCN), in the seventh and tenth positions in the chart. Las 40 principales (owned by Caracol) is a youth station. W Radio (owned by Caracol) and RCN Radio Básica (owned by RCN) are news stations. See Figure 10.
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Figure 10. Audience share of general radio stations, 2009–2010
1.752 1.773 1.800 1.762 1.679 1.729 1.616 1.600 1.354 1.400 1.145 1.453 1.492 1.785
1.200 956
907 843 768 772
Caracol Radio Básica
Oxígeno AM/FM
Radio Uno
RCN Radio Básica
Source: ECAR 2010 Only three of the 10 stations on this chart are news stations. However, the two main networks also share the news stations' audience, as in Table 6. Table 6. Leading radio stations by number of listeners of primetime newscasts, 2010 Station 2010 Caracol Radio 1 Básica 1,041,800 2 La W 704,700 3 RCN Radio Básica 545,700 4 La FM 489,900 Source: ECAR 2010 The two main radio networks lead the news prime time (from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.). Caracol Radio Básica and La W are the news stations owned by Caracol, the leading radio network. RCN Radio Básica and La FM are the news stations of RCN Radio, the second radio network in the country. Television Television audiences are clearly oriented to private channels rather than public channels. As can be seen from Figure 11, the two private channels, RCN and Caracol, are dominant. Far down, the next most viewed channel is also a private local channel from Bogotá, City TV. And below these are the national public channels Señal Colombia (cultural content) and Canal Uno (mixed content). At the bottom of the figure are the regional public channels: Teleantioquia (from Medellín and Antioquia), Canal Capital (from Bogotá), Telecaribe (from Barranquilla and the Caribbean coast), and Telepacífico (from Cali and the Cauca Valley). Figure 11. Audience for general television channels, 2005–2010
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
100%! 90%! 80%! 70%! 60%! 50%! 40%! 30%! 20%! 10%! 0%! 2005! 2006! 2007! 2008! 2009! 2010!
CityTV! Canal Capital!
Canal Uno! Telecaribe!
Canal 13! Telepacifico!
. Source: EGM 2006I, 2007II, 2009II, 2010II77 1.3.2 Television News Programs
Señal Colombia! Teleantioquia!
Colombians prefer private channels to be news-oriented. Twelve out of the 17 news-related television programs ranked in December 2010 were broadcast by RCN or Caracol. Between them, RCN has a larger appeal among audiences. While the most widely seen news show, "Especiales Pirry," scored 9.38 rating points, "Septimo día," its direct competitor and the most widely seen show broadcasted by Caracol, reached 7.48 points (see Table 7). Data show that Colombians prefer opinion and investigative programs rather than traditional news television magazines. The most widely seen programs of both channels, RCN and Caracol, are opinion programs that undertake their own investigations and conduct interviews or live debates about current events. They are both led by journalists and broadcast once a week at weekends. "Especiales Pirry" is directed by the journalist Guillermo Prieto La Rotta, known as Pirry, and "Septimo día" was created and is currently conducted by the journalist Manuel Teodoro. Table 7. News and current events television programs, December 2010 Program Channel Rating points 1 "Especiales Pirry" Canal RCN 9.38 2 "Noticias RCN 2230" Canal RCN 7.78 3 "Noticias RCN 1900" Canal RCN 7.61 4 "Séptimo día" Canal Caracol 7.48 5 "Noticias Caracol 1900" Canal Caracol 6.61 6 "Noticias RCN 1230" Canal RCN 5.13
CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2006, at http://bit.ly/dPtkEF; 2007, at http://bit.ly/f7cvFp. 2009: http://bit.ly/9rZ5y8; 2010, http://bit.ly/hdsVf6 (accessed 13 December 2010). The method used for this study is structured questions about media consumption. Interviewees are asked to report any media consumption over the last month.
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7 "Noticias Caracol 2230" Canal Caracol 4.68 8 "Noticias Caracol 1230" Canal Caracol 4.29 9 "Entre ojos" Canal Caracol 3.23 10 "Claramente" Canal RCN 3.07 11 "La noche de RCN" Canal RCN 2.88 12 "El Radar" Canal Caracol 2.29 13 "CM& La Noticia 2130" Canal 1 1.45 14 "Noticias Uno" Canal 1 1.32 15 "Agenda CM&" Canal 1 0.67 16 "Pregunta Yamid" Canal 1 0.51 Canal 1 0.18 17 "Telepaís" Source: Prepared in-house, based on data from IBOPE, 2010. [need more precise reference] As mentioned before, RCN and Caracol capture almost all the audience. Among the top nine most watched television news programs, only three are broadcast by the public channels and their ratings seem insignificant (less than two rating points). The top three programs are broadcast by private channels: the RCN newscast at 10 p.m. is the most widely seen, followed by the RCN newscast at 7 p.m., and in the third place, the Caracol newscast at 7 p.m. Data reveal that most Colombians prefer the evening (7 p.m.) or night (9.30 p.m.–11 p.m.) programs, rather than the early morning or noon times. See Table 8. Table 8. Television news programs, December 2010 Program Channel Rating points 1 "Noticias RCN 2230" Canal RCN 7.78 2 "Noticias RCN 1900" Canal RCN 7.61 3 "Noticias Caracol 1900" Canal Caracol 6.61 4 "Noticias RCN 1230" Canal RCN 5.13 5 "Noticias Caracol 2230" Canal Caracol 4.68 6 "Noticias Caracol 12:30" Canal Caracol 4.29 7 "CM& La Noticia 2130" Canal 1 1.45 8 "Noticias Uno" Canal 1 1.32 Canal 1 0.18 9* "Telepaís" * Although there are more news programs in the country (mostly regional), the IBOPE ranking considers only nine of them Source: Prepared in house based on data from IBOPE, 2010 1.3.3 Impact of Digital Media on Good-quality News Most Colombian newspapers maintain websites and over the past years have made efforts to start using Web.2.0 tools to provide information. They have included video, audio, blogs, surveys, and walls of comments to their editions and have opened Facebook and Twitter accounts to keep their audience upto-date minute by minute. No newspaper has yet abandoned their printed edition to go exclusively online, but there are new entrants, such as LaSillaVacia.com,78 created exclusively for the web, which is a novelty. LaSillaVacia.com was launched in March 2009 as an independent with no connections with the political elite. (On media ownership, see section 6.) It has had great success and recognition
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
(particularly among the young and urban population) because it provides reliable information and investigative journalism stories. It has an average of 84,000 monthly unique visitors.79 Traditional newspapers like El Tiempo and El Espectador, that have been printing and circulating their editions for many years, have made big efforts to better understand the challenges in the new media era and have changed their ways of providing information. El Tiempo, for example, despite being the most popular newspaper in both printed and online editions, recently launched a new design and its own television channel. The printed edition is now more colorful, and has larger photos and shorter articles. According to the general director, Roberto Pombo, the new design "fits better with current and future readers."80 The online edition includes multimedia content and is constantly updated. However, these new dynamics, especially the instantaneity of the internet, can lead to a loss of journalistic quality. Magazines such as Semana used to publish weekly and now market competition has forced them to provide daily updates of their online editions in order to keep their audience. Some other digital tools (like the wall of comments) that have been implemented on almost all the sites have become a headache due to the difficulty of reviewing and ensuring that no rude language or personal threats are posted. They might work as an open field for discussion but they can also be an outlet for rage and negative behavior. The new scenario, in which journalists and traditional media do not monopolize information, has had both good and bad effects on journalism quality. It has given citizens tools for denouncing matters that were not covered by traditional media, the possibility of commenting on the news and creating discussions about them, and also of being informed when abroad. It also has given journalists more tools for researching and investigating stories and new forms of storytelling. However, given the low internet penetration and the gap between rural and urban areas, digital technologies have uneven effects. 1.4 Assessments The impact of digitization on the news offer is still low. Although internet consumption has grown in the past years, analog television is still by far the main source of news for Colombians. However, the impact of digitization on news offer seems to be increasing fast: on the one hand, many traditional media that now have online versions are providing new content in multimedia formats. On the other hand, some new online media have been born in the last years and have gained recognition and respectability as serious and good-quality news providers. Such is the case of LaSillaVacia, created by an experienced political journalist in 2009. This example points to an important characteristic of internet use in the country: although it is low in rural areas, it is increasing very fast in urban areas and higher socio-economic groups. A 2010 survey among opinion leaders showed that LaSillaVacía was
79 80
Google AdPlanner, at http://bit.ly/fGwrRE (accessed 14 January 2011). Roberto Pombo, "Carta del director de El Tiempo sobre el Nuevo diseño" (Letter from the director of El Tiempo about the new design), at http://bit.ly/eXtUwM (accessed 13 December 2010). 81 Cifras y Conceptos, "Panel del Opinión" (Opinion panel), 2010, at http://bit.ly/6TsHsr (accessed 18 December 2010) (hereafter Cifras y Conceptos, "Panel del Opinión").
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their fourth most read publication and the third in Bogotá (the capital city), even over Revista Semana, the most traditional political printed magazine.81 The perspective for online media is optimistic since, considering the big gap in internet penetration between rural and urban areas in the country, the government has recently announced an ambitious plan to improve digital literacy and reduce the digital divide by 2015 [right?]. The MinTic aims to: first, reach 50 percent of households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with internet access; second, multiply by four the total number of internet connections; and third, triple the number of cities and towns connected in the country.82 (See also section 7.4.) As mentioned before, another important change registered during the last few years is the increase of cable and pay-TV. Considering the pre-eminence of television in Colombian media consumption, it is possible to say that cable television is becoming an additional source of information not only for news, but also for other topics, such as documentaries, popular science, technology, and history, as the Discovery Channel is reported to be the most viewed channel in pay-TV.83 However, this is not necessarily an effect of digitization. Local operators have also taken advantage of the pay-TV market increase. During the last five years three new 24-hour news channels have been launched, increasing the news offer in the most popular mass media in the country.84
82 84
MinTic, "Plan Vive Digital" (Live Digital Plan), October 2010, at http://bit.ly/cr8yhM (accessed 18 December 2010). CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2010, segunda ola (second wave), at http://bit.ly/hdsVf6 (accessed 8 December 2010). 85 As mentioned in section 1.2.2, these channels are CableNoticias (2007), NTN24 (2008), and Canal El Tiempo (2010).
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
2. Digital Media and Public or State-administered Broadcasters 2.1 Public Service and State Institutions 2.1.1 Overview of Public Service Media: News and Current Affairs Output Public media in Colombia is made up of: three national television channels, eight regional television channels, one international television channel, two national radio stations, over 150 public interest stations, and around 650 community radio stations (see section 1.3.1). As to public radio, the two national stations are: Colombian National Radio (Radio Nacional de Colombia, RNC)85 and Radiónica.86 The RNC station has been operating since 1940, some 14 years before the arrival of television, and has maintained its popularity as an educational and cultural news station. Radiónica was created in 2005, as a sister to RNC, aimed at young audiences. It has become very popular among music stations, and recently gained an important space in the social networks: it has 30,000 followers on Twitter,87 the highest number among public media. In addition, there are around 150 public interest radio stations (Emisoras de Interés Público, EIP) that do not have national coverage as they are meant to broadcast for specific regions and communities. According to their mission, they are classified in five groups: police stations, army stations, mayoralty (municipal) stations, indigenous stations, and university stations. The 650 community radio stations serve mainly local interests. They might be considered as an important source of news by a specific group of people, but they are not that relevant in public debate. There are three national channels, eight regional channels, and one international channel in public television. The three national channels whose signal has national coverage are: Señal Colombia,88 Señal Institucional,89 and Canal 1. The eight regional channels are: Canal Capital,90 Telecaribe,91 Telepacífico,92 Teleantioquía,93 TeleCafe,94 Teleislas,95 Canal Tro,96 and Canal 13.97 They are
85 86
See http://www.radionacionaldecolombia.gov.co See http://www.radionica.gov.co 87 See http://Twitter.com/radionica 88 See http://www.senalcolombia.tv 89 See http://www.institucional.gov.co 90 See http://www.canalcapital.gov.co 91 See http://www.telecaribe.com.co 92 See http://www.telepacifico.com 93 See http://www.teleantioquia.com.co 94 See http://www.telecafe.tv 95 See http://www.teleislas.com.co 96 See http://www.canaltro.com 97 See http://www.canal13.com.co
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
classified as regional channels because their signal has a limited coverage (each region produces and broadcasts its own signal). There is one international public channel, Región Colombia Institucional (RCI),98 meant for Colombian expatriates around the world. Law 182,99 better known as the television law, began regulating the service of public television in 1995. It is perhaps the most important law regarding the management, control, operation, and access to the television service since the advent of television in Colombia in 1954. According to this law, television is a public service subject to the ownership, reserve, control, and regulation of the state and its purpose is to educate, inform, and entertain, in an objective, truthful, and healthy way. It seeks to meet the social goals of the state, to promote respect for the guarantees, duties, and rights and freedoms, strengthen democracy and consolidate peace, and foster the dissemination of human values and cultural expression at national, regional, and local levels.100 Since 1995, the television service has been controlled by a state organism, with administrative autonomy and independence, CNTV.101 Among its several functions, the most important are: the implementation and development of general policy for the television service; the inspection, surveillance, monitoring, and control to ensure the adequate provision of public service television; classification of the various forms of public service television, and regulation of its conditions of operation and exploitation; regulation of the granting and renewal of operation licenses, the allocation, assignment, and use of frequencies, and the establishment of charges and fees to be received from the granting and exploitation of the concessions for the operation of television service.102 Since 1963, the Radio and Television National Institute, Inravisión, has managed the programming, production, and operation of public media. In 2004, under Alvaro Uribe's presidency it was shut down due to a financial crisis and a new organism called National Radio and Television of Colombia (Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia, RTVC), replaced it.103 Since then, RTVC has been in charge of the creation, production, transmission, and emission of the public television channels and the public radio.
98 99
http://www.rcitv.tv Diario Oficial No. 41.681, 20 January 1995, at http://bit.ly/htGUVu (accessed 1 April 2011) (hereafter Law 182 of 1995). 101 Arts 1 and 2, Law 182 of 1995, at http://bit.ly/htGUVu (accessed 1 April 2011). 102 In December 2011, the Congress decided to end CNTV operations as part of the government strategy for the strengthening of public television. CNTV duties were delegated to three state organisms: the National Spectrum Agency (Agencia Nacional del Espectro, ANE), the Commission for the Regulation of Telecommunications (Comisión de Regulación de Telecomunicaciones, CRC), and the Quartermaster of Industry and Commerce (Superintendencia de industria y comercio). In 2012 a new organism will be created: the National Agency for Television (Agencia Nacional de Televisión, ANTV), and it will be mainly in charge of the surveillance of public television content. 103 Law 182 of 1995, Art 5, available at http://bit.ly/f60ikc (accessed 1 April 2011).
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Neither national public radio nor national public television has reached 100 percent coverage. By 2010, the radio signal had 94 percent104 of coverage and the television signal 92 percent.105 Public media are not the most relevant source of news for Colombians; they are more focused on carrying educational and cultural information than news. As shown in Figures 6 and 8, private television channels and private radio stations are by far the most popular news providers. 2.1.2 Digitization and Services It is still early to define changes in public channels as digital broadcasting has not yet begun. However, according to Salua Abisambra,106 chief of the Content Office of the CNTV, there will not be a significant increase in the amount and diversity of content and public channels programming will not change drastically. Nonetheless, since channels can decide whether or not to implement the multichannel functionality of DTT, they can also benefit from other applications, such as interaction with the audience through a data channel, or getting international channels to be broadcast through open television. On the internet, RTVC has taken advantage of the opportunities of the digital era to create new communication spaces to connect with its audience. It maintains a multiservice website107 that provides live video streaming for both national television channels and live audios for radio stations. It offers news about media events, information about signals and programming, service statistics, a coverage map, and technical support. It also features a "Citizen section" with chats, forums, and boxes displaying the real-time activity of their Twitter and Facebook accounts. All public television channels, except for Canal 1, have websites that provide several digital services. Telepacífico and Telecaribe, the channels that broadcast for the two coastal regions—the Pacific Ocean on the west border of the country and the Caribbean Ocean in the north border—offer a programming guide, chats, forums, and a "Question of the day" section. Telepacífico offers also live streaming, photo and video galleries, and links to Facebook and Twitter accounts. Canal Tro,108 which broadcasts for the central northern part of the country, includes all the digital services mentioned above as well as live video streaming for the regional lottery draw. TeleAntioquía and Telecafé, the channels that broadcast to the central northwestern region of the country, offer live video streaming, previews, online surveys, video libraries, and links to several social networks and platforms such as Vimeo, Flickr, JumpTv Latino, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. TeleIslas,109 the channel that broadcasts for the country's insular territories in the Caribbean (San Andrés and Providencia), has the simplest
104 105
See http://www.rtvc.gov.co/ RTVC, Recuperation and Stations Expansion, at http://bit.ly/gVzqtL (accessed 2 April 2011). 106 Cuayal Muñoz and Jesús Eduardo, "Impacto de la Inversión Estatal en Televisión Pública, Nivel Nacional, Regional y Comunitario" (Impact of State Investment in Public Television, Nationwide, Regional and Community), Contraloría General de la República, 2009, p. 5, at http://bit.ly/eP82RJ 107 Interviewed in Bogotá on 10 February 2011. 108 http://www.rtvc.gov.co 109 http://www.canaltro.com
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website, which includes only a programming guide and general information about the channel (there are no interactivity tools or online participation is not allowed). The national channels, Señal Colombia and Institucional have perhaps the most sophisticated websites, including digital tools for channel programming and other citizen services, such as driver license and identification forms and requirements, a tax calendar, and job offers. For radio, Radiónica has a website110 with live video streaming and a multimedia gallery with a free download option where music videos, artists' images, and podcasts are available. It offers also a chat option, a forum, a "Question of the day" section, and an online song request selection. 2.1.3 Government Support Before the creation of CNTV, public media depended directly from the national government and the national budget. Since the establishment of Law 182 of 1995111 and the creation of the Television Development Fund (FDTV), there is a self-sustained business model that allows public media to be financed with the money that private media pays for the operation, use of the spectrum, and other fees. According to the law, the FDTV is a special account meant to strengthen the public television service and its cultural programming. It is administered by the CNTV and its beneficiaries are RTVC and the regional channels. CNTV's budget comes from three different fees:112 46 percent from the concession of the electromagnetic spectrum, 25 percent from the exploitation or usage fee (1.5–10 percent over gross income), and 2 percent from the frequencies usage fee. The additional 27 percent comes from other types of income, such as financial yields, interests, sanctions, channel name registration. Between 1996 and 2008 CNTV's income reached in aggregate US$ 1 billion,113 generated as follows: 27 percent from national private television, 27 percent from other income, 21 percent from concession spaces, 18 percent from subscription television, 5 percent from satellite television, and 2 percent from local television. All of RTVC's operational budget comes from CNTV's resources. Since the CNTV is an independent entity designated by the state to manage the television industry in Colombia, there is no evidence of additional or direct state support for the public media digitization process. CNTV, which is also in charge of the management of the FDTV's budget, has been leading the process since the beginning. In partnership with RTVC, it has developed the strategies to ensure that public national and regional channels can successfully switch to the digital signal.
See http://www.teleislas.com.co See http://www.radionica.gov.co 112 Law 182 of 1995, at http://bit.ly/f60ikc (accessed 1 April 2011). 113 According to the law, every operator must pay for the access, use, and exploitation of the electromagnetic spectrum. 114 Income 1996–2008, US$ 1,043,544,256. CNTV, "Evento Público Internacional del Consejo Consultivo de Radio y Television del Perú. Modelo de la Televisión en Colombia" (International Public Event of the Advisory Council of Radio and Television of Peru. Model of Television in Colombia), Lima, 25 June 2009, p 17, at http://bit.ly/eOXbjs (accessed 9 February 2011).
