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Colombia: Coaching TV Stations

For three intense weeks DW-AKADEMIE Project Manager Matthias Kopp travelled across Colombia coaching public and community TV stations.

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First stop: Bogota. “We analysed the programming and organisational structure of two public channels here,” says Matthias Kopp. The results will provide the basis for a second DW-AKADEMIE coaching. “We’ll then provide support for the channels’ news and current affairs programs,” Kopp hopes. “That is, if the political situation allows for this.”

For more than 40 years Colombian politics and society have been influenced by an internal armed conflict, resulting in countless deaths and turning some three million Colombians into internal refugees. Although state censorship does not exist, few journalists are willing to put their own lives or those of their families unnecessarily at risk. TV programs shy away from questioning the actions of politicians. And pressure from powerful interest groups is especially high on staff working for small, community media. Colombia is holding presidential elections this year - possibly offering the country’s media a new opportunity. “If that’s the case, we’ll certainly make use of it,” Kopp stresses.

The second part on his trip took Kopp to Casanare Province where he coached community stations. There’s a high demand for this, he says. Approximately 1,000 very small stations broadcast in Colombia. Legally, these Televisiones Communitaras are structured like non-profit organisations, meaning most cannot afford to hire good journalists. “The stations are staffed mainly by young, enthusiastic people who usually need to improvise in order to have something to put on air,” Kopp says.

DW-AKADEMIE has been active in Colombia for several years, and plans to enable even more stations to profit from coachings and workshops. Local journalists, for example, will be trained to become trainers themselves so they can pass on their newly-acquired skills to colleagues. DW-AKADEMIE also supports a network of six local stations in Montería. “They can now share reports using an internet platform,” Kopp explains. If one station uploads a report, it can download five others in return. Kopp thinks this will considerably reduce the stations’ workloads. “This way they’ll have more time to attend to the quality of their own reports.”