IPS, the Secretariat of Information and Communication for Development of Paraguay (SICOM), the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are organizing an international seminar on “Public Media and Society: the Global Experience and the Latin American Path”, on 26 October 2011, in Asuncion, Paraguay.

Augusto dos Santos, Minister of SICOM, Enrique V. Iglesias, Iberoamericano Secretary General, Sergio Jellinek, External Affairs Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean World Bank, Alvaro Pinto, Coordinator Democratic Governance at UNDP Regional Bureau Latin America & Caribbean, and Mario Lubetkin, IPS Director General will open the meeting.

The Seminar will analyse three themes during the morning sessions: Professionalism and managing the independence of public media – the international experience and processes in Latin America; Public, Private and State Media – a single system with different action fields, tensions and possible convergences; and Successful Citizens Initiatives and their contribution to public communication.

Another two themes will be discussed in afternoon workshops: Which institutional regulation and what funding are needed to develop professional, high-quality public media; and News Agencies, contents, objectives, journalistic profiles, and regional coordination of national news agencies.

Representatives of the governments of Brazil, El Salvador, Spain and Peru, with the United Nations and the World Bank as well as journalists and communication experts from South America including NHK World, El Telégrafo (Ecuador), Telesur (Argentina), Latin American Association of Radio Education (ALER), the Latin American Catholic Communication organization (OCLAC), Radio Viva, Press and Society Institution (IPYS), Agencia do Brasil, Notimex (Mexico), Agencia Telam (Argentina) and Colprensa (Colombia) will participate.