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The Minister of Information and Press of the Presidency, Carlos Alberto Cortés, was emphatic this Friday morning: “We are in no way going to make the President a presenter”, he told EL TIEMPO from Chile as a member of the team that accompanies the Head of State, Iván Duque, who participates in the XV Summit of the Pacific Alliance.
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Cortés accepted that his office does have a contract with the Public Media System, RTVC, but that “it is not new”, “nor exclusive” for Duque, but was even extended until 2022 so that the successor of the current President could give him “The use that you consider as the previous presidents have done.”
“It is not a contract for the President to conduct interviews, but rather it guarantees the operation of the press department,” he argued in his dialogue with EL TIEMPO.
“What we did in a transparent way was to renew a contract that had been walking since 2018 and this time we wanted to innovate with new formats to better connect with the public, but it does not mean that we are forced to do so,” he said. “And in no way that resources have been secured to maintain the image exclusively of the President. These statements are not correct,” he said.
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“It is not that we aim for the president to have a specific interview program, but rather that it is part of a content proposal,” he argued.
The Counselor clarified that in no way does he seek to put the rear-view mirror on what has been done in other governments, but said that each one has had their style of communicating in the best possible way. “During the administration of President Santos, for example, there was the Urna de Cristal space.”
In effect, during that government it was explained that in developing its philosophy of exercising efficient and transparent public management, this project was made which, according to its defenders, allowed fluid communication between citizens and the government.
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Álvaro García, RTVC manager, confirmed to EL TIEMPO that the contract that created this media noise has been being transparently renewed for some time.
“In this case, they included new formats such as interviews, capsules, among others, which may or may not be done because the communications are adapted according to the circumstances.”
In fact, both Cortés and García explained that By December of last year, no one on the planet imagined that a pandemic would come and that in the case of Colombia the Government of President Duque had to move quickly to create the space Prevention and Action. In this, citizens are constantly informed how to fight the coronavirus, according to the thesis of the House of Nariño.
Both officials also agreed to highlight the effort that must be made in terms of communications to maintain logistics in a sector that is in permanent evolution.
Cortés stressed that the most important thing, however, is to have financial resources available to maintain human talent. And he gave as an example, the case of a cameraman from the House of Nariño who reached his retirement and who had been working continuously since the administration of Andrés Pastrana.
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The controversy of now, especially in social networks, occurred after the information of Snail Radio who said that in the near future a program of interviews would be created “where the President of the Republic dialogues with prominent Colombians in all areas.”
According to the station, the Presidency of the Republic signed a contract with the RTVC Public Media System for a value of $ 6,382 million pesos to manage the production and transmission services of the audiovisual content of the government and President Duque.
According to the version of Snail, the contract specifies that among the productions that may be developed are informational spaces related to the management of the Government in the territory, and special reports on trips and / or events of an international nature of importance for the country and that in some way compromise the interests of Colombians in terms of international relations and treaties.
This is the contract 375-20 signed between the Presidency and RTVC for a value of 6,382 million pesos and that among its justifications states: “Where the President of the Republic dialogues with prominent Colombians in all areas. The production of introductory notes to each topic will be required, as well as supporting images that help illustrate the conversation. This program must have a duration of 60 minutes, must be broadcast by institutional channel and in prime time ”.
POLITICS