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
Since 1996, the CNTV, through the FDTV Fund, has invested an amount close to US$ 850 million, an average of US$ 65 million per year114 on strengthening public—analog—media. In 2008, for instance, the management of public television in Colombia executed a budget of about US$ 80 million, invested as follows: US$ 12 million in CNTV, US$ 17 million in payments to retired workers of former Inravisión (see section 2.1.1), and US$ 51 million to the FDTV Fund. The Fund divided the budget as follows: US$ 25 million for the technical infrastructure of the national public network and public television channels, US$ 14 million dollars for programming and operation of RTVC and US$12 million for the programming and production of regional channels. This means that less than 50 percent of the budget for public television is invested in producing television, and the largest part of the resources is invested in technical operation and management. 2.1.4 Public Service Media and Digital Switch-over Years before the election of the DTT standard, the state began making efforts to prepare public television for digital requirements. Between 2005 and 2008, CNTV conducted a technological renovation that included the adjustment, grant, and installation of new equipment, and the renewal of infrastructure for the national and regional channels. After the choice of the DVB-T standard in August 2008, CNTV approved almost US$ 2 million for RTVC to build the first digital transmission station in the country (meant to cover five departments of the central part of the country) and approved another US$ 2.5 million to set up other stations over the country.115 Not all regional channels are digitized and the digital network has not yet been installed. According to Juan Andrés Carreño, former director of CNTV, there is a budget of US$ 2 billion116 to create the digital network for the regional channels. The radio service has also implemented a digital strategy to achieve a suitable technical infrastructure. In 2009, a provisional contract was signed with RNC for the installation and integration of a digital console system that improved the service and its national coverage. In 2009 and 2010, coverage grew by 20 percent, reaching 90 percent of the population.117 2.2 Public Service Provision 2.2.1 Perception of Public Service Media There is widespread agreement about the importance of public media in strengthening the democratic values of the nation and for reinforcing the education, culture, and identity of Colombians. However, this important role has not been properly realized. And, at the same time, there is public complaint
Omar Rincón, "Colombia," in Libro Blanco sobre la Tv Educativa y Cultural en Iberoamérica (White Book on Educational and Cultural Television in Ibero-America), Tornero Pérez, Manuel José and Lorenzo Vilches (coordinators), 2010, p. 125 (hereafter Omar Rincón, "Colombia"). 116 CNTV, "Plan de desarrollo 2010–2013" (Development Plan 2010–2013), p. 45, at http://bit.ly/dfwPyg. (accessed 10 February 2011). 117 RTVC, "Lanza primera transmisión digital de televisión" (Launch of first DTT signal), 22 August 2010, at http://bit.ly/f2CY2P (accessed 5 February 2011). 118 RNC, at http://bit.ly/hdfY3J (accessed February 2011).
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about the duties of CNTV and how the public media compete against private—and the most popular— media. The law has historically protected public media, yet these policies have not been successful in terms of popularity and audience. According to Omar Rincón,118 journalist, television expert and Associate Professor at Universidad de los Andes, the low ratings of public media can be explained by three main factors: first, the lack of marketing and advertising of public broadcasting programming; second, the inability to understand viewers' habits and tastes; and third, the complexity and seriousness of public media storytelling. Since CNTV has not established a marketing strategy to promote public content, most Colombians are unaware of their television programming. Because public media do not consider viewers' pre-established watching habits, they feel uncomfortable with the content offer. In addition, the lack of creativity and imagination to produce cultural and educational content has kept audiences away. There are also some critics of the politicization of public media. German Yances, Chair at Universidad Javeriana, states that "as governors of departments, including the President of the Republic and the national government have shares or own regional public channels or national public channel, that somehow affects the content and administration of these channels."119 Mauricio Mosquera, manager at Tele Medellin, a local TV channel, agrees with Mr Yances on the fact that public media might be considered as governmental. He believes that there will always be a link between public media and the government, so the challenge is to ensure that the public media become participatory, creative, and inclusive, and that they work with very strict ethical parameters. He also states that media should be very close to the people. Despite their dependence on the government, they can strive to belong to citizens also.120 Recently, with the advent of digital technology, debate and analysis on the role of public media have become stronger. The state recognizes that public media must catch up with technology and it has proposed several plans to modernize the infrastructure, equipment, and signal access and coverage. RTVC, for example, stated that its goal for 2011 was to be a "leader in the domestic television, radio and new media market, a model of effectiveness at the regional level, with the ability to make technical and financial decisions, with national coverage and dissemination of our cultural diversity abroad, through which the State will guarantee an entertaining, educational, cultural, and institutional programming, of common interest and will promote interactive communication with citizens." There are no specific studies of audiences' perception of public service media. But public television channels have low ratings. According to EGM 2010,121 in one month regional public channels scored 50.1 rating points and national public channels scored 27.7 points. This means they were the third and
119 120
Omar Rincón, "Colombia." "La experiencia colombiana en medios públicos" (Colombian experience in Public Media), at http://bit.ly/e4pyL7 (accessed 4 April 2011) (hereafter "La experiencia colombiana"). 121 "La experiencia colombiana." 122 CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," tercera ola , 2010, p. 13, at http://bit.ly/cHJfKg (accessed 7April 2011).
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fourth most preferred television option after the private channels, which reached 97 rating points, and closed television (pay-TV) channels, which scored 78.1 points. Public radio stations have also little popularity. In the top 30 most listened to stations in Colombia in 2010, there were only two public radio stations listed: Radio Policía Nacional, in the 19th position and Radiónica in the 29th position.122 2.2.2 Public Service Provision in Commercial Media The television regulatory framework of 1995 also established and reinforced several public service obligations for commercial media.123 Since that date, decrees have regulated the allocation of frequencies and state intervention in television, and the schedules for children, youths, and adults, among others. It is important to note that there are no specific obligations for the provision of news. Here a list of the most significant obligations: • • • • Each operator must broadcast (between 7 p.m. and 9.30 p.m.) at least 108 hours of children's programming in every three months. Free access for legislative chambers to broadcast television services. They will have a space of 30 minutes in prime time. All channels must report daily, between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., the mechanisms available to receive feedback, comments, requests, and complaints about scheduling or performance. All television channels, public and private, have the obligation to broadcast a news ombudsman (Defensor del televidente) program. These shows present the complaints, opinions, and suggestions concerning language, contents, schedule of the shows, and unsuitable topics for children, among other things. They are broadcast weekly at a late hour, usually after midnight. Each channel must broadcast, each day, 15 minutes of institutional messages from state agencies, five minutes from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 10 minutes from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Institutional spaces allocated to political parties and movements will be broadcast Monday through Friday between 7 p.m. and 7.02 p.m. Institutional spaces allocated to consumer associations recognized by the law will be broadcast from Monday through Friday, at the times and for a duration determined by the board of directors of CNTV. Institutional spaces allocated to the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar) will have a maximum of 1 minute's duration and will be broadcast from Monday through Friday between 8.30. and 9 p.m. The president may use the television services at any time and without limitation in order to address the nation.
• • •
2.3 Assessments
123 124
"Estudio colombiano de audiencia radial" (Colombian Report for Radio Audience, ECAR), 2010. Law 182 of 1995, at http://bit.ly/f60ikc (accessed 1 April 2011).
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Public media have benefited in many ways from the digitization process. The renewal of the infrastructure and equipment and the improvement of the signal coverage are among the most important gains. The implementation of radio and television websites is seen also as a gain, especially for audiences that have acquitted more tools to be informed with and entertained. Also, thanks to live video streaming and live audios, people do not need a television set to watch television, or a radio set to listen to the radio. Because of the computer, people without any of these devices, or those who live in non-covered areas, can listen and watch the public media programs, and they can do so more than once, without relying on a specific schedule. Given the fact that the number of channels will increase once the TDT is implemented, the programming grid will expand and producers will have the opportunity to develop new content and digital tools. According to the journalist and Univisión news director Daniel Coronell,124 the supply of more information necessarily has a positive effect on audiences, because "a better-informed society is a society able to make better decisions." On the other hand, public media may also be affected by digitization. The change in equipment and the implementation of digital networks for public channels, especially for the regional channels, necessarily requires a large investment of money that might delay the process, putting the public media at a disadvantage compared with private channels whose budget does not depend on CNTV. The eagerness to improve the technological level can affect the quality of the content. According to the media analyst Omar Rincón,125 digitization is making Colombian media worry more about design and technology than about the quality of information. Most regional small newspapers have implemented websites that offer the same information as the print version with a more modern and colorful design. The change in the narrative is one of the most crucial challenges for public media. Digital experts agree that digital storytelling works differently and content should be presented in new ways. Several media enterprises have migrated their content to websites but they have not incorporated new narratives. They have not fully integrated the digital tools into the journalistic process, and little attention is still paid to audiences as news producers. That is the case for most of the regional print media that face the digital take-up with economic and technical disadvantages in comparison with national media like El Tiempo or El Espectador. Digitization process is still beginning in Colombia, but this focus on technology and lack of attention to content provision can be seen as a negative aspect—and an opportunity that looks likely to be lost. The success of digitization will depend on discovering how to use the opportunities offered by technology to provide content that truly educates and reinforces public values and culture. According to the Political Constitution,126 the electromagnetic spectrum is a national resource and in order to promote public interest, several obligations must be imposed on all media, including commercial ones. In Colombia, it is of great importance that not only public broadcasters make efforts to have a television that serves the audiences' needs. As mentioned before (see section 2.2.2), several
124 126
Interviewed in Bogotá on 18 December 2010. Interviewed in Bogotá, on 22 December 2010. 127 Political Constitution of Colombia, at http://bit.ly/cGrE8r. See Art. 75.
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public policies have been established to guarantee this. It is important to note that, in contrast with other Latin American countries, public media have been strengthened in recent years and public service provision is considered an important issue. However, some analysts agree that, considering the educational and cultural value of public media in Colombia, it is urgent to review and rethink the duties and obligations of public television, specially facing the DTT transition. Although a big content expansion is not expected, public television should be, for example, the window for independent production and the driving force for the development of an independent industry. But the sector's development is being driven by private channels, more focused on the business than on public interests (see Chapter 6). Also, there is a pending discussion about the content provision for public television. The question is how to provide good-quality content that serves the public interest while being able to compete with the private channels.
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
3. Digital Media and Society 3.1 User-Generated Content (UGC) 3.1.1 UGC Overview The list of the 10 most visited online destinations in Colombia is topped by foreign sites: seven of them are US sites, one is from South America, one from Spain, and only one from Colombia. Facebook127 is by far the most visited site in Colombia, with almost 7 million unique visitors each month.128 As in many other countries, this social network quickly gained a huge popularity that seems impossible for any local site to match. See Table 9. Following Facebook.com are Live.com,129 Msn.com,130 Yahoo.com,131 and Blogspot.com,132 all of which appeal to a broad range of audiences and provide multiple services, such as email, photo sharing, embedded video, chats, blogs, and news feeds. Eltiempo.com, the digital version of the most popular newspaper in the country, is the only local website ranked in the top 10. With 1.2 million133 unique visitors each month, Eltiempo.com is the national most visited site. However, its audience seems small compared with the large audience of the social networks listed above. Eltiempo.com was launched in 1996 as the online version of the most traditional printed newspaper and since then it has been the most consulted online newspaper among Colombians. Rincondelvago.com134 is a Spanish website created in 1995 especially for the academic community and it has become very popular among the Spanish-speaking audience as a document sharing platform. Taringa.net135 is an Argentinian virtual community for Spanish and Portuguese speakers, where users share information through posts that usually contain links to download software, games, applications, and other digital content. Table 9. Top 10 most popular sites by number of unique visitors
127 129
See http://www.Facebook.com Google Ad Planner Statistics for November 2010, at http://bit.ly/ha1G7K (accessed 5 January 2011). 130 See http://www.live.com 131 See http://www.msn.com 132 See http://www.yahoo.com 133 See http://www.blogspot.com 134 Google Adplanner Statistics for February 2011, at http://bit.ly/ha1G7K (accessed 17 April 2011). 135 See http://www.rincondelvago.com 136 See http://www.taringa.net
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Unique visitors (million)*136
1 Facebook.com 7.5 2 Live.com 6.2 3 Msn.com 4.7 4 Yahoo.com 3.5 5 Blogspot.com 2.9 6 Bing.com 2.2 7 Microsoft.com 1.5 8 Eltiempo.com 1.2 9 Rincondelvago.com 1.2 10 Taringa.net 1.1 * Unique visitors (estimated cookies) Source: Google Ad Planner data for February 2011137 The list of the 10 most visited UGC sites is also topped by foreign sites. Facebook is both the most visited site (see Table 10) and the most visited UGC site. It has a privileged position with over 7 million visitors (estimated cookies) per month, more than twice as many visitors as Yahoo.com, ranked in the second position. It is followed by Blogspot.com, one of the many platforms used to blog or type entries as an online journal, which seems to have a high popularity among Colombians, with almost 3 million visitors. Below the third place, the number of unique visitors per site significantly decreases, reaching around 1.1 million each. However, it is worth mentioning the ranking of Twitter.com in the ninth position. Considered to be a social network and a microblogging website, it is not yet very popular in Colombia. In spite of the increase shown in 2009, when the Spanish version was launched, it still has a low penetration.138 However, different online surveys agree that the number of Latin American Twitter users, including Colombians, continues to grow at a very high rate (the first year it grew 736 percent139) and it will gain major popularity in the near future. The comments wall is perhaps the most popular tool out of the UGC applications in Colombia. In Eltiempo.com and in most news sites, long lists of comments can be found under the articles, mainly those related to politics. Around 2004 and 2005 blogs became very popular among internet users in Colombia. In recent years many online versions of traditional media have created their own blogs sections.140 At the beginning they invited well-known people to blog. Recently, it has become common
Google.com is not ranked by Google Adplanner. See https://www.google.com/adplanner 139 There is an estimate of 125,000–300,000 active Twitter users in Colombia. (As Twitter Corporation has not yet released official statistics about users in Colombia, these data were calculated using statistics from EcuaLink, an online magazine about new media and technologies for Ecuador and Latin American audiences), at http://bit.ly/hYTmzE, and Enter.co, a Colombian technology magazine, at http://bit.ly/9gM4Nz (accessed 15 January 2011). 140 Mauricio Jaramillo, "Twitter en español creció 736 en su primer año" (Twitter in Spanish grew 736% in its first year), at Enter.co, at http://bit.ly/9gM4Nz (accessed 15 January 2011).
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to find media bloggers who are citizens with an expertise or interest in some particular topic (some of them already well-known in the local blogosphere), who are not paid. This represents a change in news and content offerings, and in audiences' and citizens' roles in relation to the media as well. Besides the "official" bloggers, ordinary people can give their opinions in Eltiempo.com, but they cannot share their own stories, photos or videos. Table 10. Top 10 most popular UGC sites by number of unique visitors Site UGC category Unique visitors (million)* 1 Facebook.com Social network 7.5 2 Yahoo.com Web portal 3.5 3 Blogspot.com Blogging resources & services 2.9 4 Taringa.net Social network 1.1 5 Wordpress.com Blogging resources & services 1.1 6 Scribd.com Social network 1 7 Softonic.com Software 1 8 Slideshare.net Business plans & presentations 0.84 9 Twitter.com Email & messaging 0.63 10 Badoo.com Dating & personals 0.52 * Unique visitors (estimated cookies) Source: Google Ad Planner data for February 2011141 3.1.2 Social Networks
Social networks have become widely popular in Colombia. The top 10 social networks list adds up to over 10 million unique visitors each month.142 Facebook.com and Taringa.net (first and second positions) are followed by Scribd.com,143 a document-sharing website based in the United States. It defines itself as the world's largest book club, where people can upload, organize, and distribute documents on the web and mobile devices. Below third place, the number of unique visitors per site is around half a million and less each, not very significant when compared with the largest networks. See Table 11. Table 11. Top 10 most popular social networks in Colombia Social network Unique site visitors (million)* 1 Facebook.com 7.5 2 Taringa.net 1.1 3 Scribd.com 1.0 4 Sonico.com 0.52 5 Ask.com 0.47
See http://www.eltiempo.com/blogs See https://www.google.com/adplanner 142 Calculated data based on GoogleAdplanner statistics, including duplicated visitors, at http://bit.ly/ha1G7K (accessed 5 January 2011). 144 See http://www.scribd.com
142 141
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6 Fbcdn.net 0.27 7 Hi5.com 0.27 8 Quepasa.com 0.26 9 Linkedin.com 0.18 1 Psicofxp.com 0.18 0 * Unique visitors (estimated cookies) Source: Google Ad Planner data for February 2011144 3.1.3 News in Social Media
There are no official statistics on Colombians' activities on social networks or blogs. However, there are data on the most visited sites that indicate people's preferences on the net. According to Google Adplanner, among Msn.com,145 Yahoo.com.co,146 and Live.com,147 the three most visited web portals in the country (see Table 9), audiences' favorite topics or activities are: gossip and tabloid news, general country information, television networks and stations, music, family and relationships, and service provider portals. Nonetheless, the social media expert Rosa Cristina Parra148 believes that after the big civil mobilization against Farc guerrillas in 2008 (see section 3.2.1), social networks started a politicization process that got stronger during the 2010 presidential elections. People realized that Twitter, Facebook, and blogs were not meant only for personal communication, or to be personal diaries, and started using them for political discussions and news debates. Parra also states that this behavior seems normal considering that the country has suffered a long armed conflict that affects society at all levels, including communication. For most of the 20th century journalism and media were regulated by the government and there was open censorship. Only after the Constitution of 1991 has press freedom become considered a fundamental right. 3.2 Digital Activism 3.2.1 Digital Platforms and Civil Society Activism
There is no doubt that new media have created novel citizen and communicative dynamics. Journalism is no longer a newspapers' monopoly. The process of information diffusion and production has changed. As a result, traditional media have created citizen journalism sections and almost every news website has implemented walls for comments under each article and allowed users to rate the quality of the information provided.
144 146
See https://www.google.com/adplanner See http://bit.ly/ew6GDJ (accessed 13 January 2011). 147 See http://bit.ly/eRYURD (accessed 13 January 2011). 148 See http://bit.ly/hxEzRY (accessed 13 January 2011). 149 Interview with Rosa Cristina Parra, journalist and consultant in strategic communication, education and social mobilization, Bogotá, 12 January 2011.
