VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #2583/01 2291712
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171712Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0200
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 2595
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 7894
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 8591

UNCLAS BOGOTA 002583 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/PD - (JDICKSON/CWEST) 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: OPRC ECPS PGOV KMDR KPAO CO
SUBJECT: COLOMBIAN MEDIA OVERVIEW, 2008/2009 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Over the past year (July 08-July 09) Colombian media 
coverage of the U.S. has remained positive.  The most important 
development has been that private television channels Cadena Radial 
Colombiana (Caracol) and Radio Cadena Nacional de Colombia (RCN) 
reached an agreement in January 2009 with the National Television 
Commission (CNTV) to renew their respective licenses for another ten 
years after much debate.  CNTV approved creation of a third national 
private channel, but has not yet put the channel to bid for a new 
ownership group.  A third channel could improve balance in news 
coverage and provide viewers with additional options.  According to 
the most recent Gallup Poll, the Colombian media enjoys a 72% 
favorability rating.  It is among the most influential institutions 
in Colombia, along with the military, the UN, and human rights NGOs. 
END SUMMARY 
 
¶2. (U) BROADCAST MEDIA, MOBILE, INTERNET AND MULTIMEDIA 
 
 
¶A. Digital TV: The Colombian government finally made a decision 
regarding adoption of a new digital TV standard for Colombia in 
August 2008. Despite Embassy Bogota's multi-year advocacy effort in 
support of the ATSC Forum, CNTV selected the European standard, DVB. 
 The Colombian government cites this decision as one of the three 
great moments in the history of Colombian television and says their 
decision was based on objective requirements intended to benefit the 
TV-watching Colombian public. Implementation of the DVB standard has 
fallen behind all established benchmarks.  The CNTV and Ministry of 
Communications have yet to work out an approach that will allow 
users to purchase a converter box at a reasonable price.  The 
current cost is U.S. $50.  There are more than 150,000 ATSC enabled 
sets already operating in Colombia and receiving HD transmissions 
via cable or satellite networks.  Retailers continue to import ATSC 
sets. 
 
¶B. Third Channel:  On January 9, 2009, CNTV, Caracol, and RCN 
announced that an agreement had been reached for a ten-year renewal 
of their contracts.  The financial terms of the deal are flexible, 
with installment payments, determined by economic conditions, 
ranging from U.S. $50 million to U.S. $110 million over term. 
 
However, CNTV recently changed the requirements for bidding on the 
third channel.  Colombian broadcast infrastructure cannot support a 
third channel on VHF and the new channel may initially have to be 
broadcast on UHF.  It is unclear whether CNTV will be able to expand 
capabilities, given that the government is also beginning the 
process of converting to Digital TV.  The contenders for the third 
channel have suggested that CNTV consider either postponing the 
process for the third channel adjudication or lowering the base bid 
price to better reflect the value of a UHF license. 
 
There has been some controversy over the proposed requirements for 
bidding.  RCN and Caracol have complained that the requirements for 
the new channel do not sufficiently take into account whether the 
new channel has the capacity to create and sustain a quality 
product.  The bidding companies have also complained that the 
bidding requirements are not fair due to extra costs that they will 
pay if selected.  In addition, the Colombian National Television 
Commission has required that bidding companies provide them with 
extensive programming information for the following years. 
 
¶C. Foreign Owned Media:  TV: National television licenses are 
restricted to companies with 40% or less foreign ownership.  The two 
existing channels, RCN and Caracol, are 100% Colombian owned.  Two 
of the three contenders for the third channel are foreign owned 
Grupo Cisneros (Venezuela) and Grupo Planeta (Mexico).  Spain's 
Grupo Prisa has owned 100% of Colombia's Caracol Radio Network since 
¶2004. 
 
¶D. Despite the growth of Internet access, recent polls show that 
56.8% of Colombians get their news from TV, 20% from radio, 15.6% 
from the Internet, and 7.1% from newspapers. Suscription TV has 
increased by 43% since one year ago.  Mexican company Telmex is the 
largest provider of subscription TV in Colombia.  Digital media, 
including blogs written by top Colombian journalists, is growing in 
popularity. 
 
¶E. New Media vs. Old Media: Colombian media have taken important 
steps to adjust to new media technologies and have initiated 
strategies to generate revenue.  The largest media outlets have 
formed a partnership and created a company for this purpose. 
Several Colombian organizations have conducted training seminars on 
investigative journalism, on-line journalism, and produced a manual 
on information access.  Traditional media, such as the leading 
dailies, radio, and TV, are perceived to be political and economic 
tools of the elite, rather than solely journalistic enterprises. 
Though these have maintained their characteristic political 
affinities, they clearly serve the interests of the economic 
conglomerates that own them. 
 
¶F. RCTV (Government-operated TV and Radio network): Public 
television in Colombia consists of two channels, Canal Institucional 
(live and taped broadcasts of sessions of Congress and other 
government programming) and Senal Colombia (cultural educational and 
documentary programming).  In January 2009, RCTV hired Andres Nieto 
as head of TV for RCTV.  His background in commercial/private 
television is extensive and he was given the mission of improving 
the branding for both channels, raising production standards, 
improving programming and increasing viewership.  He resigned in 
August due to disagreements with management. 
 
¶G. Colombian Media Expansion: RCN and Caracol are both seen 
internationally throughout North, Central and South America, the 
Caribbean, and parts of Europe and Australia.  In November 2008, RCN 
launched a 24-hour all news network called RCN 24Horas, but recently 
changed the name to NTN24.  Currently it can be seen on DIRECTV all 
over South America, in select European markets, and negotiations are 
underway with U.S. cable operators in high density Latino regions of 
the U.S. 
 
