Professor
Universidad de los Andes in Bogota
Colombia
María Paula is a journalist and professor and leads the media program at the journalism school of Universidad de los Andes in Bogota.
She is currently developing the Colombian version of “The State of News Media” website, which will be launched in July 2013. She is co-author of Mapping Digital Media: Colombia, an ambitious research project lead by Open Society Foundation in more than 60 countries.
She has been a journalism professor at Universidad de los Andes since 2009, where she teaches digital storytelling techniques and cultural journalism. She has been researching on digital media, journalism changes and the impacts of digital revolution on democracy. She is co-author of the chapter “L’apprentissage très progressif de la liberté de la presse en Colombie” of the book “Journalism 2.0” published by Documentation Française in Paris.
She has a Master of Arts in Journalism from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. In 2008 she won a scholarship at the Communication School of Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain, were she obtained a certificate on preventive Journalism. Maria Paula obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Universidad de los Andes.
2013
Breakout session: Digital Media: The End of Media Concentration in Colombia?
The internet has proven to be a more democratic information platform; at least in a country like Colombia where media landscape has traditionally suffer from lack of diversity. However, the three major corporations that own most of the media stations and outlets are unwilling to lose their audience share. As Internet penetration rate slowly rises, media concentration grows in a dramatic way strengthening traditional media and risking the liberty of expression and the exercise of journalism.
As Colombia has a large digital break and a short media landscape, the Internet revolution supposes big and interesting changes. As mainstream media make efforts to keep their large audiences, some new digital forces arise to compete. This presentation reports the reshaping of the media industry in Colombia and its impact on press freedom and democracy.