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Since 2008, digital activism has grown in Colombia, and netizens have proved the power of social networking in the country. Political debates and hostages' rescue operations have, among others, triggered big digital mobilizations, especially on Facebook and Twitter,149 where people have gathered to support or criticize journalists' and elected officials' work. However, on most occasions this kind of participation stayed in the digital world and did not become real actions or mobilizations in the offline world. These are three prominent cases of digital activism that have successfully affected the "real world." Un millón de voces contra las Farc (One million voices against Farc) On 4 January 2008, Oscar Morales, a 33-year-old engineer living in Barranquilla, created a Facebook group against the Farc, the largest guerrilla movement in the country. By the next day, the group had 1,500 members, four days later 40,000 and by the end of the month 150,000. Due to its success, a few days after creating the group, Morales and some other leaders that had joined him as group administrators decided to call for a protest action. Using Skype and Google documents, they gathered a group of 200 people to organize parallel marches in different cities in Colombia and abroad. In order to get traditional media attention, they sent a press release by mail to 50 well-known journalists and opinion leaders in the country. Within days, the news spread like wildfire. Radio stations, television channels, and newspapers had taken up the story and encouraged people to join the protest, scheduled for 4 February 2008. Some private companies donated money for advertising. The Catholic church supported them and even the former president Alvaro Uribe went marching together with his cabinet. On 4 February, over 10 million people poured into the streets of 20 cities in Colombia and 45 cities around the world to march against the Farc guerrillas.150 The original Facebook message "No more kidnapping, no more lies, no more deaths, no more Farc" was waved in big flags, and worn on T-shirts all over the world. It was a complete success that, according to Morales,151 "remains as a memorable chapter in the country's history and a reference for further youth mobilizations." The Chiqui Locomotion Case On 17 September 2009, the body of 19 year-old Ana María Chavez was found in her apartment in Bogotá in what seemed to be a burglary. However, her older brother found evidence that indicated the killers knew her sister from before. He gathered a group of about 20 friends to start looking into Ana María's Facebook profile for comments or photos that matched the boys that appeared in her building's surveillance videotapes. They agreed that the main suspect was someone nicknamed Chiqui Locomotion, a boy the victim had met in Facebook, and who had erased some previous communications with the victim. As he was a very active user, it was easy to follow his steps and collect evidence that linked him to the crime. Before going to the authorities with nothing but Facebook material, they made a Google search for the nickname Chiqui Locomotion, and found his music community with all his personal data, including his full name and national ID number. In
150 151
Some popular Twitter hashtags: #apoyoaCoronell, #apoyoaPiedad, #liberacionsinshow #pazenColombia See http://bit.ly/fywSvT (accessed 10 January 2011). 152 Interview with Oscar Morales, founder and leader of "One Million Voices Against Farc," 14 December 2010.
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October 2009, when the virtual investigation reached the authorities, John Sierra Molina, better known as Chiqui Locomotion, and his partner Juan Sebastian Obando, nicknamed "Sebitas," both 19 years old, were captured. In March 2010, after their confession, they were sentenced to 25 years in a state prison. The case was revealed by the mainstream media the day of the trial and became very popular among Facebook users and netizens as a crime planned and solved using a social network. La Ola Verde (The Green Wave) In 2010, Antanas Mockus, Enrique Peñalosa, and Luis Eduardo Garzón, former mayors of Bogotá, joined a new political party, the Green Party,152 which gained outstanding popularity within months, especially among young people, who have usually shown low levels of political engagement. The independent flag captured the attention of new voters and they started a big social media campaign on their own initiative. It spread mainly by Twitter,153 where Mr Mockus acquired 94,000 followers, and by Facebook,154 where he got over 800,000 supporters. It became a digital phenomenon known as the "green wave" because the mobilizations came directly from the people and not from a campaign marketing strategy. For the first time in the country's history, a presidential campaign entered the digital space and tested the candidates' skills to gather voters in this new arena. During the electoral period, traditional media talked about Mr Mockus as a digital phenomenon, and although he did not win the elections,155 the "green wave" remains as a reference for virtual campaigns and citizen activism. 3.2.2 The Importance of Digital Mobilizations
Although there are many Colombians participating in websites, creating blogs, and adding content in platforms like YouTube, they do not represent the largest portion of the population. Therefore the impact of digital mobilizations should be carefully pondered. Most of the digital activism among Colombians is politically related. As a result of the success of the 2008 "One million voices against Farc" protest (see section 3.2.1), people began to better understand and use digital tools, and actually some other protests were successfully mounted through Facebook. Afterwards, during the 2010 presidential and congress electoral campaigns, there was a lot of digital activity. People by their own initiative created slogans, support groups, songs, T-shirts, online games, and communities. Creativity, digital skills, and participation were so overwhelming that they took candidates by surprise. Politicians, media, and citizens witnessed for the first time the power of digital tools in politics. Cesar Paredes156 and Guillermo Franco,157 experienced online editors, agree that
153 154
See http://www.partidoverde.org.co See http://Twitter.com/#!/@antanasmockus 155 See http://www.Facebook.com/#!/a.mockus 156 Mockus was second with 3.5 million votes, behind Juan Manuel Santos with 9 million. See http://bit.ly/gtRPHq (accessed 15 January 2010). 157 Interview with Cesar Paredes, journalist and politics online editor for Semana.com, Bogotá, 26 November 2010. 158 Interview with Guillermo Franco, journalist, former manager of the Media Unit of CEET and former editor for ElTiempo.com, Bogotá, 17 December 2010.
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campaign managers were not well prepared for such digital activism and so they failed in their attempt to transform all that energy and enthusiasm into real votes. Many politicians, including the ex-president Alvaro Uribe,158 the current president Juan Manuel Santos,159 and many senators and leaders keep Twitter accounts and release information through it. There are also several journalists and civic organizations that use Twitter to communicate, attract, and raise audiences' awareness on certain issues. Some of this websites are widely viewed, and due to digital campaigns and mobilizations, have a significant impact. A good example of a civic organization is the Belen de los Andaquies Audiovisual Children's School (Escuela Audiovisual Infantil Belén de los Andaquíes), which thanks to digital resources has become a leader on educational programs and art narratives that have been given national and international awards. It was created in 2005 in Belén de los Andaquíes, a faraway village in the department of Caquetá, an area near the Amazonian region that has been affected by armed conflict, starting as a radio program aimed at children of different ages. Due to its success it quickly became an academy where children could learn how to express themselves through video, audio, and different kinds of multimedia. Alirio Gonzalez,160 the school's founder, says that the school was meant to help children to communicate, to dream, to play, and to have fun, and at the same time to teach them the power of digital tools in the craft of storytelling. This was an amazing but unknown initiative until 2006, when the school decided to create a blog161 and a YouTube channel162 to post the children's work. Since then, thousands of comments have been posted by Colombians and people abroad who are astonished at the children's skills. They also have a Facebook profile where the school team has discussions with people interested in community spaces and communication.163 In 2010, the school won a national award in Children Quality Television Production offered by the Ministry of Culture. Even though digital activism has grown in recent years, it still concerns a minority of the population. However, cases like the children's audiovisual school prove that the scenario can be modified. Regardless of the low internet penetration in rural areas, people of all ages and from all over the country can become interested in digital tools and virtual spaces for communications and mobilizations. 3.3 Assessments
158 160
@AlvaroUribeVel, at http://Twitter.com/alvarouribevel @JuanManSantos, at http://Twitter.com/JuanManSantos 161 Alirio Gonzalez, 2005, "Contar lo que hacemos para descubrir para donde vamos: Una Mirada a la Escuela Audiovisual Infantil de Belen de los Andaquíes, Caquetá" (To tell what we do, to discover where we go: An inside look to the Children's Audiovisual School of Belen de los Andaquíes, Caquetá), p. 6, at http://bit.ly/hYPOur (accessed 8 January 2011). 162 See http://bit.ly/yMUQ (accessed 8 January 2011). 163 See http://bit.ly/fOthQy (accessed 8 January 2011). 164 See http://on.fb.me/dPIghD (accessed 8 January 2011).
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The information market has grown due to UGC and audience participation. Mobile platforms have allowed people to be informed at every moment and to publish information from anywhere, anytime. Mobile devices can carry information from distant places that are not part of traditional media coverage. Mobiles are also helpful in carrying breaking news about natural disasters or traffic jams. The political online editors Catalina Lobo-Guerrero164 and Cesar Paredes acknowledge that they have picked up facts from users' tweets in order to write their own stories. They recognize this might still be a rarity in Colombia, but it will become more common and it cannot be underestimated. Social media allow people to give and receive information instantly in a free and unlimited way. However, not everything people post can be considered news or reliable material. Many Twitter or Facebook posts concerning current events are written without the discipline of verification, and become personal opinions rather than news. In Colombia blogs are not yet seen as serious or reliable media, and few digital media can be trusted as good-quality news providers. LaSillaVacia is perhaps so far the best and only example of a new website that has been very successful because of its accuracy and journalistic rigor (see section 4.2.3). Given the low internet penetration rate, there are contradictory opinions regarding new media effects on digital activism. Nevertheless, evidence has shown that technologies have opened a new communication window that serves as a cradle for great mobilizations in the real world. And in the near future, as the number of netizens increases, the majority of the population will be able to use these new media opportunities. The popularity of Facebook (see Table 9) and Twitter and the citizens' responses to walls of comments and other types of digital participation (see section 3.2.1) indicate that, as Colombians gain access, they are likely to take up that opportunity.
Interview with Catalina Lobo-Guerrero, former editor of Votebien.com, a website specialized in elections coverage, Bogotá, 23 December 2010.
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4. Digital Media and Journalism165 4.1 Impact on Journalists and Newsrooms 4.1.1 Journalists Changes in the work of journalists due to new technology and digitization vary according to factors such as the size of media organizations and their geographic location; connectivity is higher in larger cities. Technology seems to have made its impact first, stronger, and faster than the bigger media located in Bogotá. Regional media perceived the impact later, and many of them have been progressively adjusting to online information dynamics, instead of simply posting print content on the internet. Some regional newspapers such as El País,166 El Colombiano,167 El Heraldo,168 Vanguardia Liberal,169 and El Universal170 have recently changed their online versions to separate and differentiate their content from the printed version. National coverage newspapers such as El Tiempo and El Espectador whose online versions are completely different from the print editions traveled this same path earlier. Generally speaking, regarding the journalistic work there are three main changes to mention. 1. Changes in the news cycle The majority of interviewed journalists agreed that the immediacy of the internet has had a strong impact on the news cycle. "Before, you had 24 hours to verify some information. Now you have less than half an hour," says Guillermo Franco.171 Since launching their online versions, traditional media have had to adjust their news cycles. For instance, Semana magazine is a weekly print magazine. Its online version (Semana.com) team works according to a completely different news cycle, since it is updated daily and it is actually competing in immediacy with newspapers such as ElTiempo.com, or ElEspectador.com, says Mr Paredes.172 2. New ways of information gathering Although traditional ways of reporting (by phone and by accessing physical public documents, for example) are still the most popular, Web 2.0 ways of reaching sources are rapidly becoming popular. Some editors report that young journalists are sensitive and used to digital tools, and therefore on their
Most of this chapter is based on personal and telephone interviews with 13 Colombian journalists, media leaders, and media observers and analysts. The interviews took place in Bogotá between November 2010 and January 2011. 167 See http://elpais.com.co 168 See http://www.elcolombiano.com 169 See http://www.elheraldo.co 170 See http://www.vanguardia.com 171 See http://www.eluniversal.com.co 172 Interviewed on 17 December 2010 in Bogotá. 173 Interviewed on 26 November 2010 in Bogotá.
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daily reporting work they go first to Google or Twitter to begin gathering information. Some internet tools used by journalists to access sources are e-mail, chatrooms, and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. In some cases, social networks, particularly Twitter, have become the direct source of information, since many public figures and celebrities have joined these networks. The case of ex-President Alvaro Uribe is a good example. Since leaving the presidency, he has become a heavy Twitter user.173 Considering his popularity and his influence on local politics, some of the tweets in which he states his opinion on current events have become news. Also his confrontations on Twitter with journalists have been reported in the media.174 Some media observers consider this tendency a threat to journalistic work, since journalists lose their role as researchers and information gatherers when a simple Twitter update becomes the story, as journalists pick the update up and publish it in the media as news. 3. The role of the audience in news production. Almost all news sites have a comments section on each story. In general, online versions of traditional media do not answer users' comments, and often the comments section becomes a place for rude discussions and insults. On the other hand, some new media (born online), such as LaSillaVacia,175 have the rule of always reading and responding to their audience's comments. As a result, according to the site director Juanita León,176 approximately 30 percent of their content is provided by their audience: users give journalists via email or via the comments section ideas to write new stories or leads to develop investigations. Also, on the comments section, sometimes users correct or complement the information presented in the stories. On the users' section177 of LaSillaVacia, audience members can, assisted by an editor, produce and publish their own stories. Simón Posada,178 editor for KienyKe.com,179 an online media outlet launched in November 2010, says he wakes up listening to the news on the radio, and also checking the trending topics on Twitter, to see "what people are talking about," in order to search for hot topics for the daily media agenda. This young online magazine recently integrated the comments section of the stories it posts to Facebook, so that as users comment on the news they share the story and comments on their Facebook profile. KienyKe.com does not have a citizen journalism section, but it recently launched a users' blogs section. 4.1.2 Ethics
174 175
See http://twitter.com/alvarouribevel See an example on the Caracol radio station site, at http://bit.ly/fcTtRQ 176 See http://www.lasillavacia.com 177 Interviewed on 14 December 2010 in Bogotá. 178 See http://www.lasillavacia.com/usuarios 179 Interviewed on 23 March 2011 in Bogotá. 180 See http://www.kienyke.com
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All journalists interviewed agree that the internet as a medium should follow the same ethical rules applied to journalism in traditional media. Javier Dario Restrepo,180 an experienced journalist and journalism ethics expert, points out that ethical demands are even higher on the web since it is more powerful than other media. Diversity of sources, verification, and critical analysis of what sources say are signs of quality journalism online and offline, says Mr Restrepo. Journalists recognize as the main ethics-related issues they face in their daily practice online the following. 1. Fake sources. The internet facilitates a certain kind of anonymity. Therefore, there is a lot of sourceless information or even fictional characters that journalists have to handle very carefully. Anonymous emails, fake Twitter profiles, or photomontages are some examples of misleading sources and data. Journalists interviewed pointed out that fact checking is even more important now. 2. Immediacy. Although live broadcasting was born with radio and became popular with television decades ago, the internet reaches a level of immediacy not seen before. Interviewed journalists and media analysts said that media can fall into the trap of posting information immediately without verifying, breaking an essential rule of journalism ethics. 3. Privacy. Social networks allow people to post, share, and spot personal information and materials, such as family photos. The traditional dilemma of what is public and what is private is accentuated online, where almost all information seems to be public. "Journalists have to ask themselves what the source may not even be asking herself 'Would posting this information infringe upon someone's privacy?'", says Carlos Cortés,181 a journalist and former director of the Foundation for Press Liberty (Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa, FLIP). Some interviewed journalists mentioned that currently privacy issues are their most frequent ethics dilemma. 4.2 Investigative Journalism 4.2.1 Opportunities
Journalists interviewed for this report agreed that a lot of reporting work and journalistic tools remain the same in the digital era, since it is still necessary to rely on trusted, and sometimes confidential, sources, go to public offices to request information, and place a formal information request (derecho de petición)182 in order to access public records. However, some new strategies are being used for investigation, especially among younger journalists. 1. The use of social networks. Some of the journalists and editors interviewed agree that the use of social networks for reporting is increasing among journalists. Ms León says they have successfully
181 182
Interviewed on 12 January 2011 in Bogotá. Interviewed on 10 December 2010 in Bogotá. 183 Since the Political Constitution was instituted in 1991, every person in Colombia has the constitutional right to request information to government authorities, either for public interest reasons or for particular purposes. Government authorities are obliged to provide an answer to every information request in no more than 15 days from the receipt of the request. Journalists often use this civil resource in order to have access to public information. 184 Interviewed on 14 December 2010 in Bogotá.
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done crowdsourcing in order to elaborate some of their investigative stories.183 She points out that professional journalists verify all information supplied by the audience, but the audience can provide leads and clues for investigative stories. Investigative journalists also search on Twitter for reactions, considering many politicians and public figures are tweeting (see section 4.1.1). Jorge Cardona,184 editor-in-chief of El Espectador, says that they have found out about connections and relationships among investigated people searching on their Facebook profiles. 2. Public information online. Many official sources of public information and databases can now be accessed and easily searched through the internet. Journalists can now have online access to laws, decrees, resolutions, administrative acts, edicts, and legal notices through digital versions of the Procurement Daily (Diario Único de Contratación), the Official Daily (Diario Oficial), and the decisions of the Attorney General (Procuraduría General de la Nación), among others. Although there is still a lot to do in terms of digitizing public information, journalists are now taking advantage of these resources. 3. Transparent and link journalism. Since information is available for journalists it also is for citizens. Some media such as LaSillaVacia are beginning to practice transparent and link journalism, since their stories link directly to the document sources online or to previous stories or statements in other media, to provide context and additional information for the audience. For example, in 2009 LaSillaVacia published185 various documents related to the "false positive" (falsos positivos) scandal (the military were accused of killing civilians and then claiming they were guerrilla members). The documents disclosed by the news site actually helped the families of the victims to gather evidence for a legal process. 4.2.2 Threats
The Political Constitution of Colombia guarantees press freedom as a fundamental right186 and guarantees protection for journalists in order to preserve their professional freedom and independence.187 However, Colombia is a country with a very complex situation in terms of press freedom, particularly in the rural areas, for two main reasons: on the one hand, the internal conflict, which is stronger in rural areas where there are still disputes over territorial and political control; on the other hand, most of the advertising in regional media comes from local governments and therefore there are cases of self-censorship of media that avoid publishing information related to corruption issues or irregularities in handling local issues for fear of losing their funding (see section 7.3.1). Political polarization and power abuse is also a threat to press and expression freedom. In this regard, government bodies have recently committed violations of press freedom. Members of the government of the ex-president Alvaro Uribe and former officials of the Administrative Department of Security
185 186
Interviewed on 7 December 2010 in Bogotá. See http://bit.ly/3trZbN 187 Political Constitution of Colombia, Art. 20, at http://bit.ly/cGrE8r (accessed 8 February 2011). 188 Political Constitution of Colombia, Art. 73, at http://bit.ly/cGrE8r (accessed 8 February 2011).
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(Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS) are now facing legal charges in the case known as "Eavesdropping by the DAS" (Interceptaciones ilegales del DAS), in which DAS detectives followed, spied on, intercepted telephone conversations and emails, and threatened journalists, opposition politicians and judges of the Supreme Court.188 Fernando Tabares, former intelligence director for the DAS, and Jorge Alberto Lagos, former counterintelligence director, have already been condemned by the Superior Court of Bogotá (Tribunal Superior de Bogotá), and 52 other DAS officials are under investigation by the Attorney General (see also section 7.3.3). This case is considered as a threat to press freedom as it has been confirmed that various investigative journalists critical of the government were systematically spied on, threatened, and discredited by the DAS. According to FLIP, in 2010 there were 120 violations of press freedom: 51 of them were threats, 33 were inhuman or degrading treatment, 30 were obstructions to journalistic work, and eight were other kinds of violations.189 To a large extent (47 percent of the cases) threats were anonymous and the author(s) of the violations remained unknown. In 25 percent of the cases the violations were committed by the military and police forces, 18 percent by individual citizens, 14 percent by government employees, 6 percent by the paramilitary, 5 percent by the guerrillas, 3 percent were committed by drug dealers, and 2 percent by politicians. However, in Colombia, as in many other countries, the internet and new media represent a vital contribution to freedom of expression, "since information does not need intermediaries, such as journalists or media, and it can be accessed directly from primary sources or sources not necessarily tied to the media," says Andrés Morales,190 executive director of FLIP. The dark side of this positive contribution is that digital media are also being used to threaten freedom. According to Mr Morales, in 2010 four cases of censorship or attempted censorship of digital media were registered in Colombia. During the election period, the political cartoonist Jaime Poveda, best known as Bacteria,191 published a cartoon named "Accommodating polls" (Acomodando las encuestas), criticizing the filters applied to presidential polls. A few days later his Facebook account was blocked. It is still unknown what led to this outcome.192 Other cases are related to website hacking. Contravia.tv.com, the website of the critical and investigative journalist Holman Morris,193 was hacked last year, and so was the site ContagioRadio.com,194 an online radio station.
