News from Berlin - A project organized by DW Akademie and the GIZ program has been created in an effort to encourage representative news coverage from indigenous Ecuadorians in the field of journalism.  The program, “Bajo la Lupa” ("Under the magnifying glass") is part of a larger initiative called “Pro Indigena.” The project has organized a series of workshops for twelve journalists from various indigenous groups who will be trained to analyze current media themes, working to extend coverage to also include news from outside the urban centers, and to discuss issues in rural and indigenous communities. The group believes that current themes discussed by the national media are not inclusive, in that they do not provide balanced reporting on the situation of indigenous communities (a substantial percentage of the Ecuadorian population has indigenous roots: one out of four, precisely), environmental issues, or women’s rights.  

The project participants will be analyzing the topics chosen by the current media, and how they are addressed. Their findings will then be posted daily onto their blog "Bajo la lupa" and will also be addressed in their weekly half-hour radio program on re-thinking the Ecuadorian media strategy. The first workshop took place on March 31st and participants will continue to meet during the next several months. More information can be found in the following article published by DW Akademie on March 31st, 2014: http://www.dw.de/ecuador-strengthening-indigenous-reporting/a-17532562.     

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