Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia

On this week's Colombia Calling podcast, we continue on our series relating to the on-going unrest surrounding the #ParoNacional protests in Colombia. With more than a month of daily nationwide demonstrations, Adriaan Alsema of Colombia Reports follows Elizabeth Dickinson (Crisis Group), Andres Bermudez (JusticeInfo.net) and Sergio Guzman (Colombia Risk Analysis) in discussing an important angle to explain what is going on.

Alsema joins us to discuss the role and responsibility of the press in covering the marches and violence, the manipulation of the news and the worrying increase of censorship taking place, not to mention violence directed at members of the media...something which is becoming increasingly the norm.

UNESCO’s findings in a recent report: "Safety of Journalists Covering Protests – Preserving Freedom of the Press During Times of Civil Unrest," reveal a “wider upward trend” in the use of unlawful force by police and security forces, with more than 30 protests impeded by police and security forces last year alone. It details a wide range of abuses journalists face when covering protests, from harassment, intimidation and beatings, to being shot at with lethal or non-lethal ammunition, detention and abduction.

Direct download: RCC_378.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:30am EDT