Colombia. The ICT Ministry held the second edition of the National Meeting of Alternative, Community and Digital Media, 'Uniendo Voces', which was the largest meeting in history for this type of media, with representatives of more than 1,500 media from the 32 departments of the country.
This meeting of learning, co-creation, exchange of ideas and contacts, was a true scenario of democratization of information, where President Gustavo Petro and the Minister of ICT, Mauricio Lizcano, spoke of the importance of these communicators for the country's democracy, and the need to strengthen their work in the territories.
"Power resides in communication and community, alternative and digital media are the only ones that, due to their magnitude, their work and commitment to communities, ensure that democracy is not silenced. That is why today I want to announce that in Colombia we will have the law of thirds for the official agenda, we are going to finance the alternative media of Colombia with 33.3% of this item, so that the social forging from the base of the people continues to be consolidated," said Gustavo Petro, President of the Republic.
During the inauguration of 'Uniendo Voces', the Minister of ICT, Mauricio Lizcano, also made announcements focused on strengthening the country's alternative, community and digital media. For example, he assured that in October a new call will be opened for the delivery of licenses to community radio stations, as part of a strategy to strengthen the sector. In addition, he stressed that 44% of the country's radio stations are community-based, which demonstrates the importance of this initiative to continue promoting the plurality of voices in the national territory.
"You, the alternative media, are the heart of the government, you are the heart of change. Their work of alternative communication allows us to build democracy in the territories, and therefore we require that their strengthening be permanent, with this we will achieve the generation of a greater social fabric in their regions. In these working days we have three objectives: first, we want to discuss, co-create and build, together, a long-term public policy. Second, we hope that they will be known and recognized as the main actors in communication. Finally, to show them that they are heroes in their territories, because thanks to their work, information is democratized," added the Minister of ICT, Mauricio Lizcano, at the opening of Encuentro.
In this space, the work carried out in the last year by the Ministry of ICT in favor of alternative, community and digital media was highlighted, with the investment of $2,900 million through the "Territories in the Air" project, which seeks the formation, production and circulation of local content in 144 community radio stations, located in 29 departments of Colombia. In addition, through the "Connecting Voices" program, $1,500 million have been allocated to train 2,000 people in digital skills applied to community and alternative journalism, thus strengthening the necessary skills for these media to face the challenges of the digital age.