¶H. Sergio Fajardo, former mayor of Medellin, left RCN's Radio Basica 
in order to run for President.  Lucho Garzon, former mayor of 
Bogota, left Caracol Radio's morning radio team for the same 
reason. 
 
¶3. (U) PRINT MEDIA 
 
¶A. There are currently 25 newspapers circulating in Colombia at the 
national and local level.  Although coverage of the U.S. remains 
more positive than negative, the number of negative articles, 
editorials and op-eds appears to be increasing.  The negative 
coverage has been centered on trade and economic issues, most due to 
resentment over delays in U.S. approval of the pending Free Trade 
Agreement.  More recently, there has been some negative coverage of 
the just concluded Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) negotiations 
between the U.S. and Colombia, though most major editorial pages 
have supported the DCA. 
 
¶B. In 2008, El Espectador returned to a daily format using a tabloid 
look. Since this change, there have been a few cases of inaccurate 
and negative coverage of the U.S. and we continue to monitor.  A new 
newspaper was launched called Periodico Polo.  Opposition party Polo 
Democratico Alternativo-PDA is behind this initiative.  Behind that 
initiative is the political party in the opposition 
 
¶C. El Tiempo has gone through no major changes since the ownership 
move in 2007.  El Tiempo continues to be the publication with the 
largest circulation in Colombia.  Although its overall coverage of 
the U.S. remains favorable, there have been an increasing number of 
editorials negatively disposed towards the U.S.  At the end of 2008, 
Roberto Pombo was promoted from Managing Editor to Editor in Chief. 
Former Director of El Tiempo Enrique Santos is the new chairman of 
the Inter-American Press Association. 
 
¶4. (U) REGIONAL MEDIA 
 
¶A. While Bogota media outlets lead the nation, regional media is 
important in a nation where the capital is only one of several large 
urban power centers.  Regional media outlets face greater concerns 
over ethics issues, harassment of journalists, and self censorship. 
 
¶B. Ethnic/Regional TV: Regional TV is very strong in Colombia. 
Regional and special interest TV channels now have more viewership 
nationwide, and major regional channels include Canal Capital 
(Bogota), City TV (Bogota), Teleantioquia (Medellin), TeleMedellin, 
Telepacifico (Cali, Pacific Coast), Telesantander (Santander, 
Llanos), and TeleCaribe (Caribbean Coast).  One important player, 
TeleAmiga, a programmer owned by the GranColombiana University, 
broadcasts from Bogota and is seen nationally and internationally 
throughout the Caribbean region.   Community TV also thrives in the 
major cities. 
 
¶C. Print media in the regions is also strong and very diverse.  The 
majority of the population opts for local papers over national 
dailies.  Some examples of traditionally strong regional papers 
include El Colombiano (Medellin), El Pais (Cali), El Heraldo 
(Barranquilla -- currently for sale), and Vanguardia Liberal 
(Bucaramanga). 
 
¶5. (U) FREEDOM OF THE PRESS 
 
¶A. Violence against journalists in Colombia continued to decline in 
¶2008.  However, Colombian journalists continue to face violence and 
harassment, largely by non-state actors such as narco-terrorists and 
other illegal armed groups.  The threat of violence remains the 
primary impediment to a freer media. 
 
¶B. During 2008, the Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP) 
registered 130 violations of press freedoms in Colombia.  This 
number represents a decrease of approximately 20% in comparison to 
2007, a year in which FLIP registered 162 violations.  The 130 
registered cases in 2008 involved 181 victims: 133 men, 35 women, 
and 13 media outlets.  In 2008 there were no murders of journalists 
for professional reasons.  This fact needs to be emphasized in a 
country like Colombia where more than 130 journalists have been 
murdered over the past 30 years.  Despite the improvement this 
represents, judicial investigations on crimes against members of the 
media in previous years have made little progress. 
 
¶C. In the first half of 2009, three journalists were killed, eight 
journalists reported threats against them, and ten journalists have 
reported harassment. 
 
 
¶6. (U) BOOK INDUSTRY 
 
¶A. The book industry in Colombia grew 8.3% in 2007.  Figures on 2008 
have yet to be released. 
 
 
¶7. (U) GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICIALS 
 
¶A. Sandra Ocampo, former Medellin Mayor Sergio Fajardo's 
Communications Director, currently holds the position of Press 
Secretary at the Colombian Embassy in Washington. 
 
¶B. Cesar Mauricio Velasquez is still the President's Press Secretary 
at Casa de Narino. 
 
 
¶8. (U) SCHOOLS OF JOURNALISM 
 
¶A. A total of 4,200 students graduated from Schools of Journalism in 
Colombia in 2008. 
 
¶9. (U) COMMENT: Colombian media continues to enjoy a favorable 
reputation for its independence and scope, both internally and 
internationally.  However, there is some concern that 
self-censorship is practiced due to sensitivities with owners who 
are aligned closely with the Government.  In a recent breakfast 
meeting with a visiting delegation of the Broadcasting Board of 
Governors and leading national TV broadcasters, it was reported that 
the three major news broadcasters all practice at least some degree 
of self-censorship.  The same appears to be true for regional media. 
 National media based in Bogota and other large cities are 
considered to be more independent and able to investigate sensitive 
topics.  In fact, recent national scandals, such as the "false 
positives" and illegal wiretapping by the Department of Security 
Administration (DAS) were brought to light by leading newspapers and 
magazines.  However, a Semana investigative editor told us that 
alliances between national press and regional media have been the 
only way to investigate and release information on corruption 
scandals.  End Comment. 
 
BROWNFIELD