For further information, see FLIP, "Espionaje contra periodistas" (Spying on Journalists), December 2010, at http://bit.ly/e84TWK (accessed 13 January 2011) (hereafter FLIP, "Espionaje contra periodistas"). 190 FLIP, "Informe sobre el estado de la libertad de prensa en Colombia 2010" (Report on the state of press freedom in Colombia 2010), at http://bit.ly/zoV37S 191 Interviewed on 16 December 2010 in Bogotá. 192 See http://bacteriaopina.blogspot.com 193 For further information see FESCOL's report on the election period, p. 4, at http://bit.ly/eTGqxa (accessed 13 January 2011). 194 See http://www.contravia.tv 195 See http://www.contagioradio.com
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Other risks are not related to press freedom but to the business model. Independent online media in Colombia still cannot be financed from advertising since advertising prices are low and advertisers are not investing that much in online media yet. Therefore, one of the big risks that faces online media committed to investigative reporting and political journalism is that they do not have a long-term viable business model, unless advertising online grows significantly and companies lose the fear and reluctance they have of advertising in an independent and critical media. "The question is: who will pay for investigative journalism?" says Ms León. 4.2.3 New Platforms
According to Blogalaxia, a directory grouping blogs in Latin American countries, there are 4,258195 registered Colombian blogs. Blogging in Colombia is popular among netizens, although most bloggers are self-financed and very few get an income from their blogs.196 There are very few blogs publishing journalistic content; most blogs are opinion-oriented. According to research developed by a blogger, Rafael Bayona, in 2008, in the Colombian blogosphere there are many more personal diaries than news blogs. Based on information provided by Blogalaxia, the report says that personal blogs constitute 38 percent of the blogosphere. The categories that follow are: opinion (10 percent), art and culture (8 percent), technology (5 percent), and politics, entertainment, sports, literature and music (with 3 percent each).197 However, there are some sites worth mentioning because they fill an empty space in the public sphere. 1. LaSillaVacía.com,198 a politically independent investigative outlet. It was launched in 2009 by Juanita León, an investigative journalist who previously worked in traditional media (Such as El Tiempo and Semana). LaSillaVacia became very popular during the 2010 presidential elections. A recent survey199 showed that LaSillaVacía was the fourth most read media outlet among opinion leaders in the country, and the third in Bogotá (as mentioned in 1.4.1). LaSillaVacía publishes stories mainly on politics, the internal conflict, and even some environmental topics related to mining licenses and concessions. 2. VerdadAbierta.com.200 More than a news organization, this is a content aggregator specializing in a very sensitive topic: paramilitary groups in Colombia's armed conflict. The project was set up in 2008 through the joint initiative of the Peace Ideas Foundation (Fundación Ideas para la Paz),201 and
195 197
See http://colombia.blogalaxia.com (accessed 14 January 2011). Juanita León y Jimena Zuluaga, "Blogosfera colombiana: intimidad, realidad y nuevas formas de contar" (Colombian blogosphere: intimacy, reality and new ways of storytelling), 2009, at http://bit.ly/dQL6q4 (hereafter "Blogosfera colombiana"). 198 "Blogosfera colombiana," at http://patton.blogdeldia.com/item/623 199 See http://www.lasillavacia.com 200 Cifras y Conceptos, "Panel del Opinión." 201 See http://verdadabierta.com
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Semana magazine.202 The main idea of the project is to uncover the truth and to reconstruct the historical memory of the Colombian armed conflict in recent years. It also intends to become a source for the media as a site where journalists can find truthful and well-organized information. Most of the posted contents are investigative journalism stories related to the armed conflict, and the paramilitary in particular. It also publishes academic investigations. The site has an average of 59,000 monthly visitors.203 3. Votebien.com.204 This is a media outlet specializing in election coverage. It was born in 2002 as the result of an alliance of some media (Caracol Radio, Revista Semana, Terra Networks Colombia, and the news agency Colprensa), and national and international institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the United Nations Development Program, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Colombia (FESCOL), and the British and Dutch embassies, among others. It has been published in every election campaign since 2002, and every election year (2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, and 2010). It is online all year long, but it is only updated during election seasons. Its aim is to provide citizens and media with good-quality reliable information on politicians, parties, campaigns, and all election issues. 4.2.4 Dissemination and Impact
The National Constitution of 1991 empowered citizens by creating various mechanisms for participation and civic action, such as the Tutela (Acción de Tutela) to guarantee fundamental rights,205 the popular actions (acciones populares) to protect public rights and interests, and the formal information request (Derecho de petición) to access public information (see footnote 184).206 "All these resources, with the addition of new technology, increase the interest of people for observance and demand of accountability, especially in the younger generations," says Mr Cardona.207 Hence, in recent years, not only have technology possibly increased dissemination and public interest in investigative journalism, but also the forms of participation that have been opened online and offline. There is a big potential for the dissemination and impact of investigative journalism, as online journalists are beginning to understand that on the web a story is not finished when published: posting the story in social media, in Facebook interest groups, and answering users' comments are part of the dissemination cycle. Most media organizations have hired young people to be social media managers, who post leads and links to their stories in social media. Mr Paredes208 says that around 10 percent of Semana.com's traffic comes nowadays from social networks. Instead of waiting for people to go to the
202 203
See http://www.ideaspaz.org See http://www.semana.com 204 Google AdPlanner, at http://bit.ly/fFq0iV (accessed 14 January 2011). 205 See http://www.votebien.com 206 The Tutela is a legal action that any citizen can undertake to defend their fundamental rights. It is similar to the writ of amparo or recurso de amparo. 207 For further information see the Political Constitution of Colombia, at http://bit.ly/dCF8Fp 208 Interviewed on 7 December 2010 in Bogotá.
Interviewed on 26 November 2010 in Bogotá.
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media, the media are now beginning to go where citizens are, who will have an impact on the dissemination of investigative stories. Digitization has strengthened investigative journalism because it has given more visibility to reports, investigations, and complaints, and in particular to investigative reports produced not only by journalists but also by NGOs and academics, whose audience has the potential of becoming wider online. The internet is a convenient platform for sharing extensive documents, and it is also a good place for aggregating thematically in order to become a source for journalists, for example. 4.3 Social and Cultural Diversity 4.3.1 Sensitive Issues Colombia is a country with big economic and social inequalities, and most media are in a few hands. Besides, the media market is small for the size of the country and its population (see section 1.3.1). The news agenda is very similar among different media outlets. Newspapers' front pages, television and radio headlines, and even online media headlines are pretty much the same. In this context, interviewed journalists pointed out some of the main sensitive issues, as follows. • • • • The media themselves, as there is some kind of tacit covenant of respect among them: they do not say anything bad about other media. The social and economic gap. The land is also a delicate topic, as the internal conflict is related to a large extent to land property. The war actors (the military, guerrillas, paramilitary, criminal bands, drug dealers), especially because of all the pressure they exercise over the civil population. Therefore war victims are an issue too. Ethnic minorities, as they are under-represented in the media. Coverage of Sensitive Issues
• 4.3.2
The most important sensitive issues are related to social inequity and property concentration, but beyond that, the media are themselves a sensitive issue for the media. It is rare to see media criticizing one another, or denouncing journalists or media relations with the economic and politically powerful. Property and property concentration form an almost invisible issue on the agenda. Private corporations are seldom questioned by the media and there is very little corporate accountability. There is no information in the media regarding the intersection between economic and political power and interests. For the most part, the poor are not represented in the media as political or social actors, but as victims of the war, natural disasters, and unemployment. Unions and social protests are usually covered by the media as issues of disorder (asuntos de orden público) and not political issues. The second group of sensitive issues is related to the internal conflict. The war has been the main topic of public concern for years. However, there are problems related to the conflict that remain particularly neglected or underrepresented in the media. First among these are the victims. Besides displaced 46
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people, there are many other victims of the war: widows, orphans, kidnapped people, and demobilized children (menores desmovilizados),209 among others. Although the war has been going on for decades, only few victims have been recognized and rehabilitated. President Santos's government has introduced a victims' law (Ley de Víctimas), which has been controversial among politicians and the media because it considers as victims all those affected by illegal forces as well as the army. In the media, most of the time these stories are told from the perspective of either the government or the perpetrators, rarely from the perspective of the victims. Only recently victims have gained some public visibility through the media. Questioning the military forces is hard for the media. Particularly, it is difficult to question their role in the conflict in terms of the relationships of some of their members with illegal armed actors, such as the paramilitary and, therefore, victimizers. The media do not generally touch this subject because the military is considered to have a lot of power. "Only if the official or former official is now away from power the story would be told, otherwise it is a taboo," said one of the interviewed journalists. In the same way, guerrillas, paramilitary, criminal bands, and drug dealers, the main actors of the conflict, are also a tricky subject for the media, particularly the small media in rural areas, because local journalists are under pressure and often they have to self-censure information in order to protect their security. Indigenous people (3.4 percent of the population210) and African Colombians (10.6 percent of the population) are the ethnic minorities in Colombia. They are generally under-represented in the media, not only in relation to the conflict, although the rural areas where most of this population is located have been affected by the armed conflict. The media often do not cover stories on minorities, and coverage of ethnic minorities is not regulated at all. Besides these broad tendencies of coverage, the armed conflict has usually been covered from the perspective of the official version, coming from the government rather than from the citizens, and also usually from the victimizers rather than from the victims, like innocent civil populations from rural areas trapped in the middle of the conflict and displaced people. Nonetheless, in recent years governmental and civil initiatives have started to give more visibility to the victims. In 2005, after the demobilization of paramilitary groups, the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation (Comisión Nacional de Reparación y Reconciliación, CNRR)211 was created to guarantee the victims' rights and participation in the reparation process, and to monitor the reintegration of the paramilitary into the civil life. As part of the CNRR, the Group of Historical Memory (Grupo de Memoria Histórica)212 was created to reconstruct the facts and the recent history
Demobilized children are minors who have been illegally recruited by guerrilla or paramilitary for war and then lay down their arms. Their reinsertion into civilian life is difficult as they have been fighters since childhood. 211 DANE, Visibilización estadística de los grupos étnico (Statistic visibility of ethnic groups), 2005, p. 12, at http://bit.ly/fXHt4z 212 See http://www.cnrr.org.co
212 214
See http://www.memoriahistorica-cnrr.org.co Interviewed on 7 December 2010 in Bogotá. 215 Some of their websites are: Colombian Indigenous Authorities (Autoridades indígenas de Colombia), http://www.aicocolombia.org; National Organization of Colombian Indigenous People (Organización Nacional de
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associated with the illegal armed groups. The group has published various reports on some of the cruelest massacres committed by the illegal armed groups, making the victims more visible. In this context, the media have begun to take up these stories of violence from a different perspective. Specialized content aggregation sites, such as VerdadAbierta.com, have been established (see section 4.2.3). But the relationship between some military and illegal armed forces is still a problematic issue for the media. Some digital media such as LaSillaVacia and VerdadAbierta.com have begun to call attention to some of these issues, such as the relations between economic and political power, and the reality of the victims of the conflict. In recent years, some traditional media, such as Revista Semana, have supported the historical memory initiative (see section 4.3.2), writing reconstruction reports (reportajes de reconstrucción) on the war, with an emphasis on the victims' perspective. 4.3.3 Space for Public Expression
New and digital media, especially online, have positively affected the space for the public expression of minorities and interest groups. Most journalists interviewed for this project agree that there are now more sources of information, as interest groups, minorities, and ethnic groups are now more visible online, on blogs and websites. "About a 20 or 30 percent of the emails I receive come from NGOs. These groups are becoming a more interesting source for journalists as they are well organized and have taken advantage of digital resources," says Mr Cardona.213 Besides, these marginalized actors have now the possibility of becoming main actors through their own media, instead of waiting for traditional media to call them to the spot. Indigenous people, in particular, are an ethnic minority that is working on their online presence and the promotion of a digital community.214 Interest groups, such as indigenous people, environmentalists, and human rights activists, may not have gained much visibility in mainstream media, but as they get connected online with other minority groups abroad and join a larger global community, and as they communicate with multilateral or international organizations, they gain visibility. Nonetheless they are still not on the national news agenda. Digital media are still emerging in Colombia, so it might be too soon to establish whether or not they are going to boost a new agenda. So far, online versions of traditional media are still maintaining the same agenda of their print counterparts. Some journalists and experts are skeptical about the technology's influence in making the public debate more plural. "There is a big gap between giving voice to someone—like having a blog to express yourself—and that voice becoming important in the public debate. It is a mistake to think that digitization and technology are going to bring diversity per se," says Mr Cortés.215 In terms of news consumption, the majority of the population remains very
indígenas de Colombia), http://www.onic.org.co; KankuamaTv (see section 3.3.2), http://kankuamatv.blogspot.com; Association of Indigenous Cabildos of North Cauca (Asociación de cabildos indígenas del norte del Cauca), http://www.nasaacin.org; and Indigenous Regional Council of Cauca (Consejo regional de indígena del Cauca), http://www.cric-colombia.org
Interviewed on 10 December 2010 in Bogotá.
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oriented to traditional and well-known media. Although internet consumption has grown in recent years, in 2010 only 30 percent of Colombians reported using the internet (see Figure 4). 4.4 Political Diversity 4.4.1 Elections and Political Coverage
Digitization has not caused any change in the regulation of election coverage. However, the internet has brought new dynamics and tools for the media's coverage of elections. Most journalists interviewed for this report agreed that the internet can bring transparency to the electoral process. But they recognize a positive and a negative side based on their recent experience of the presidential elections in 2010. The main positive changes are citizen monitoring and participation. New tools such as Twitter and Ushahidi were used by the media to incorporate UGC into their information. In 2010, the website Votebien.com (see section 4.2.3) developed a strategy for citizen observers to voluntarily monitor elections in different parts of the country. Through their mobile phones observers could send instant messages to report what was going on in their polling place, or to report frauds or irregularities. During the campaign period, some online media had video chats with candidates so that netizens could ask them questions directly. For a televised debate organized by the international news channel NTN24 and LaSillaVacia people could record their questions on video and send them through YouTube. The organizers made a selection of them and some questions posted online by citizens were asked of the candidates live on television. The online sources Votebien.com216 and CongresoVisible.com,217 two websites exclusively dedicated to politics and elections, became recognized sources for citizens and journalists. Official sources, such as the National Registry (Registraduría Nacional218), became important as they posted online all the electoral bulletins and press releases. Most party campaigns also went online to create dynamic websites, Facebook groups, and Twitter profiles, some of which were very successful in online citizen mobilization, such as the Green Party's (see sections 3.2.1 and 4.4.2). The adverse results are, first, immediacy and disinformation. Given the immediacy of the web and the power of social networks, a message can be spread in seconds before being verified. In the presidential elections, some distorted or out-of-context statements by the candidates were circulated in social networks and digital media, leading to misunderstandings and misinformation. Second, given the country's political polarization, the internet became a site for verbal offensiveness between supporters of different candidates in forums, commentary spaces, and social networks. There were also reported cases of censorship online (see section 4.2.2). Third, the anonymity online, facilitated by nicknames and avatars, can have a downside. As was discussed in online media and social networks in the 2010 elections, sometimes these active netizens can be minors (not allowed to vote), or use fake identities (usuarios fantasma) created by campaigners to distort the electoral debate.
216 218
See http://votebien.com See http://www.congresovisible.org 219 See http://www.registraduria.gov.co
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4.4.2 Digital Political Communications Even before the internet boom Colombia was experiencing a diversification of political voices. Until about three decades ago, the two traditional parties (liberal and conservative) were the main actors on the political scene. Since then, new political parties have arisen. Political diversity also increased as a result of the Political Constitution of 1991 that, among other changes, gave political representation in the Senate to indigenous and African Colombian people. Nowadays, young people, especially in urban contexts, understand politics in a more diverse and polychromatic way rather than only being blue or red (red is the traditional color of the Liberal Party, and blue represents the Conservative Party). Technology has made this diversification more evident as the number of communication channels has increased. The most significant change is that the internet is generating a closer relationship and a more direct political communication between citizens and candidates. Nowadays many politicians have web pages, Facebook accounts, and fan pages, YouTube channels, and Twitter accounts, among other resources. Although in some cases their communications teams operate these tools, some politicians take very seriously these interaction channels and the citizens' messages they receive through them. The communication level reached by Mr Mockus, the presidential candidate for the Green Party in 2010, is a good example of this (see section 3.2.1). Although the Green Party's campaign was to a large extent developed by citizens' independent activism, the party also capitalized on this civic movement for the political campaign. Only after Mr Mockus's "Green Wave" did other candidates pay attention to their online campaigns. For instance, the campaign of Juan Manuel Santos, who was to be elected president, did not pay too much attention to social networks and online activism until the Green Wave was on the news and Mr Mockus began to rise in the polls. In the last part of the campaign Mr Santos put together a very successful campaign, advised, among others, by online campaign expert Ravi Singh, that even included sophisticated applications such as a video game called "Super Santos."219 Some journalists and analysts agree that the 2010 election process sowed the seed for future campaigns. Next time candidates and campaigns probably will have their online strategy ready, the same way they do with their media plans for traditional media. However, it is also important to clarify that these dynamics take place especially in urban contexts. Rural politics is still tied to "1.0 strategy" and, in Colombia, this is sometimes also related to corruption, clientelism (clientelismo), and the political machine (maquinaria política). In 2010 Colombia had two electoral processes: the presidential and the legislative. Internet dynamics were activated for the presidential election, but the legislative elections, whose campaigns are run on a smaller scale and in rural areas, were almost unnoticed online. 4.5 Assessments Digitization has definitely affected journalists' work. On the positive side, it has increased the ways of accessing sources and information, and has given the audience a more active role in information production and circulation. In Colombia, the use of social networks is increasing significantly and as
See http://archive.santospresidente.com/supersantos/game.html
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many journalists are joining these networks, they have become a new communication channel between journalists and citizens that enriches journalists' work and allows citizens to participate in the media agenda. According to the media observer and analyst Victor Solano,220 new generations of journalists are now using new ways of reporting, as they are going online to gather information in social networks and accessing public records online. Experts also agree that journalistic discipline should be stricter online, as ethics become more exigent when online journalists face almost daily dilemmas on privacy, anonymous sources or unverified information. Unfortunately, the immediacy of the web is a big threat to journalistic rigor. Fake sources, misleading information, and the lack of context and verification due to immediacy are bigger risks for accuracy in reporters' daily work. Analysts point out that it is very important that journalism schools train future journalists not only in the new tools for reporting online and new ways for storytelling, but also on the relevance of journalistic discipline and ethics, no matter whether they use analog or digital media. Digitization has affected election coverage and political campaigns, especially in urban areas. The presidential election of 2010 was an example—and maybe an advance viewing of future campaigns— of the use of new media in campaigns, civil activism, and journalistic coverage. One of the most interesting changes in journalistic coverage is the use of web tools such as Twitter and Ushahidi for crowdsourcing during election days, for citizens to report from their poll places. Websites such as Votebien.com and CongresoVisible.com are also a good example of new information sources about political elections for citizens and journalists. Some journalists and analysts expect that in the near future online platforms will become a tool for journalists and citizens to audit campaigns. The main impact of digitization on marginalized groups is that they have the opportunity of creating their own websites, blogs, and digital outlets, instead of waiting for traditional media to make them visible. Marginalized groups are also connecting online with other interest groups, leaders, and journalists abroad or in rural areas. However, this does not mean that minorities or marginalized groups are becoming more visible on the mainstream media agenda. Although the journalists' jobs have changed with digitization, the media agenda has not. Tools and possibilities in terms of alternative agendas and storytelling are still to be explored by journalists and audiences. However, pioneer projects are leading the way, and it is to be hoped that in the future online media will grow in the country in number and also in agenda diversity.
Interviewed on 4 January in Bogotá.
