The press should not be used for propaganda or lobbying, said Ernesto Samper, Secretary-general of the Union of South American Nations, at the inauguration today of the meeting of Latina American News Agencies (ULAN).
This is the greatest challenge that public and private press, respectively, face nowadays, Samper told about a dozen heads of news agencies gathered at the UNASUR headquarters in Quito.
“I believe press can be made without becoming a tool of propaganda”, said the former Colombian president (1994-1998), adding that private media can also avoid lobbying in favor of owners interests.
According to Samper, the solution to the problem is not a matter of government or private control, but a matter of self-regulation. “It is the media and the journalists the ones who should establish the ethical limits of information”, he said.
Samper also made remarks about the reduction approach that big media monopolies implement when they report on the reality of these countries.
“They try to reduce the countries to codes with which they interpret what is happening, for example, Colombia is drugs, Bolivia is ethnic conflict, Venezuela is populism”, he said.
Samper also urged news agencies representatives to take into account the importance of social networks as ways to communicate and inform.
Participants to the event plan to create a South American News Agency (ANSUR).
Representatives from agencies like Venezuelan News Agency, Prensa Latina News Agency, Bolivian Information Agency, Argentina News Agency Telam, among others.
(Prensa Latina)