A reader checks latest news in the most influential newspaper in Colombia, El Tiempo. Photo: Finn Rasmussen/IMS.

Between 13 and 14 November, the second International conference on strategies and support for the media in Colombia and the role of the media in promoting social development took place in Bogotá. The conference was organized by the Antonio Nariño project (PAN) with the support of IMS and Reporters Without Borders

As the current Colombian administration under President Álvaro Uribe moves into a new era of ‘democratic security', the media have a key watchdog role to play over the government's focus on military efforts to reestablish security throughout the country above and beyond defence and the promotion of victims' rights.

An ever-stronger journalistic role in repainting the face of Colombia's victims has become progressively sidelined as the armed conflict rages on with new illegal groups emerging rapidly and censorship rife within the media community. Limited access to information along with legal and financial constraints has paralyzed the media's ability to provide quality reporting.

As Javier Ciurlizza from the International Centre for Transistional Justice (ICTJ) said;

- Truth is a subjective process. Memory should be a social product which doesn't rely on anyone in particular but includes everyone, which questions different interpretations of reality and tries to change and reevaluate them.

In this regard, Jaime Abello Banfo, Director of the Ibero-American New Journalism Foundation, discussed the need for a stronger and more responsible Colombian media base.

- Serious changes need to take place within our profession. A closer level of collaboration needs to be established inside the newsrooms where we can maintain the existing training methods coupled with the newer elements of the digital era. The ultimate beneficiaries will be the journalists themselves because they are the actors of change within the media houses.

However, the use of public advertising as a means to reward or punish media houses along with legal constraints linked to the criminalization of defamation laws threatens to pull back the potential to expand and promote freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Colombia.

At the end of the day, the overall consensus of the PAN conference underlined the need for the wider media community in Colombia to work together and promote change from within. In this sense, Camilo Durán, Vice-President of Public Relations for Caracol explained how media companies themselves have started to internalize the essence of corporate social responsibility saying;

- We need to understand that the issue of social responsibility is the backbone of our existence.