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5. Digital Media and Technology 5.1 Spectrum 5.1.1 Spectrum Allocation Policy In 1991, the Political Constitution established that the electromagnetic spectrum is a public good, to be controlled and operated by the state.221 Since then, various laws have been passed to ensure its efficient use and management. Government institutions, such as MinTic, the Regulation Commission of Telecommunications (Comision de Regulación de Comunicaciones, CRC), the National Spectrum Agency (Agencia Nacional del Espectro, ANE), and CNTV have been empowered to control and administrate the electromagnetic spectrum. Among its various functions, the MinTic is responsible for the granting of permissions and spectrum allocations. It is also in charge of the establishment and update of the National Table of Frequency Allocation based on the country's needs, the public interest, and the recommendations made by the World Radio-Communication Conferences of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).222 The main responsibility of the CRC is to ensure free and fair competition in the telecommunication market. It is in charge of the regulation of several economics and administration aspects, such as the establishment of fees for the access and use of the networks and infrastructure, wholesale prices, the billing and collection conditions, the audio and video quality parameters, and the settlement of disputes between providers of communications networks and services.223 The ANE is responsible for the technical supervision of the spectrum, the study and evaluation of national and international trends regarding the administration, monitoring, and control of the spectrum, among other technical matters.224 Finally, CNTV is in charge of the management, control, and regulation of the television service. It is responsible for granting and renewing licenses, but it must coordinate its decisions with the MinTic over the electromagnetic spaces and frequencies.225 The current spectrum policy determines that all networks and telecoms providers must pay an availability fee226 and a usage fee,227 whose price is determined by the MinTic. According to Resolution 290 of 2010,228 companies must pay as an availability fee 2.2 percent of their gross incomes obtained through telecoms service provision, plus a usage fee whose price is determined based on
221 223
Political Constitution of Colombia, Art. 75, at http://bit.ly/eoJemv (accessed 22 February 2011). Law 1341 of 2009, Diario Oficial No. 47.426, 30 July 2009, Art 18, at http://bit.ly/ik8SMX (accessed 12 March 2011) (hereafter Law 1341 of 2009). 224 Law 1341 of 2009, Art. 22. 225 Law 1341 of 2009, Art. 26. 226 Law 182 of 1995, Art. 23, at http://bit.ly/f60ikc (accessed 1 April 2011). 227 Resolution 290 of 26 March 2010, Art. 2, at http://bit.ly/g9cgTP (accessed 21 March 2011). 228 Resolution 290 of 26 March 2010, Art. 4. 229 Resolution 290 of 26 March 2010.
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bandwidth allocated, the number of potential users, service availability, expansion plans and coverage, demand for spectrum availability, and other technical parameters. The destination of these fees is the Information Technologies and Communications Fund,229 which is the special account for strengthening the public television service and its cultural programming. It is administered by CNTV and its beneficiaries are RTVC and the regional channels (see section 2.1.3). Once the MinTic has granted the space, each telecoms provider will have a 10-year permission [or concession?]. Then the contract will expire and companies will have to run again in a public tender to have a renewal option of 10 additional years. Among the channels that use the spectrum, all public channels have free access and only the private channels are obliged to pay the fees (license and spectrum usage fees which comprise 1.5 percent of the gross incomes of each frequency).230 They have to participate in a tender to acquire a license (whose price is determined by CNTV), and once awarded the channel will have a 10-year concession231 that may be renewed for another 10 years as long as it runs again for the tender and pays the renewal fees. As private television was only regulated in 1998, there has been just one renewal tender, which was very controversial regarding prices and competition (see section 5.1.3). The implementation of digital television has brought some important changes in spectrum usage. New frequencies have been allocated and new challenges have emerged over spectrum allocation and policies. In 2009, one year after the election of the DVB-T standard for digital broadcasting, the spectrum experienced an important reorganization232 that commanded the migration of several frequency bands. The television services that during the analog era were broadcast in 700 MHz needed to switch to frequencies below 500 MHz.233 As the digital signal makes a more efficient use of the spectrum, the migration of frequencies will result in an important digital dividend (698 MHz to 806 MHz) that, according to ITU suggestions, should be used for radio services whose purpose is public protection, rescue operations, and disaster mitigation to safeguard human life, and/or to provide telecoms services and networks for use by the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMTs). In Colombia the use of these white spaces is currently being defined. According to Juan Manuel Wilches,234 deputy director of spectrum management and technical planning at the ANE, Colombia is more inclined so far to choose the IMTs as the main beneficiary of the digital dividend, mainly because the government seeks to increase
230 231
Law 1341 of 2009, Art. 13. Interview with Salua Abisambra, Chief of the Content Office for the CNTV, in Bogotá on 10 February 2011. 232 Agreement 23 of 2007, Art. 9, at http://bit.ly/e6xkp8 (accessed 12 March 2011). 233 Resolution 2623 of 2009, Diario Oficial No. 47.525, 6 November 2009, at http://bit.ly/gWidhe (accessed 25 February 2011). 234 The frequency band of 470–512 MHz was allocated to the television broadcasting service and for the operation and service provision of terrestrial television: Resolution 2623 of 2009, Diario Oficial No. 47.525, 6 November 2009, at http://bit.ly/gWidhe (accessed 25 February 2011). 235 Interviewed in Bogotá on 7 March 2011).
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broadband coverage and users' digital opportunities through new spectrum allocation. [this sounds very idealistic. Surely there is a financial motive??] In February 2010, CNTV established the specific frequencies for the public and private channels' digital signal: Canal Caracol will broadcast at channel 14; RCN at 15; RTVC channels (Canal 1, Institucional and Señal Colombia) at 16; at 17 the third private channel; 18 will be for regional channels235 (Teleantioquía, Telecaribe, Teveandina, Telepacífico); at 19 Canal Capital; and, finally, an open space has been left in channel 20 for a possible fourth private television channel that will not be offered yet.236 Each frequency will have 6 MHz of spectrum space, which allows them to emit between one and four channels depending on the quality of the image and information provided.237 Channels 43, 44, and 45 were reserved for mobile digital technology. No privileges were given regarding bandwidth and each channel is free to decide its content and whether to use multiplex or not. However, CNTV determined that national public channels and some regional public channels would broadcast sharing the same bandwidth. This means Canal 1, Canal Institucional, and Señal Colombia will have a total of 6 MHz and they will have no multiplex option; and the same will happen to Teleantioquía, Telepacífico, Teveandina, and Telecaribe. The MinTic established that the band migration would take place between 30 June 2010 and 31 December 2011, depending on the signal's coverage and reception.238 The transition to digital television will occur within a 10-year period and the analog shutdown is supposed to happen on 31 December 2019.239 5.1.2 Transparency The allocation process is based on a public tender that, according to the law, should have at least two competitors. When allocating spectrum spaces or frequencies, the MinTic is responsible for ensuring plurality of bidders and it is responsible as well for choosing a winner based on an objective analysis that might include auctioning.240 CNTV is in charge of the process for the television spectrum allocation. For radio and telecom allocation the process seems to be transparent. There is no evidence of any given preference, prohibition or exclusion of competitors. However, some community radio broadcasters
236 237
The frequencies for the regional channels CanalTro, Teleislas and Telecafé have not yet been assigned. CNTV.com, at http://bit.ly/bHlHvN, published 15 February 2010 (accessed 25 February 2011). 238 CNTV, "Proyecto de acuerdo técnico de implementación de la TDT en Colombia" (Technical Agreement Draft on Implementation of Digital Terrestrial Television), Art 3, at http://scr.bi/fJQQCK (accessed 25 February 2011) (hereafter CNTV, "Proyecto de acuerdo técnico"). 239 Resolution 2623 of 2009, Diario Oficial No. 47.525, Art. 30, 6 November 2009, at http://bit.ly/gWidhe (accessed 25 February 2011). 240 Until then open television signal will continue to broadcast on channels 2–13. 241 Law 1341 of 2009, Art. 72, at http://bit.ly/fJEFke (accessed 28 February 2011).
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have sometimes complained of lack of transparency in the awarding of licenses because of some specific regulations for this kind of station (see section 7.2.3). The most critical case is related to television channel allocation, which has been severely criticized for lack of transparency. The winner of the tender for a third private channel, initiated in 2007, has not yet been assigned due to some accusations of irregularities over fair competition. In August 2007, CNTV announced a call for bids (licitación), for a third commercial television broadcaster. The process should have begun in 2008 and the third channel should have been operating in 2009. The process took longer than expected, and CNTV published the pre-bid in August 2009. At that moment, three economic groups were interested in acquiring the license: the Cisneros Group (integrated by the Cisneros Organization of Venezuela in association with other private investors); the Planeta Group (Spanish media corporation represented in Colombia by Casa Editorial El Tiempo, formerly owned by the family of President Santos and the former vice-president Francisco Santos, of which Planeta owns 55 percent of the stocks since June 2007, in association with other private investors); and the Prisa Group (Spanish media corporation represented in Colombia by Caracol Radio in association with the newscast CM&, and some regional newspapers).241 The pre-bid established that 50 percent of the decision would be based on the content proposal and 50 percent on the economic proposal of each group. The basic price (precio base) of the license was at the start established as US$ 30 million and was later increased to US$ 54 million. The award took two years longer than expected, and the final decision was supposed to be taken on 27 July 2010. In June 2010, both Cisneros and the Prisa Group decided to withdraw from the process, arguing irregularities and lack of guarantees and transparency.242 The process ended up under investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General and Attorney General (Contraloría General y Procuraduría General). However, CNTV announced on 9 July 2010 that the Planeta Group, the only proponent of the process, met all the requirements for the award.243 On 22 July 2010, the State Council (Consejo de Estado) decided to suspend the adjudication process, arguing the bid did not have the required number of participants, which is against the law.244 On 22 March 2011 the State Council ratified its decision on suspending the adjudication.245 5.1.3 Competition for Spectrum According to Law 1341 of 2009, the state, through the MinTic, will promote competition, pluralism, and non-discriminatory access and will prevent monopolistic practices. It will sponsor free and fair competition scenarios that encourage current and future investment in information technologies and in the telecoms sector and allow for market competition under equal terms. It will provide the same
241 243
Lasillavacia.com, at http://bit.ly/dRHkDt (accessed 15 February 2011). Revista Semana, at http://bit.ly/gn4ovn (accessed 15 February 2011). 244 Revista Semana, at http://bit.ly/afjTeK (accessed 15 February 2011). 245 El Espectador, at http://bit.ly/9aCu6U (accessed 15 February 2011). 246 El Tiempo, at http://bit.ly/l2yXrr (accessed 15 June 2011).
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conditions and privileges to all competitors and will encourage fair competition. To meet these mandates the government created the CRC and entrusted it with the task of promoting and regulating the competition for the provision of telecoms networks and services, and prevent unfair conduct and restrictive trade practices.246 Nonetheless, the implementation of digital television and the announcement of a new private channel in 2006 ignited several debates over fair competition. The first concern refers to the fact that, as of today, there is only one bidder for the third private channel tender (see section 5.1.2). The second concern is related to the inequality of the price of the license. The new channel will have to pay half or even less of what the two established channels, RCN and Caracol, paid when they started operations. CNTV determined a US$ 32 million fee for the new channel license, while in 1997 the other two private channels paid US$ 72 million for the same license,247 and for the license renewal 10 years later around US$ 100 million.248 This disparity has been justified many times by CNTV arguing that the new landscape ends with the duopoly system and as the number of competitors increases, the license price should decrease. It has also been discussed and refuted by the private channel companies that have referred to it as an unfair process. It is important to mention that the new third channel will indeed end the so far closed and limited market of private open television (almost a duopoly) through the entrance of a new operator. However, the inequality of price creates an unfair competition among new and old channels. It is true that for many years RCN and Caracol benefited—thanks to the exclusivity agreement—from the juicy television market; which means they paid an expensive fee to have no competitors. It is true that the actual market will be divided into three and perhaps four channels, so the fees cannot be as expensive as they were back in 1997. However, it is also true that CNTV has established on several occasions excessive prices for the licenses and has been forced to make reimbursements later on. In 1997, an arbitration tribunal (tribunal de arbitramento) in defense of the private channels license holders ordered CNTV to make a US$ 5 million reimbursement249 to each channel (the license price changed from US$ 77 million to US$ 72 million), because it considered the prices were excessive. In January 2011, CNTV announced a second reimbursement of US$ 26 million of the renewal licenses for each channel based on a more recent report that showed that television advertising revenues were miscalculated by over US$ 8 million.250 5.2 Digital Gatekeeping
The CRC is the body in charge of promoting competition, avoiding abuse of dominant position and regulating the networks and communication market, and ensuring the provision of services in an efficient and economic way that reflects high-quality standards: Law 1341 of 2009, Art. 19 at http://bit.ly/fJEFke (accessed 28 February 2011). 248 Lasillavacia.com http://bit.ly/dRHkDt (accessed 15 February 2011); http://bit.ly/f39alR (accessed 28 February 2011). 249 CNTV.com, at http://bit.ly/g02Pku (accessed 12 March 2011). 250 Mariomorales.info, at http://bit.ly/f39alR (accessed 28 February 2011). 251 Research by Ernst & Young determined that the advertising revenues in open television channels INPTV were US$ 460 million for 2009 and US$ 373 million for 2010, and denied the values used for granting licenses, which were US$ 464 million for 2009 and US$ 377 million for 2010.
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
5.2.1 Technical Standards On 5 July 2006, the first Digital Television Forum took place in Bogotá, where experts from the United States and Europe explained the advantages of the ATSC and the DVB-T standards. After the forum, CNTV installed two test signals in the city to evaluate their performance. A year later, in November 2007, the Japanese standard was added to the group and trial demonstrations were carried out. Given the differences in the geography of the country, CNTV supported RTVC in making trials in Bogotá and two other cities. With the collaboration of the Colombian Engineers' Association (Asociación Colombiana de Ingenieros, ACIEM), the Rhode & Schwarz Company,251 and the Japanese government, the digital equipment was also installed in Pereira and Cartagena in order to identify which of the standards responded better. After two years and a long evaluation process, the DVB-T was chosen for digital television broadcasting in Colombia. According to Lina Enriquez,252 adviser to the Vice-minister of MinTic, the decision of choosing the standard was made following three main criteria: • • • the technical features in connection with the geographical challenges of the country; the affordability for both operators and users; the cooperation and financial support offered.
She explained that DVB-T behaves very well technically (it allows mobile television to use the same band as the terrestrial), and that the EU was clearer about the cooperation conditions using the DVB-T standard. Among other conveniences, it offered private financing and loans with the European Investment Bank (EIB), among other banks and agencies (see section 1.2.1).253 A big training program was also proposed by several European countries, such as Spain, France, Italy, and the UK, concerning consulting, technology training projects, business support for the transition from analog to digital, access to scholarships in digital programs, and several educational programs (such as t-learning software for DTT) that included specialized programs for people with disabilities and children affected by dyslexia.254 Nevertheless, there has been some debate about the election of the DVB-T standard, mostly because among the 10 countries of South America, Colombia is the only one that has chosen it, and this can be seen as a disadvantage in regional cooperation and agreements. However, CNTV has clearly declared no intention to reverse the choice and has several times explained the reasons.
A German manufacturer company specializing in the test and measurement of equipment for mobile radios and radio communications. 253 Interviewed in Bogotá on 5 November 2010. 254 CNTV, "Television digital Terrestre, standard para Colombia" (Terrestrial Digital Television, Standard for Colombia), 28 August 2008, p. 48, at http://bit.ly/dGuLHY (accessed 10 March 2010) (hereafter CNTV, "Television digital Terrestre"). 255 CNTV, "Television digital Terrestre," p. 57. 256 The forums took place in Barranquilla, Valledupar, Bucaramanga, Medellin, Ibague, Manizales, Arauca, Villavicencio, Bogotá, Cali, Pasto and San Andres.
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In order to reinforce citizens' participation and promote public interest, in 2010 CNTV organized 12 DTT information forums,255 where Colombians could express their opinions and demands regarding the new television service. Over 5,000 people participated and over 2 million people could watch the forums over television. There have also been some advertising campaigns through private and public channels about the upcoming television signal, and a website that provides up-to-date information on the implementation process and allows citizens' participation.256 Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that digitization remains an unknown subject among Colombians and advertising campaigns have not been as successful as expected. According to a survey conducted in October 2010, only 31 percent of the population knew something or had heard something about DTT.257 The reason why the public remains ignorant about this matter might be the low participation of private media in the advertising campaigns. Also, the debate about the new television license has gathered all the audience's attention, overshadowing other television-related news. 5.2.2 Gatekeepers So far, the analog arrangements have not changed. Cable and satellite providers are obliged to respect the must-carry rules for public service broadcasting, established in Law 680 of 2001.258 The government has not yet announced new regulations for digital broadcasting in this respect. This means that the MinTic has not decided yet if all digital channels will have to follow the must-carry rules of the analog era. Some satellite and cable operators are afraid of losing the high penetration they have gained in recent years if they cannot broadcast all the DTT channels. According to Ms Enriquez,259 cable companies see the DTT as a threat due to its multiple possibilities and they are developing strategies to maintain their users. The bundled packages, which are becoming increasingly popular, can be considered to some extent as the telecoms companies' strategy to keep users subscribed to various services, so that the migration to a stand-alone television service will be less attractive. However, as digital broadcasting has just begun, it is hard to identify these strategies or the access problems that gatekeepers will pose. 5.2.3 Transmission networks There is no evidence that transmission networks or any other telecoms groups have been preferentially treated over spectrum spaces or resources. Under the terms of Law 1341 of 2009, the MinTic, CRC, and ANE are in charge of the granting and management of spectrum resources. 5.3 Telecommunications
See http://DTT.rtvc.gov.co/ CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2010, segunda ola. 259 Subscription television operators must broadcast, without any cost, the open television channels, including national, regional, and municipal, that broadcast in their coverage area: Law 680 of 2001, Diario Oficial No. 44.516, 11 August 2001, Art 11, at http://bit.ly/gNeTkw (accessed 12 March 2011). 260 Interviewed in Bogotá on 5 November 2010.
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
5.3.1 Telecoms and News The potential demand for digital technologies and the global trend towards the implementation of digital tools and networks has caught the country's attention and, in recent years, the government has made several efforts to achieve higher levels of digital penetration. Since 2005, the telecoms sector has been revitalized and strengthened. Several networks migrated toward internet protocol technologies, new national and international companies started competing on the internet and mobile telephony markets, and by 2009 the telecoms sector reached revenues of US$ 11 billion.260 In Colombia there are more than 10 companies providing networks and other telecoms services, four of which dominate the market: UNE EPM,261 a public telecoms company owned by Public Enterprises of Medellín, which also provides energy and water services (22.38 percent of subscribers); Telmex Colombia,262 a subsidiary of Telmex, the largest Mexican telecoms enterprise (20.99 percent); Colombia Telecomunicaciones,263 owned by Telefónica, the Spanish multinational company that bought the national telecoms company, Telecom, in 2006 (19.92 percent); and Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogotá (ETB)264 (19.54 percent), one of the oldest telephone companies in Colombia.265 With 64.4 percent of subscribers, XDsl is the preferred internet access technology in Colombia. It is followed by cable (with 31.8 percent), WiMax, and other Wi-Fi connections (with 2.14 percent) and 1.4 percent of other technologies.266 The preferred mobile internet terminal is the modem data card and 3G is the preferred technology. During 2009 broadband internet access increased (as it has been doing over the past years) and access through mobile platforms showed a major increase of 484 percent,267 growing from 156,000 to 915,000 in one year. On the other hand, fixed telephony lines decreased by 5.7 percent268 and long-distance traffic also decreased almost 4 percent, with 150 million minutes per month.269
MinTic, "Informe Sectorial de tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones" (Sector Report on Information Technologies and Communications), June 2010, p. 3, at http://bit.ly/gMVkGw (accessed 12 March 2011) (hereafter MinTic, "Informe Sectorial"). 262 http://www.une.com.co 263 http://www.telmex.com.co 264 http://www.telefonica.co/col10 265 http://www.etb.com.co 266 MinTic, "Informe Trimestral," p. 5. 267 MinTic, Informe Trimestral," p. 2. 268 MinTic, Informe Trimestral," p. 13. 269 MinTic, Informe Trimestral," p. 5. 270 MinTic, Informe Trimestral," p. 6. 271 According to MinTic data, by the end of 2009, there were 41.15 million subscribers to a mobile telephony service: "Informe Sectorial," p. 11, at http://bit.ly/gMVkGw (accessed 12 March 2011).
