Colombia: reflection on the media and education in the Andean region

For two days, journalists and media directors met in Bogotá with education authorities and experts from the five Andean countries to exchange experiences, ideas and visions on the role of the press in forming public opinion on education. The meeting, organized by the CAF and the publisher of El Tiempo newspaper of Bogotá, forms part of the Andean Agenda for Education initiative.

How does the Andean press cover the issues of education and education policy? What is the space for education in the information agenda of newspapers? What can journalists and media directors do to make education a commitment for all? What are the best strategies for stimulating an Andean Agenda for Education?

These are some of the questions that media directors, journalists and education experts were hoping to answer, from their different points of view, in the workshop "Outlook for Education in the Andean Region" held on August 26 and 27 in the facilities of El Tiempo newspaper in Bogotá.

The workshop was also an opportunity to present the Andean Agenda for Education initiative in Colombia. With support from the CAF, this initiative involves the newspapers El Nacional of Caracas (Venezuela), El Comercio of Quito (Ecuador), La Prensa of La Paz (Bolivia), El Comercio of Lima (Peru), and El Tiempo of Bogotá (Colombia) in an effort to make education a priority issue in the integration of Andean countries. In each country, these newspapers are forming reflection groups, holding training workshops for journalists, creating networks, and organizing round tables on future policy.

At the workshop, the media directors, journalists and experts on education, were joined by CAF President Enrique García; Colombian Education Minister Cecilia María Vélez; and former Bolivian Education Minister Amalia Anaya.

Enrique García emphasized the importance of the Andean Agenda for Education and its contribution to a renewed vision of development. "We want to get maximum benefit from their ideas," the CAF president told the participants in the workshop. "We want to use them to build an education agenda that is integrated into the renewed development agenda that we are promoting in our member countries."

Cecilia María Vélez and Amalia Anaya contributed their points of view to the debate "from the other side" on the role that the media should play in publicizing public policy on education.

On the second day, the workshop analyzed the coverage given to education issues by each of the participating newspapers, highlighting differences and similarities, exchanged experiences and identified joint lines of work.

The workshop identified the challenges that the media faces in promoting the Andean Agenda for Education: introducing more actors and topics into the discussion on the sector; overcoming mutual prejudices between journalists and public officials; diversifying journalistic genres; going beyond immediate events and conflicts; and being creative to capture the interest of the public.

The Andean Agenda for Education also proposes to extend the experience of the "Education, commitment of all" project to the entire Andean region. This project, which monitors government action in the education area and helps form public opinion, has been successfully implemented in Colombia for the last six years by the Corona and Restrepo Barco Foundations, Corporación Región, UN Children´s Fund (UNICEF) and the El Tiempo publisher.