Alejandro Miró Quesada, President of the Interamerican Press Society presented the Conference “Journalism and Good Governance in Latin America and the Caribbean” as part of the 6th Lecture of the Americas
June 28th, 2005

“A journalist that denounces corruption ought to have the moral authority to do so”, Alejandro Miró Quesada, President of the Interamerican Press Society, declared during the conference “Journalism and Good Governance in Latin America and The Caribbean” as part of the 6th Lecture of the Americas. He also drew attention to the media’s duty to denounce corruption, follow a code of ethics, defend democracy and support the improvement of living standards in the Americas. He also explained that journalists should be proactive actors in society working towards the good governance of their countries.

Miró Quesada, who is also the Director of the Peruvian Newspaper El Comercio affirmed that in Latin America and the Caribbean the vigilante role played by the media is very critical, since this sector is in some cases, the most influential source of transparent information in society. Thus, he mentioned, “investigative journalists should be very meticulous when doing their work”.

In the Dominican Republic, the Videoconference was transmitted in FUNGLODE’s headquarters in Santo Domingo. The transmission was followed by a discussion panel that counted with high level representatives from the Dominican media, including Mr. Rafael Molina Morillo, Director of the Dominican newspaper El Día and Deputy Vice-president of the Interamerican Press Society, Mr. Miguel Franjul, Director of the Dominican Newspaper Listín Diario, and Mr. Iban Campo, Director of Communications of FUNGLODE.

Mr. Molina Morillo highlighted the crisis of credibility that the media in Latin America has been experiencing in the last years. He explained that “the media’s credibility is lost when its actors cease to report objectively, becoming dominated by corruption”. Mr. Franjul developed his presentation around the issue of good governance. On the Dominican case, Franjul explained that nowadays the general public have more access to information on political issues and that the political parties do not constitute the sole interlocutor between the government and society any more. Mr. Iban Campo highlighted the importance of investing in young journalists. He also commented that it’s not the journalist’s obligation to assure a good governance, but to dedicate their job to the citizens and not to the governments. These presentations were followed by a round of questions of answers from the public.