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
There are around 42 million270 mobile telephone lines registered in the country and there are four271 mobile operators: America Móvil with Comcel Brand (67 percent), Telefónica with Movistar brand (22 percent), Colombia Movil with the Tigo brand (11 percent),272 and Uff! (launched in November 2010, so no data are available yet). [please update] Among these 42 million active mobile lines, only 10.16 percent have internet access over the phone.273 However, mobile internet popularity has been growing over the past few years, increasing by 20 percent in the first quarter of 2010. SMS and MMS are popular services among Colombians. According to one report, over 1.6 billion SMS and 86 million MMS were sent in the first quarter of 2010. IPTV is not yet a very popular service (see section 1.1.2), but penetration seems to be growing fast. UNE-EPM, the only company that offers the service in Colombia, had 90,000 registered users by 2010 and scored an important increase of 40 percent in the quarter of that year.274 Cable is a significant market in the country. Since its regulatory framework was established in 2000, its penetration has been growing in an outstanding way:275 it currently reaches 79 percent of users and is by far the most popular television service.276 There are 54 operators across the country, among which the most important companies are: Telmex, with 44 percent of users, followed by Cable Union with 19 percent and UNE with 7 percent.277 All of them have to respect the must-carry rules which oblige every subscription-based television operator to broadcast, without any cost, the open television channels, including national, regional, and municipal, that broadcast in the operators' coverage area.278 Colombia has recently undergone some changes in terms of telecoms services and users' consumption habits. As mentioned above, cable operators were able to dominate the market of pay-TV within a few years. On the other hand, fixed telephony and long-distance traffic are decreasing, while mobile telephony and internet access through broadband have grown steadily. Bundle packages have become more and more popular According to a 2009 survey, 73.8 of households with internet access got the service through a subscription television company.279 The largest companies have bundled their
There is one 100 percent Colombian company, UFF!; one Mexican company, America Móvil; one Spanish company, Telefónica; and one shared company, Colombia Móvil, owned by a Luxembourg company, Millicom International, with 51 percent of the shares; and local telephone companies, ETB Capital District of Bogota and Medellin EPM, both with 49 percent. 273 MinTic, "Informe Sectorial," p. 3. 274 MinTic, "Informe Sectorial," p. 14. 275 MinTic, Informe Trimestral," p. 11, at http://bit.ly/9rRwsl (accessed 6 March 2011) 276 It grew from 842,000 subscribers to 3.1 million in eight years (see Section 1.1.2). 277 In the pay-TV landscape, cable has the highest penetration rate with 79 percent of the users, in comparison with the satellite service, that has 2 percent of total subscribers. 278 Ipsos Napoleón Franco for CNTV, Gran Encuesta de la Televisión en Colombia (Great Television Survey in Colombia), 2008, p. 68, at http://bit.ly/gJkbpo (accessed 11 March 2011). 279 Law 680 of 2001, Diario Oficial No. 44.516, 11 August 2001, Art 11, at http://bit.ly/gNeTkw (accessed 12 March 2011).
MDM Colombia Working document June 2011
services in one package, through agreements with other service companies, mergers or purchases of telecoms companies or partnerships. ETB has an alliance with the satellite service provider DirecTv to offer fixed telephony and subscription television; Telefónica-Telecom has a triple-play package that includes television, broadband internet access, and fixed telephony; UNE will be offering the same package this year; and Telmex has recently announced a possible merger with Comcel to offer a fourplay plan that includes mobile telephony service. However, it is important to note that digitization is a new process in Colombia and the regulatory framework has not been completely established (see section 7). So far, most efforts have been focused on the spectrum allocation for digital television and the expansion of broadband coverage. The use of the digital dividend has not been completely defined; no new frequencies have been allocated for any new operators, and no regulation regarding new mobile applications has been established. According to Mr Wilches,280 before June 2011 the MinTic would allocate spectrum space in the bands 1,700– 2,100 MHz and 2,500 MHz, and the ANE would encourage CNTV to expedite the band clean-up and migration process, in order to allocate as much spectrum space as possible within the next four years. Telecoms companies do not have a significant role in news distribution in Colombia. Neither cable nor phone companies have yet developed successfully news distribution strategies. Some providers, such as Comcel and Movistar, offer news alerts via text messaging system (SMS), but the number of users is still very low. 5.3.2 Pressures of Telecoms on News Providers It is not possible to identify any cases in which cable companies or telecoms operators have deliberately restricted the access to news services through traffic management or pricing. Pay-TV operators must respect must-carry rules and broadcast the open television channels with no additional charge. As for neutrality and fair competition, it is important to note that the two last governments have had very strong ties with the media. Francisco Santos, vice-president during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe (2002–2010) is a well-known journalist, related to the Santos family, which owned the El Tiempo newspaper (until 2007, when the Planeta Group bought 55 percent of CEET), and since 2010 has been the director of RCN Radio. The current president, Juan Manuel Santos (2010–2014), who was Defense Minister under Uribe, also belongs to the Santos Family, which means he is related to Francisco Santos and also to Alejandro Santos, director of Semana magazine. The Planeta Group, which bought 40 percent of CityTv Channel, was one of the bidders for the third channel tender, and the one which almost won it after the other two bidders withdrew claiming lack of transparency, among other issues. The new operator, Uff!, in mobile telephony, is part of the Carlos Ardila Lulle Group, which also owns RCN television channel and RCN radio stations. 5.4 Assessments The recent spectrum allocation process has shown that the telecoms sector involves big and powerful interests that are subject to at least some measure of politicization. The controversy around the adjudication of the third television channel was evidence of the existence of contradictory forces and the influence of economic matters over public interests and needs. What was meant to be a new
280 281
DANE and CNTV, "Gran encuesta," p. 17. Interview on 7 March 2011 in Bogotá.
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window of information and entertainment for citizens ended up in controversy, and the legal viability of the whole process is still questioned. The digitization process in Colombia coincided with the announcement of the end of the private channels duopoly, which has raised many debates between those interested in entering the juicy market of television and advertisement, and those who want to remain the only ones. As digital television has just begun to broadcast and its framework is not yet completely defined, it is hard to tell whether or not all society's needs are being taken into account. So far the regulation includes the most prominent private channels and the three national public channels. The network for regional channels is not yet deployed and the allocation policies do not mention the participation of ethnic groups and other minority groups. There are several concerns regarding the coverage of the new signal and whether or not DTT is a more democratic television service. According to Mr Coronell,281 given the fact that for 50 years of analog television the government could not guarantee 100 percent coverage, and people have supplemented the national signal with community TV or cable, consumption habits might be hard to change. DTT may not be that attractive to some Colombians who may prefer to stay in the analog system as much as possible. DTT will be a free and more inclusive service. However, as the government has not established any kind of subsidies regarding set-top boxes' purchase, access to the digital signal will depend on the economic possibilities of each family and the digital divide might not undergo a significant reduction. Nevertheless, it is important to mention that according to a 2011 report,282 CNTV will develop a new scheme that will adjust the current TV regulations to the new dynamics of television services, which are immersed in an environment of digitization and services convergence. Since the use of the digital dividend has not yet been defined, there is no evidence of civil society pressure or debates on the protection of public interest. So far it seems that these frequency bands will be used for mobile technology expansion and that this decision might represent a benefit to both users and operators because of the reduction of prices and the availability of new applications and tools. However, given the digital gap among Colombians, the public interest will be protected only if the network's coverage and access are expanded. The DTT multiplex option can also be considered as a benefit because it can reinforce national television production, expand the content offer and, therefore answer people's entertainment and information needs. However, considering that advertising revenues have decreased (from 2008 to 2009 advertising investment in television, radio, and magazines dropped 2.6 percent),283 and that there are no rules regarding content, people might not end up with a more varied television menu at their disposal.
281 283
Interviewed in Bogotá on 18 December 2010. CNTV, "Respuestas a la propuesta de lineamientos de política 2011–2014 y de Agenda Regulatoria 2011" (Answers to the proposal for planning policies 2011–2014 and regulatory agenda 2011), 27 January 2011, at http://bit.ly/e5kHix (accessed 12 March 2011) (hereafter CNTV, "Respuestas a la propuesta").
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Ms Abisambra284 and Mr Coronell285 agree there will be no content revolution. Digital television could multiply the amount of content, but it might not make it more diverse.
National Media Association (Asociación Nacional de Medios, Asomedios), "Informe de análisis de la inversión publicitaria neta -IPN- en Colombia y el mundo 2009" (Net Advertising Investment Analytic Report 2009), April 2009, at http://bit.ly/guE075 (accessed 8 March 2011) (hereafter Asomedios, "Informe de análisis"). 285 Interviewed in Bogotá on 10 February 2011. 286 Interviewed in Bogotá on 18 December 2010.
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6. Digital Business 6.1 Ownership 6.1.1 Legal Developments in Media Ownership
Legislation for news media ownership has not changed significantly since 2005. The only specific legislation on media ownership is the one that limits foreign investment in television: Law 182 of 1995 establishes that foreign investment in any television concession or company cannot be higher than 40 percent.286 The law says that the state should encourage free and fair competition on terms of equality in the fields of information and communication technologies in general.287 6.1.2 New Entrants in the News Market In spite of this limitation, the main change in ownership in the news media market during the last years has been foreign investment in formerly Colombian-owned media companies. The most significant changes are described below. Caracol Radio is the main radio network of the country (see Figure 9). Until 2003 it was owned by the Bavaria Group, headed by Julio Mario Santo Domingo, the 108th-richest man in the world and secondrichest in Colombia, according to Forbes.288 In 2003, Caracol Radio was sold to the Spanish media group Prisa,289 which was also owner of several radio networks in Spain and eight countries in Latin America. The Santo Domingo Group remains the main owner of one of the two open television private channels, Caracol Televisión, and of the newspaper El Espectador. (The Santo Domingo group is the former owner of Bavaria, one of the biggest companies in the country. In 2005, Bavaria's majority of shares was sold to Sab Miller.) El Tiempo is the most widely read newspaper in the country (see Figure 7). For almost a century, the Santos family had been the main shareholder of the CEET. In 2007, Planeta from Spain acquired 55 percent stake of the company for US$ 338 million (Prisa also made an offer, but Planeta finally succeeded290). In March 2010 the Aval Group, a banking group owned by the richest man in the country and the 75th-richest in the world,291 Luis Carlos Sarmiento, acquired a 10 percent stake in CEET. A year later, in February 2011, Planeta announced that Sarmiento had acquired an additional 21 percent, becoming the second shareholder of the media group, with a 31 percent stake.
286 288
Law 182 of 1995, Art. 34, at http://bit.ly/f60ikc (accessed 1 April 2011). Law 1341 of 2009, at http://bit.ly/8XNCt3 289 Forbes.com, at http://bit.ly/iapfvI, published 9 March 2011 (accessed 13 March 2011). 290 For further information see the story in Semana.com, at http://bit.ly/iilCCl 291 For further information see the story in Semana.com, at http://bit.ly/eoUtGL 292 Forbes.com, at http://bit.ly/dYvVpG, published 9 March 2011 (accessed 13 March 2011). 293 Interviewed in Bogotá on 16 March 2011.
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In 2007, CNTV announced a public tender call (licitación) for a third commercial television broadcaster. The third channel should have been operating in 2009, but the process has taken longer than expected, and there have been disputes and legal problems related to it. The process is currently suspended, as decided in July 2010 by the State Council, due to irregularities (see sections 5.1.2 and 6.1.4). 6.1.3 Ownership Consolidation
First of all, it is important to mention that the internationalization of telecoms ownership is not a local phenomenon: it is happening all over Latin America and all over the world. According to experts, new ownership tendencies have brought both good and bad consequences for media pluralism and diversity. On the bright side, market experts such as Lorenzo Villegas292 and María del Pilar Noguera,293 attorneys specialized in telecoms, agree that international ownership consolidation in Colombia has encouraged competition and generated an improvement in services' quality. "Foreign companies have more investment resources, and of course it is better for the user if service improves," says Mr Villegas. Another positive consequence according to some analysts is that as the media are now owned by businessmen instead of politicians, as it was before in Colombia, this should be synonymous with the independence of news outlets from political power. However, the relationship between economic groups and the media brings new risks (see section 6.4.3). Omar Rincón argues that international ownership consolidation has brought new practices, new contents, ideas, and formats to Colombian media.294 However, the dark side [down side?] is a lack of respect for local media consumption practices, as international providers bring standardized content options or formats, without considering local audiences' preferences or local media practices. He concludes: "They no longer are meant to serve a society about public issues, but to serve the conglomerates' interests, and that is wrong." 6.1.4 Telecoms Business, and the Media
As in the media market (see section 6.1.2), the main recent change in ownership in the telecoms market is the foreign investment of telecoms conglomerates, such as Telmex. The most relevant changes in this sector are as follows. In 2006 Telmex, owned by Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world in 2011,295 bought three of the main cable and internet access operators: TVCable, Superview, and Cablepacífico, and a few months later a couple more: Cablecentro and Satelcaribe. Nowadays Telmex is the largest cable television
292 295
Interviewed via email on 18 March 2011. [where is 294?] Interviewed in Bogotá on 16 March 2011. 296 Forbes.com, at http://bit.ly/ht2rv6, published 9 March 2011 (accessed 13 March 2011). 297 Dinero.com, at http://bit.ly/f06ufP, published 3 April 2009 (accessed 13 March 2011).
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operator in the country with over 50 percent of market share,296 and the third-largest internet access operator, with 21.94 percent of the market. In December 2010, Comcel, the main mobile operator (with a 65.98 percent market share),297 announced its integration with Telmex Colombia. In 2004 Telefónica bought the mobile company BellSouth (now Telefónica Movistar). In 2006 Telefónica also bought Telecom (formerly the public fixed telephone operator, Colombia Telecomunicaciones). Telefónica Telecom now offers fixed phone, cable television, and internet access. Telefónica Movistar is currently the second-largest mobile operator, with 22.39 percent298 of the market, and Telefónica Telecom is the third-largest operator of cable and internet access, with 20.84 percent of the market.299 In 2006, the mobile company Tigo, which belongs to the Luxemburg company Millicom International Cellular, bought Colombia Móvil,300 the third-largest mobile operator in the country. Tigo is the third and smaller mobile operator in the country, with 11.62 percent301 of market share. The first virtual mobile operator, called Uff!, was launched in November 2010. As it does not have its own network, it operates over the Tigo network. Uff! is owned by the Ardilla Lulle family that also owns the television Channel RCN and companies in diverse sectors. According to Mr Villegas,302 in the following months regulators will define the parameters for the entrance of two additional cable television operators. It is still too early to know what implications these consolidations may have. 6.1.5 Transparency of Media Ownership Media, like all companies, have to report their ownership information, such as their stock composition, to the Superintendence of Companies (Superintendencia de Sociedades). This kind of information is public, as any citizen can request a company certificate from the Chamber of Commerce (Cámara de Comercio). However, Mr Cortés303 says that although in Colombia it is possible to know who the media owners are, there is not a culture of citizens demanding accountability from the media. Neither there is active
MinTic, "Informe técnico Trimestral de Telefonía Móvil" (Quarterly Technical Report on Mobile Telephony), 2010-III, at http://bit.ly/gn0V7P (accessed 13 March 13 2011) (hereafter MinTic, "Informe técnico Trimestral de Telefonía Móvil"). 299 MinTic, "Informe técnico Trimestral de Telefonía Móvil," 2010-III. 300 MinTic, Informe Trimestral de las TIC (Quarterly Report on Information and Communication Technologies), 2010-III, at http://bit.ly/ff4vh0 (accessed 13 March 2011). 301 For further information see the story in Semana.com, at http://bit.ly/gu7gtN 302 MinTic, "Informe técnico Trimestral de Telefonía Móvil." 303 Interviewed in Bogotá on 16 March 2011. 304 Interviewed in Bogota on 11 February 2011.
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transparency from the media: for instance, they are not open about conflicts of interest they may have with other sectors. Things get worse in regional media, in which not only powerful economic entities but also politicians own media, especially radio stations. 6.2 Funding 6.2.1 Public and Private Funding Of public media, CNTV spent 61 percent of its 2010 budget on operating national public television (approximately US$ 820 million).304 RTVC's whole operational budget comes from CNTV's resources (see section 2.1.3). For figures, see Table 12. Of private media, according to the Colombian Press Association (Asociación de Diarios Colombianos, Andiarios) and the National Media Association (Asociación Nacional de Medios de Comunicación, Asomedios), net investment in advertising during 2010 was worth approximately US$ 800 million.305 Table 12. Distribution of net investment in advertising by sector, 2006–2010 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 National TV 763,408 863,885 858,225 823,611 919,366 Radio 294,505 345,592 352,518 365,762 419,008 Magazines 105,912 11,889 108,196 93,488 99,876 Regional and local TV 47,228 59,306 58,633 58,794 65,275 Total 1,211,053 1,280,672 1,377,572 1,341,655 1,503,525 Sources: Colombian Press Association (Andiarios); National Media Association (Asomedios) 306 Since 2005 [right?], more than 60 percent of the total advertising spend has gone to national television. The investment in radio has been around 24–28 percent. The investment in magazines and local TV is below 10 percent each. Another important change in recent years is the increase in advertising investment of Colombian companies in international cable television channels. There was a rise of 14 percent from 2008 to 2009, representing an increase from 2.5 percent to 2.9 percent. According to a 2009 Advertising Investment Analytic Report307 by Asomedios, the 2008 financial crisis that affected markets in Europe and North America did not have much impact in Latin America, as in
CNTV, "Propuesta de Agenda Regulatoria" (Regulatory Agenda), 2011, p. 27, at http://bit.ly/fbpXjf (accessed 13 March 2011) (hereafter CNTV, "Propuesta de Agenda Regulatoria"). 304 Colombian Press Association (Asociación de Diarios Colombianos, Andiarios) and Asomedios, "Estudio de inversion publicitaria neta año 2010 (Advertising Investment Study for 2010), at http://bit.ly/x5G5B5 (hereafter Andiarios and Asomedios, "Estudio de inversion publicitaria neta año 2010"). 307 Andiarios and Asomedios, "Estudio de inversion publicitaria neta año 2010." 308 Asomedios, "Informe de análisis." 309 Asomedios, "Informe de análisis." This report does not include online advertising data.
