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Research Line Projects

Official Publicity

State funds destined for official publicity in media have become a pressure mechanism available to governments, to alter and control the free flow of information. Through it government officials decide to allot or withdraw advertisement to benefit friendly journalists and media or to punish critics, conditioning in this manner, journalistic content and agendas.

In the face of this problem, FLIP began a research project in coordination with the Association for Civil Rights in Argentina (ADC- Asociación por los Derechos Civiles in Spanish), sponsored by the Open Society Justice Initiative, based in New York. The study aims to assess the legal framework in the field, monitor the allocation of public advertising in Colombia, and to detect patterns and abuses in this distribution. This study was carried out simultaneously in Peru, Honduras, Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica, and strives to help document this type of indirect censorship in the region.

Access to information

Access to information held by state is an indispensable transparency and accountability tool required by any democratic society. Currently in Colombia, access to information is regulated under the Administrative Code (Código Contencioso Administrativo in Spanish), through the information petition right figures.

FLIP, in partnership with the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) and sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), put forward a project to assess the operation of access to information regulation, with emphasis on coverage of the Justice and Peace Law, the demobilization of paramilitary groups and the internal conflict.

To this end, workshops are held in different cities around the country in which journalists are trained in the usage of this tool to carry out their investigations. The evaluation of the access to information legal framework in Colombia will be prepared on the basis of the official answers journalists receive to their petitions.

As a complement to this initiative, FLIP is participating in a regional project to promote journalists’ use and support for access to information laws in Latin America. This effort is carried out in partnership with the Association for Civil Rights (Argentina), the Foundation Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (Nicaragua), and the Press and Society Institute (Perú and Venezuela).

Libel

The libel figures currently operating in Colombia (injuria y calumnia) have been used to obstruct journalistic work. There is a global trend that questions the legitimacy and effectiveness of regulating the subject in the criminal field, arguing this can become a drawback for journalistic practice. While the issue has been raised in the international arena, it remains only partially verified within and before national judicial systems.

Currently FLIP, jointly with the Public Interest Law Group (G-DIP) of the Universidad de Los Andes’ Law Faculty, carries out an analytical study of the theoretical problems and practical difficulties of this regulation in Colombia. The study seeks to examine the advantages and disadvantages of the remaining legal alternatives available in national legislation.