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2009 there was a modest increase of 0.3 percent of the advertising spend. According to Asomedios,308 traditional media advertising investment is slowly decreasing as digital media are emerging. According to Ibope Colombia,309 media form the main economic sector investing in advertising, with 32.7 percent of total investment. In second place is the services, tourism, and commerce sector, with 8.7 percent. In the third place are civic and government campaigns, with 5.8 percent. In the fourth place is the telecoms sector, with 5.7 percent; and in the fifth place is the personal care and beauty sector, with 5.6 percent. It is important to mention that even though in the larger picture of national advertising state advertising does not represent a big percentage, for many local media in rural areas private advertising is minimal and official advertising represents 50–60 percent of the advertising revenues.310 This is considered a risk factor for press freedom and media independence (see section 7.3.1). In recent years, advertising expenditure in digital media has begun to increase. According to IAB Colombia,311 investment increased 30 percent from 2008 to 2009, growing from around US$ 21.5 million) to around US$ 28 million. In 2010, ad expenditure grew to around US$ 41.8 million, which means growth of 55.77 percent over 2009. However, the share of online advertising is still small. In 2009 it was estimated at 3 percent, growing from 2 percent in 2008. These numbers are very modest compared with television, and even with radio and newspapers, are significant compared with local television channels and magazines: digital media advertising investment is rapidly getting closer to these traditional media. 6.2.2 Other Sources of Funding Funding in traditional media remains based on advertising and on user subscriptions and payments where they apply, such as in cable television, newspapers, and magazines. No new ways of funding are significant in traditional media. However, since online advertisement in Colombia is still an emerging, and comparatively small, market (see section 6.3.1), online media are creating new economic models. 6.3 Media Business Models 6.3.1 Changes in Media Business Models
Inversión general – Sectores económicos (General investment – Economic Sectors), Ranking February 2011, at www.ibope.com.co. See Noticias/Sectores económicos (accessed 9 March 2011). 311 Open Society Institute and Civil Rights Association (Asociación por los derechos civiles), "El precio del silencio" (The price of silence), 2008, at http://bit.ly/moLkgV (accessed 8 March 2011) (hereafter OSI and Civil Rights Association, "El precio del silencio"). 312 IAB Colombia and PricewaterhouseCooper, "Reportes sobre compilación de la inversion en medios digitales" (Digital Media Investment Report), 2009, at http://bit.ly/fH8fWJ, March 2010 (accessed 8 March 2011) (hereafter IAB Colombia and PricewaterhouseCooper, "Reportes sobre compilación de la inversion"). 313 IAB Colombia and PricewaterhouseCooper, "Reportes sobre compilación de la inversion." 314 See http://lasillavacia.com
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The main effects of digitization in business models are seen on the internet. Although it is rapidly growing, online advertising in Colombia is still not too significant (see section 6.2.1). Therefore, pioneer online media have developed economic models of diversification with multiple inputs. More than half (53 percent) of LaSillaVacia's312 funding comes from three sources: workshops and conferences on digital literacy in universities and companies; consulting projects for companies on technology and digital interaction with the community; and advertising (15 percent). The rest of the funding (47 percent) comes from international organizations' grants and awards, such as the Open Society Media Program, the US embassy in Colombia, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Ford Foundation.313 But other online media such as KienyKe.com314 have decided to rely on advertising as their only source of funding. This digital magazine was launched in November 2010, so it is still early to break even. However, Mr Posada315 says they are confident of making a sustainable company based on online advertising, as they have a large advertising sales team and they have already attracted some big advertisers. Mr Rincón predicts that whether or not there is a significant increase in content provision in digital television, the market will not grow, and this represents a risk for content quality: "If a current television channel has 40 rating points, in digital television they will have to spread those rating points across four channels. And, as budget and market are not going to grow, they will have to produce, with the same people, the same equipment, and paying the same salaries, four different digital channels. Therefore, quality will decrease. The bad news is that the television market will not grow because people don't have any more time to watch television. Instead, internet and mobile platforms are colonizing each day more time and everyday routines of audiences."316 In fact, a recent survey on media consumption reveals that if Colombians had to choose only one technological device, they would choose mobile phones (31 percent) and computers (29 percent) over television (22 percent).317 However, traditional media are getting ready for digital switch-over with new market divisions. The most viewed open private television broadcaster, Canal RCN, created E-nnovva in 2008.318 This new company focuses on developing websites, content, and advertising for internet and mobile platforms. The general manager of this new company is the former programming vice-president for RCN. 6.4 Assessments
315 316
Juanita León, director of LaSillaVacía, interviewed in Bogotá on 17 March 2011. See http://www.kienyke.com 317 Interviewed in Bogotá on 24 March 2011. 318 Interviewed in Bogotá on 16 March 2011. 319 ElTiempo.com, at http://bit.ly/gZoEF6, survey made by Ipsos Napoleón Franco for MinTic, published 14 March 2011 (accessed 24 March 2011). 320 See http://www.ennovva.com 321 Interviewed in Bogotá on 18 December 2010.
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So far, digitization has not changed the dominant positions in the media market. But media and especially telecoms ownership has recently changed toward the transnational corporation model (see section 6.1.2). In television, during the last 15 years—even before the advent of new and digital media—there has been a process of ownership, advertising, and audience concentration in the two private channels, Caracol and RCN. Mr Coronell thinks that the digital television model, as it is conceived in Colombia, is only going to multiply this market duopoly; even if there are more content options for the viewers, these contents would still come from the same main producers. "Digital television has not major chances of becoming a window for information pluralism," he says.319 Consuelo Cepeda,320 media ombudsman for Canal RCN, thinks that television digitization would be positive for content diversity, as audiences would be able to choose and design their own programming. However, she recognizes that not all citizens have the skills or are ready to design their own programming list. For other media experts, the answer to breaking the information monopolies seems to be on the internet. "Online media can outperform traditional media, and monopolies can be broken. LaSillaVacia is a good example. Websites such as LaSillaVacia are questioning the media status quo. One would expect more media like this, but there is still time for that to happen," says Mr Franco.321 Transparency of media ownership has increased, as these big media businesses have become news, although there is little information on the potential conflicts of interest of these new actors in the media and telecoms sectors. On the internet, the impact of ownership on the performance and independence of media is significantly less, as media set up online are not owned by powerful economic groups. The internet has opened the door for a media outlet such as LaSillaVacia. According to Ms León, "Five years ago it would have been impossible to create an independent media, ruled by journalists without the investment of a powerful family or a conglomerate. Before the internet, penetrating the media market was almost impossible. The internet reduces the initial investment and the cost of creating a media is lower. Probably, in five years there will be10 media like LaSillaVacia and this would make traditional media less complacent with the powerful."322 Concerning ownership, as LaSillaVacia is not owned by any powerful media group, Ms León says she has felt the difference in her journalistic daily work, as there are no pressures or political commitments. "During the last election period, for example, I felt that I really could do journalism without thinking about who or what was at stake," she says. Conflicts of interest are one of the main issues in media and advertising in Colombia. In television, for example, some large advertisers only invest in private channels, not only because they are the ones with the highest ratings, but because they belong to linked corporate groups. While there is transparency about who owns the media, there is less transparency on conflicts or potential conflicts of
322 322
Interviewed in Bogotá on 15 December 2010. Interviewed in Bogotá on 17 December 2010. 324 Interviewed in Bogotá on 14 December 2010.
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interest. According to Mr Rincón,323 there is also a lack of ideological transparency. "Media outlets sell themselves as neutral when they are not. Clearly they have political agendas related to their economic power, but they don't assume these agendas publicly." According to Mr Rincón, what would favor news outlets' independence would be the existence of more media, so advertising would disperse, as media and audiences specialize, and advertisers would have to search for their market niches, instead of remaining concentrated in the same traditional few massive media.
Media analyst and Associate Professor at Universidad de Los Andes. Interviewed in Bogotá on 16 March 2011.
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7. Policies, Laws, and Regulators 7.1 Policies and Laws 7.1.1 Digital Switch-over of Terrestrial Transmission Access and Affordability Both CNTV324 and the MinTic325 are leading the digitization process in Colombia under the DVB-T standard, chosen in August 2008 (see section 1.2.1). The government determined that DTT should be free-to-air and that television licensees would provide the basic contents of open television for television sets and digital mobile devices without cost to viewers.326 CNTV has estimated a 10-year transitional process for the analog switch-off, calculated from 2008, the year the standard was chosen and the process began.327 The total investment to ensure the digitization of public television is estimated to be US$ 129 million. These resources are already being used, especially directed at infrastructure, such as installing fullpower stations that cover about 42 percent of the country328. The first one of these stations has already been installed in Calatrava, in the western area of Bogotá. The first test broadcast of DTT, covering some areas of the northern and western part of Bogotá, took place in January 2010.329 On 28 December 2010, CNTV announced that the two private national television channels (RCN and Caracol), had begun their digital broadcasting for the cities of Bogotá and Medellín, covering 25 percent of the population of the country.330 In February 2011 RCN announced that private channels would intensify their outreach campaign for the new technology and that before the end of the first semester the digital signal would reach Cali and Barranquilla, and by the end of the year they expected to be in Cartagena, the coffee zone, and the northern part of the country.331 On 11 January 2011 CNTV published the Proposed Regulatory Agenda 2011332 ("Propuesta de Agenda Regulatoria"), which includes the Policy for the Development of the Television Industry for 2010–2014 (Política para el desarrollo de la industria de televisión). The policy sets out, among other
324 327
See http://www.cntv.org.co See http://www.mintic.gov.co 328 CNTV, "Proyecto de acuerdo técnico," p. 8, at http://scr.bi/fJQQCK (accessed 6 February 2011). 329 Interview with Lina Enriquez, Adviser to the Vice-minister of MinTic, Bogotá, 5 November 2010. 330 CNTV, "Propuesta de Agenda Regulatoria," p. 38 . 331 See http://bit.ly/eWkeAL (accessed 5 December 2010). 332 CNTV press release, at http://bit.ly/eTGeam (accessed 5 February 2011). 333 El Tiempo.com, at http://bit.ly/eOkEt0, published on 18 February 2011 (accessed 19 February 2011). 334 Document at http://bit.ly/entNlh, p. 27 (accessed 6 February 2011).
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things, the commitments for 2014: first, achieving 100 percent coverage in the television broadcast signal, as currently 8.6 percent of the population cannot receive the public television service; and second, achieving 74 percent coverage of digital terrestrial television (DTT) by private channels across the country. However, television digitization is not well understood by citizens (see section 1.2.1). CNTV has recently begun an outreach campaign about digital terrestrial television (DTT). Some of the outlets being used for these campaigns are television commercials, the micro site "All about digital terrestrial television" (Todo sobre televisión digital terrestre333) on the CNTV site, brochures with FAQ on DTT, presence at events such as cultural fairs, and events and fairs in the telecoms sector. CNTV has already established the technical characteristics for domestic equipment (television sets and set-top boxes), and some brands (such as Samsung, Sony, LG and Challenger) are already selling television sets that incorporate the digital reception system for the European standard DVB-T.334 It is estimated that from March 2010 to January 2011 160,000 digital television sets were sold in the country.335 According to the MinTic, one of the reasons for choosing the European standard for set-top boxes(see section 1.2.1) was the affordability for both operators and users. "The difference was something like paying 200 dollars for a Japanese set top box, and 30 dollars for a European," says Ms Enriquez.336 CNTV has been negotiating the reduction of the import tariffs for set-top boxes with the National Taxes and Customs Department (Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales, DIAN), in order to make this equipment affordable for citizens.337 The price of basic set-top boxes for final users is estimated to be around US$ 40 (the official minimum salary in Colombia is US$ 315 per month), and the expectation is they will be sold in regular stores like any other appliance, says Luis Eduardo Peña, CNTV's deputy technical director.338 Subsidies for Equipment No subsidy plan has been provided for the television sets or set-top boxes that DTT requires has been confirmed by Mr Peña.339 Legal Provisions of Public Interest
See http://www.cntv.org.co/cntv_bop/TDT/ CNTV, "Propuesta de Agenda Regulatoria." 337 ElTiempo.com, at http://bit.ly/gqujZX, p ublished 18 February 2011 (accessed 20 February 2011). 338 Interviewed in Bogotá on 5 November 2010. 339 CNTV, "Propuesta de Agenda Regulatoria." 340 Interviewed in Bogotá on 17 February 2011. 341 Interviewed in Bogotá on 17 February 2011.
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According to the Policy for the Development of the Television Industry 2010–2014340 (Política para el desarrollo de la industria de televisión), the legal framework for DTT is still in process of being defined. The official document, the Regulatory Regime for DTT (Régimen regulatorio de TDT), was expected to be developed during the first quarter of 2011.341 The Policy for the Development of the Television Industry states that one of its main objectives is to promote the development of cultural and educational television, and public interest television: "The proposed policy framework should be the basis of a democratic and participatory television system, which sees television as a public service in which citizens can exercise their rights, but which requires the clear commitment of those governmental authorities responsible for this sector, the support of the industry in strengthening its social responsibilities, and the mobilization of society to guarantee their rights as viewers and citizens."342. The policy also defines as important objectives the promotion of television access for ethnic groups and minorities, strengthening the production of contents by these groups; the definition of a public policy for television content, and a public policy for the access of minorities to television; the promotion of ethnic minorities' and children's television; and support for policies to assist the displaced population. But as the digitization process is still beginning and the framework is still being defined, it is hard to tell whether or not the public interest is in fact being—or going to be—served. Public service obligations are well defined by the law regarding analog television (see section 2.2.2). Public Consultation As mentioned before, Colombians are not well informed about the television digitization process. As of October 2010, only 31 percent of the population knew something or had heard something about DTT343 (see section 1.2.1). Mr Coronell344 says that people are not "tuned" to television digitization, and that the public communication campaigns by the government on digital television have been insufficient. Despite the fact that television is the most consumed media in the country, the substitution of analog technology is not a matter the average citizen is interested in. Since DTT is still in an early stage, there civil society groups are not yet engaged in this matter. However, CNTV and the MinTic have begun an outreach campaign and have published some draft policy documents for public consideration. In December 2010 CNTV published the "Proyecto de acuerdo técnico de implementación de la TDT en Colombia" (Technical Agreement Draft on Implementation of Digital Terrestrial Television)" for the consideration of the telecoms sector.345 ACIEM pointed out some technical issues for consideration in this document, such as the scalability of
342 343
The policy document is included in CNTV, "Propuesta de Agenda Regulatoria." Salua Abisambra, Chief of the Content Office for the CNTV (interviewed in Bogotá on 10 February 2011), confirms that part of the economic cooperation package given by the European Union is for a consultancy to define DTT regulation. 344 CNTV, "Propuesta de Agenda Regulatoria." 345 CNTV and ACIM, "Estudio General de Medios," 2010. 346 Interviewed in Bogotá on 18 December 2010. 347 Document at http://scr.bi/fJQQCK (accessed 6 February 2011).
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coverage, the ongoing monitoring of penetration in terms of signal transmission and reception coexistence, and the definition of the different types of services.346 According to Ms Abisambra, citizens have not been consulted on content provision for DTT. Indeed, she says there is no expectation of a content explosion, at least in public television, with the digitization process.347 The MinTic launched an ambitious plan in October 2010 called "Live digital" (Vive digital), which was posted online for over a month so that citizens could send their comments and ideas to improve or change internet access.348 The main objective was to expand the use of the internet. In February 2011 the MinTic presented the final version of the policy, including people's ideas, which is also published online.349 7.1.2 The Internet Regulation of News on the Internet The Political Constitution guarantees press freedom as a fundamental right (see section 4.2.2). There is currently no specific regulatory framework for news on the internet and mobile platforms. The only content regulation established for the web for child pornography.350 Law 679 of 2001 intends to "prevent and counteract child exploitation, pornography, and sex tourism, according to the 44th article of the political constitution."351 Legal Liability for Internet Content Legal liability for internet content remains unregulated in Colombia. According to Nelson Remolina,352 an attorney specializing in telecoms law and Associate Professor at Universidad de los Andes, the Free Trade Treaty (Tratado de libre comercio, TLC) that is being negotiated between Colombia and the United States might expedite decisions on this regulation. Most likely, says Mr Remolina, whoever posts contents online will have to respect copyright. In fact, on 4 April 2011, the Ministry of the Interior (Ministerio del Interior), on behalf of the Intersectoral Commission on Intellectual Property (Comisión Intersectorial de Propiedad Intelectual,
348 349
CNTV press release, at http://bit.ly/gLCOJe (accessed 6 February 2011). Interviewed in Bogotá on 10 February 2011. 350 See http://vivedigital.gov.co/page/material-de-vive-digital 351 http://vivedigital.gov.co 352 Regulatory framework regarding pornography, at http://www.internetsano.gov.co/normatividad.html. (accessed 7 February 2011). 353 Law 679 of 2001, Diario Oficial No. 44.509, 4 August 2001, at http://bit.ly/iNGeog (accessed 7 February 2011). 354 Interviewed in Bogota on 7 February 2011.
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CIPI), filed a bill that establishes liability for infringement of copyright and related rights on the internet (the bill was informally called Ley Lleras, after the minister). In brief, the bill intended to penalize anyone who sells, offers or provides for marketing purposes creations protected by copyright. The bill did not clearly refer to the final user liability, but did intend to give internet service providers the power to remove or block "illegal" contents. The bill was highly controversial among internet users. However, Juan Carlos Monroy, director of the National Directorate of Copyright (Dirección Nacional de Derechos del Derecho de Autor, DNDA), stated that "the goal is not to penalize the accessing or downloading of content … In general, internet users are not responsible for copyright infringement simply by downloading, access or share content."353 After various debates, the bill was rejected by Congress in November 2011. Regarding private data online, users' private data protection is regulated as it is related to one of the constitutional fundamental rights, the right to privacy. Article 15 of the Political Constitution says: "Everybody has the right to personal and familiar privacy … Mail and any other ways of private communications are inviolable."354 Law 1266 of 2008355 is a development of this constitutional right, as it regulates the management of personal information databases, such as financial and commercial information. 7.2 Regulators 7.2.1 Changes in Content Regulation There are three main media regulators in Colombia: 1. CNTV, created in 1995 by Law 182356 as an autonomous and independent regulatory organization (as referred to in articles 76 and 77).357 According to article 4 of Law 182, CNTV is meant to "exercise, on behalf of the state, ownership of public service television, to lead television policy, to develop and implement State plans and programs of the State in relation to the television public service as determined by the law, to regulate television service, and to intervene, manage and control the electromagnetic spectrum used for the provision of such services, in order to guarantee media pluralism, competition and efficiency in service delivery and prevent monopolistic practices in operation and exploitation, in terms of the Constitution and the law." 2. The CRC, created in 1992 also in the framework of the 1991 Political Constitution, regulates mainly market issues for fixed and mobile telephony, and the internet.
Mauricio Jaramillo, "18 preguntas (y respuestas) sobre el proyecto antipiratería en Colombia" (18 questions (and answers) about the anti-piracy project in Colombia), in Revista Enter.co (see question 5), at http://bit.ly/eUbzRH, posted 7 April 2011 (accessed 9 April 2011). 356 Political Constitution of Colombia, at http://bit.ly/dCF8Fp, Title II, Art. 15, p. 3 (accessed 8 February 2011). 357 Law 1266 of 2008, Diario Oficial No. 47.219, 31 December 2008, at http://bit.ly/g145OT (accessed 8 February 2011). 358 Law 182 of 1995. 359 Political Constitution of Colombia, at http://bit.ly/dCF8Fp
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3. The MinTic (called the Ministry of Communications before Law 1341 of 2009) regulates radio, mainly on technical issues. Content regulation is a sensitive issue, since freedom of the press and freedom of expression are fundamental constitutional rights (see sections 4.2.2 and 126.96.36.199). Therefore, all content regulation has to be compatible with the Political Constitution and the Inter-American Human Rights System, and no prior control or censorship can be implemented. The main media regulation in Colombia addresses media business and market issues, and technical issues, but not media content. As mentioned before, there is no special regulatory frame for digital media content apart from the prohibition of child pornography (see section 184.108.40.206). However, there is some regulation for television, as it is considered a public service under the control and regulation of the State. According to Law 182 of 1995,358 the main goals of the television service are to educate, to truthfully inform, and to entertain in a healthy way. Television content has to respect other fundamental rights such as honor, good name, and privacy; and pay respect to political, religious, and cultural differences. The law includes among other regulations, a mandatory share of 70 percent of national production television in prime time for national open television channels, and a share of 50 percent for regional open television channels (Article 33). (For public service obligations for private media, see section 2.2.2.) Television Law 182359 states that television advertising and programming will not be subjected to prior control or censorship. However, CNTV, as overseer, would be able to regulate content in order to improve quality and guarantee the public service of television, and to protect families and vulnerable populations such as children and youths. 7.2.2 Regulatory Independence
In legal terms, both CNTV and the CRC are independent and autonomous structures. However, there has been a lot of criticism particularly of the CNTV people consider it to be a highly politicized organism. A report released in 2006 by the Communication Center for Latin America (Centro de Competencia en Comunicación para América Latina) of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Colombia360 presented a report on the state of CNTV 10 years after its creation. The main conclusion was that although an independent regulator was crucial, CNTV had to be restructured, because throughout the decade there had been constant debate over political influence, corruption, irregular favoritism, and public disparagement of the entity. A lot of the criticism about the lack of autonomy of CNTV has been related to the election process of the commissioners. According to Law 182,361 the television commissioners should be elected as follows: two members designated by the government; one member chosen from delegates of regional channels; one member representing the professional associations and unions connected to television;
358 361
Law 182 of 1995. Law 182 of 1995, Chapter 2, Title 3, at http://bit.ly/f60ikc (accessed 1 April 2011). 362 FESCOL, "La Comisión Nacional de Televisión, 1665–2006" (National Television Commission 1665–2006), researcher Angela María Riaño, at http://bit.ly/eT3nDz (accessed 15 February 2011). 363 Law 182 of 1995.
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and one member representing parental organizations, communication and journalism schools, and audience organizations. However, the autonomy has been threatened as the commissioners' selection process is politicized and there have been irregularities in the appointments, especially of the representatives of the professional, parental, audience, and journalism schools associations. A common criticism is that commissioners are chosen as part of political quotas and not for their expertise or for their ability to represent the interests of a group of stakeholders. On various occasions, the polemic has led the government to propose the elimination of CNTV. In 2008, the government announced a bill to reform CNTV, which was intended to give it a more technical than political profile, and remove the commissioners from the financial management of resources. It also intended to modify the rules for commissioners' appointments. This bill failed to become law. In August 2010, the government filed a bill in Congress to close CNTV.362 In June 2011, after the bill was approved by Congress, the government passed an Act to close it. In August 2011, the government presented a new Television Law bill to the congress. According to the Minister of the MinTic, this new law (under debate at the time of writing) considers the creation of a new autonomous agent that would handle the operation licenses. The CRC would take over regulatory issues.363 7.2.3 Digital Licensing In Colombia, licenses are required for radio and television, as these media use the electromagnetic spectrum, defined by the Constitution as a public good subject to the state's control in order to guarantee access equity and avoid monopolies.364 Licenses are awarded for 10 years and are renewable. 188.8.131.52 Radio Licensing In Colombia, there are three kinds of radio broadcasters: commercial radio, public interest radio, and community radio. All radio broadcasting licensing is managed by the MinTic. Commercial radio licenses are awarded by tenders (licitaciones). Community radio licenses are awarded by public announcements (convocatorias públicas), and public interest radio licenses are awarded directly to national or local state institutions.365 The ministry is in charge of the call for bids, the public announcements, the awarding of radio frequencies, and the control of broadcasters. Bidders for commercial radio are private companies; bidders for public interest radio are the public radio system (RNC and Radiónica), the military forces, universities, and the indigenous population; and for community radio, social organizations with a local range of action, mainly in rural areas. However, in March 2009 the MinTic awarded for the first time 13 radio frequencies to community radios in big cities.
362 365
Full text of the bill can be found at http://bit.ly/fnv7P7 (accessed 15 February 2011). See http://bit.ly/rt8pkP 366 Political Constitution of Colombia, at http://bit.ly/dCF8Fp; see Art. 76. 367 FLIP and National Endowment for Democracy (NED), "Fuera del Aire. Censura radial en Colombia" (Off-air: Radio Censorship in Colombia), 2010, at http://bit.ly/bScvIB (accessed 8 April 2011) (hereafter FLIP and NED, "Fuera del Aire").
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Community radio is particularly important in Colombia, as the country is a pioneer in Latin America in activism and regulation for this kind of radio station. Broadcasting licensing for community radio has been regulated since 1997. Generally speaking, awarding criteria are clearly laid out in public announcements (convocatorias públicas), and the law sets general requirements for community broadcasters.366 However, community broadcasters have sometimes complained of lack of transparency in the awarding of some licenses, and about some of the specific regulations for this kind of stations, explains Mónica Valdés,367 a researcher and a community radio expert. Some controversial issues in community radio broadcasting are that there is only one community broadcaster allowed per town, while several commercial broadcasters are allowed; indigenous people may be considered for bids for public interest radio, but they cannot be given a community radio license; and community stations cannot link transmissions (enlazar transmisiones) to create networks, while commercial stations can. 188.8.131.52 Television Licensing Television licenses are awarded and renewed by CNTV. In recent years, there has been a big controversy regarding the awarding of a third private channel license, since until now there have only been two private open television channels. A bid, called for in 2007, has been suspended by the State Council (see section 5.1.2). 7.2.4 Role of Self-regulatory Mechanisms There is no formal self-regulatory system in Colombian media accepted by the majority—or at least a plurality—of the media. However, there are ethic codes and self-regulation news codes that are followed by some media organizations individually. CNTV has recently proposed an agreement,368 with some considerations of content in open television, which includes a proposal for media self-regulation. The proposal encourages channels to create a selfregulatory system that includes, for example respect for program schedules, a policy regarding information and opinion treatment, a distinction between opinion, information, and advertising, and a greater role for news ombudsmen. Law 335 of 1996 establishes that private channels have to dedicate a space on their programming (chosen by them) to news ombudsmen.369 Channels respect this regulation, although these programs are usually broadcast after midnight, with very low audiences. Ms Cepeda and Amparo Pérez, news ombudsmen for Canal Caracol, are both respected and experienced journalists acting as news ombudsmen, who receive and answer all the communications and complaints over content sent by the audience, and they organize debates on specific topics addressed in some of the audience complaints
Decree (Decreto) 1981 of 2003, at http://bit.ly/exESro; Decree (Decreto) 4350 of 2009, at http://scr.bi/ijV6k0 (accessed 15 February 2011). 369 Interviewed in Bogota on 15 February 2011. 370 Agreement 3 of 2010, Diario Oficial No. 47.702, 7 May 2010. Art. 42, at http://bit.ly/i8T3gB (accessed 13 June 2011). 371 Law 335 of 1996, Diario Oficial No. 42.946. 24 December 1996, Art. 12, at http://bit.ly/h0Ad80 (accessed 13 June 2011).
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(for example, the representation of women in a soap opera, or the representation of prison guards in a series). 7.3 Government Interference 7.3.1 The Market As has been discussed, the licensing of television and radio frequencies can become a threat to media independence. Although the government can exert pressure, this is not as strong as in some other Latin American countries, says Mr Cortés370 (see section 7.2.3). However, there is another source of interference by state power: state advertising. The government invests many resources in media advertising. In the national media the percentage of revenue received through state advertising might not be that high, but in regional media local government is the main advertiser and many small media depend on official advertising for their subsistence. A 2008 report by the Open Society Institute and Civil Rights Association in seven Latin American countries revealed that the abuse of official advertising is a tool of pressure and subtle censorship to generate favorable coverage and discourage critical and watchful approaches to information about local and regional power.371 "Measurements from 2005, 2006 and 2007 reveal that the government of President Uribe made regular and suspiciously high advertising investments in the economic newspaper La República, that is usually favorable to the government policies, although it does not have a high readership,"372 was one of the examples presented on the report. Commercial radio operators can lease space to third parties. Therefore, many journalists rent radio spots to broadcast their news programs without any employment relationship with radio stations. Journalists who lease radio spots work independently, but at the same time they are responsible for selling advertising to finance their programs. Some journalists, especially in the regions, complain that the cost is very high. Thus they have to obtain a lot of money in advertising, compromising their independence, since many of these ads come from official sources.373 Journalists claim that critical information about the local government can lead to an advertising veto of their programs. 7.3.2 The Regulator The most significant case of abuse of a regulatory power is the alleged corruption and lack of independence of CNTV. As previously described (see section 5.1.2), CNTV is considered a highly politicized organism, as the regulatory body has been accused of corruption and irregular favoritism. The most recent case is concerned with the awarding of a third private channel license. After an excessively lengthy process that included investigations from the Comptroller and Auditor General and Attorney General (Contraloría General y Procuraduría General), on July 2010 the State Council decided to suspend the adjudication of the license because of all the irregularities in the process (see section 5.1.2).
370 373
Interviewed in Bogota on 11 February 2011. OSI and Civil Rights Association, "El precio del silencio." 374 OSI and Civil Rights Association, "El precio del silencio," p. 11. 375 FLIP and NED, "Fuera del Aire."
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7.3.3 Other Forms of Interference A recent case of illegal state interference in the media is "Eavesdropping by the DAS" (Interceptaciones ilegales del Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS) (see section 4.2.2). Since February 2009 various media reported that the DAS was illegally spying, threatening, and creating smear campaigns (campañas de desprestigio) against journalists, opposition politicians, and judges of the Supreme Court. Two years later, criminal investigations have confirmed these media complaints, and so far two former senior managers of the DAS have been condemned by the Superior Court of Bogotá (Tribunal Superior de Bogotá), and 52 DAS officials are under investigation by the Attorney General. One of the most dramatic cases is that of Claudia Julieta Duque, a journalist from Cali. Duque had been investigating the murder of Jaime Garzón,374 a journalist and political humorist shot in Bogotá in 1999, and had alleged DAS's responsibility for the crime. The Attorney General has evidence that because of her journalistic work she and her daughter have been threatened by the DAS since 2002. One of the pieces of evidence in this case is a "Manual to threaten" (Manual para amenazar) that DAS officers used for phone call threats and illegal spying on Ms Duque and her daughter.375 7.4 Assessments The policy and regulatory framework for digital media is still being defined. Some experts agree that the state should only regulate the market and the contents should remain free, in order to respect press and information freedom. On the other hand, others think that good regulation can stimulate the market. For example, open television channels currently have a mandatory share of 70 percent of national television production during prime time,376 and this has promoted national production and has made private channels into solid companies with product demand in the international market. There are various perspectives on what kind of regulation should be drawn up for digital content. Mr Cortés believes the state should assume a more active role in regulation in order to diversify content, as digitization will not bring on pluralism per se.377 There should be public policy to promote certain voices. "If there is not a decided policy, for example, for having more news about and from indigenous groups, no one is going to hear them no matter how many blogs they have," Mr Cortés says. Mr Rincón378 thinks that digital television can bring important opportunities for diversity as long as there
For more information about Jaime Garzón, "Un adios de carnaval," a profile by a journalist and personal friend of Garzón, Antonio Morales, at http://bit.ly/8E0gAQ 377 FLIP, "Espionaje contra periodistas"; Margarita Martinez, Espionaje, presiones e intimidaciones al relato periodístico (Espionage, pressure, and intimidation toward news), in Por qué nos odian tanto?: Estado y medios de comunicación en América Latina (Why do they hate us?: State and media in Latin America), Centro de Competencia en Comunicación para América Latina (Communication Center for Latin America), FESCOL, 2010, at http://bit.ly/gAexo0 378 Law 182 of 1995, Chapter 2, Title 3, at http://bit.ly/f60ikc (accessed 1 April 2011). 379 Interviewed in Bogota on 10 December 2010 and 11 February 2011. 380 Interviewed in Bogota on 22 December 2010.
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is a content policy oriented, for instance, to stimulate new producers. "But there is no citizens' project on this. The communicative stuff is governed by the market," he says. There is not yet a special licensing policy for digital media. As for analog media, television licensing has very recently been controversial because of the third private television channel adjudication process (see section 5.1.2). The regulatory framework itself is functional, but there are several procedural flaws in the implementation. There is no evidence to affirm that government influence has changed in recent years. However, it is clear that digital media, and the internet in particular, are not yet regulated and even the market structure is so far open, as it is still emerging. Digital media are still new in the country, and so their market and their audience are still taking shape and growing. According to some analysts, since their audience and impact is still marginal, the state has not yet paid much attention to their regulation and they are not seen yet as a counter-power. In recent years there has been an increase in public consultation on technology and the government's digital communication's plans. For example, in October 2010, the MinTic posted online its connectivity plan, "Live Digital"379 (Vive digital), for public consultation, and in December 2010 CNTV published the Technical Agreement Draft on Implementation of Digital Terrestrial Television380 (Proyecto de acuerdo técnico de implementación de la TDT en Colombia) for the consideration of the telecoms sector (see section 184.108.40.206). It is also worth mentioning the direct interaction that some public officers are seeking with citizens. The case of the MinTic is a good example: the minister, the vice-minister, and some of their closest officers and advisers keep active Twitter accounts through which they communicate with the public. Digital media are still emerging in Colombia and, as has been mentioned in this chapter, there is not yet a legal framework for digital media. Therefore, it is difficult to tell whether or not the upcoming regulation framework will positively impact diversity and pluralism. However, "Live Digital" is intended to be an important contribution for internet access democratization, as the government is willing to multiply by four the number of internet connections and by three the number of municipalities (municipios) with optical fiber networks.381 It is important to give continuity to government policies, to increase internet penetration, and especially to reduce the gap between urban and rural areas. The digitization of technology in television does not seem to mean a change in diversity or in policies favoring diversity. As has been explained, we cannot foresee a significant content change or increase—and even less so in public channels.
382 383
Document at http://scr.bi/fJQQCK (accessed 6 February 2011). "Vive Digital" (Live Digital), 2010, at http://bit.ly/9mKHo7, pp. 57, 65.
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8. Conclusions 8.1 Media Today Due to digitization, the production and consumption of information and news have begun to shyly change. Over the past five years journalism and audiences have begun to communicate in different ways. New voices have emerged and media agendas are being built differently. Interest groups (such as environmental activists, war victims associations, or ethnic minorities) and audiences may now have a voice and they are beginning to contribute to the news production cycle. At the same time, younger journalists are discovering new ways of reporting and, in some cases, telling stories closer to the community's interests. In this context, the internet has brought a new sense of news democracy and political activism that was evident in the last electoral process and that most likely has transformed Colombian politics for good. Internet penetration has grown rapidly, and some pioneer initiatives have opened the way to more independence in the news media. The spread of social media has enhanced opportunities for civil activism and has opened the door to new voices. However, these positive changes have so far had a minor impact on mass (offline) media. Mostly younger journalists are the ones exploring the new tools and opportunities of internet reporting and storytelling. And only some media, especially the ones that were initiated online, are exploring new agendas and sources of information. Colombians still get most of their information from television, whose structure remains traditional. Additionally, Colombian media are few for the size of the population. There is still a lot to be done in terms of media diversity, and pluralism has only slightly increased. Digitization has not yet changed the media landscape, and press freedom is frequently attacked. News agendas have not experienced a severe transformation and online participation remains a marginal activity. Despite the emergence of various media, the market is still dominated by traditional (offline) media enterprises and, more recently, by international conglomerates. This phenomenon, which is a global trend—not exclusive to Colombia or Latin America—brings both positive and negative consequences: on the good side, media gain independence from local political power; on the bad side, market and commercial principles reign over the public and democratic basis of news media. Given the low rate of digital penetration in Colombia and the fact that digital financing models are just taking shape, the social impact of digitization is still hard to measure. The transformations of media, journalistic work, and audiences' consumption habits have not yet reached their climax. Digitization breaks previous competition dynamics and may be seen as a threat by those who have traditionally benefited from the analog era. Evidence has shown that the telecoms and media sector in Colombia exerts big political and economic pressure and the switch-over to a more plural model will not be an easy or fast process. Media keep strong ties with political power and the matter of independence does not seem to be altered by digitization. 8.2 Media Tomorrow In the coming years, internet penetration is expected to keep growing rapidly, and digital television will begin operations. However, as has been discussed, technology does not bring solutions on its own, it just brings the opportunities.
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As traditional media are comfortable with a business model that works, the way to diversity, independence, and good-quality news is for emerging internet media to grow in number and audience. And that audience may also grow in quality, as it takes advantage of internet tools for becoming more critical, better-informed, and active citizens. A helpful practice for independence and journalistic quality would be to understand and practice the difference between a profit model for business and a sustainable model for news media.
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List of Abbreviations, Tables, Figures, and Companies
ACIEM ACIM ANE ATSC CEET CIPI CNRR CNTV CODHES CRC DANE DAS DIAN Nacionales) DNDA
Colombian Engineers' Association (Asociación Colombiana de Ingenieros) Colombian Association for Media Research (Asociación colombiana de investigación de medio) National Spectrum Agency (Agencia Nacional del Espectro) Advanced Television Systems Committee Casa Editorial El Tiempo Intersectoral Commission on Intellectual Property (Comisión Intersectorial de Propiedad Intelectual, National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation (Comisión Nacional de Reparación y Reconciliación) National Commission of Television (Comisión Nacional de Televisión) Consulting Office for Human Rights and Displacement (Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento) Regulation Commission of Telecommunications (Comision de Regulación de Comunicaciones) National Statistics Department (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística) Administrative Department of Security (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad) National Taxes and Customs Department (Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas
National Directorate of Copyright (Dirección Nacional de Derechos del Derecho de Autor) DTT Digital Terrestrial Television ECAR Colombian Report for Radio Audience (Estudio colombiano de audiencia radial) EIB European Investment Bank EIP public interest radio stations (Emisoras de Interés Público) FDTV Television Development Fund FESCOL Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Colombia (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung en Colombia) FLIP Foundation for Press Liberty (Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa) IBOPE Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Opinião Pública e Estatística) ICT information and communication technology IDMC Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre IESE-CELA Institute of Higher Business Studies (Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa)Center for Enterprise in Latin America IMF International Monetary Fund IMT international mobile telecommunication IPTV Internet Protocol television ISI Information Society Index ( ITU International Telecommunication Union MinTic Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (Ministerio de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones) NED National Endowment for Democracy NGO non-governmental organization RCN National Network Radio (Radio Cadena Nacional) RNC Colombian National Radio (Radio Nacional de Colombia) RTVC National Radio and Television of Colombia (Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia) 85
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Registry of Displaced People (Registro Único de Población Desplazada) small and medium-sized enterprise Free Trade Treaty (Tratado de libre comercio) user-generated content
Tables Table 1. Economic indicators Table 2. Households owning equipment, 2005–2010 Table 3. Platform for the main TV reception and digital take-up in Colombia, 2005–2010 Table 4. Internet penetration rate (total fixed internet subscriptions as % of total population) and mobile penetration rate (total active SIM cards as % of total population) Table 5. Most visited news websites by number of monthly visitors, December 2010 Table 6. Leading radio stations by number of listeners of primetime newscasts, 2010 Table 7. News and current events television programs, December 2010 Table 8. Television news programs, December 2010 Table 9. Top 10 most popular sites by number of unique visitors Table 10. Top 10 most popular UGC sites by number of unique visitors Table 11. Top 10 most popular social networks in Colombia Table 12. Distribution of net investment in advertising by sector, 2006–2010 Figures Figure 1. Rural–urban breakdown (% of total population), 2005 Figure 2. Ethnic composition (% of total population) Figure 3. Religious composition (% of total population) Figure 4. Media consumption, 2005–2010, % Figure 5. Pay-TV television consumption, 2001–2010 Figure 6. Television usage, 2005–2010 Figure 7. Readership of general (not specialized) newspapers, 2009–2010 Figure 8. General print magazines readership, 2009–2010 Figure 9. Audience share of main radio networks, 2007–2010 Figure 10. Audience share of general radio stations, 2009–2010 Figure 11. Audience for general television channels, 2005–2010
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Companies America Móvil Aval Group Bavaria Group Cable Union Carlos Ardila Lulle Group Casa Editorial El Tiempo (CEET) Cisneros Group Colombia Movil Colombia Telecomunicaciones Comcel Editorial Televisa Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogotá, ETB Empresas Públicas de Medellin E-nnovva Millicom International Cellular Planeta Prisa Publicaciones Semana Santo Domingo Group Telefónica Telefónica Movistar Telefónica Telecom Telmex Telmex Colombia Uff! UNE-EPM Telecomunicaciones