WHEREAS our Host Committee, chaired by the Colombian Association of News Media (AMI) under the leadership of its executive director, Werner Zitzmann, and made up of Luis Miguel de Bedout of El Colombiano of Medellín, María Elvira Domínguez of El País of Cali and Roberto Pombo of El Tiempo of Bogotá, offered an atmosphere of hospitality and cordiality that gave a pleasant impression and enabled the successful holding of the professional and social activities of the meeting
WHEREAS the Midyear Meeting was the subject of extraordinary presentations, activities and support on the part of the Office of the Mayor of Medellín and the Medellín Convention & Visitors Bureau, Grupo Bancolombia, Sura and the Grupo epm
WHEREAS the following sponsoring companies offered services and provided useful and informative material and equipments: Grupo Argos, Postobón and we also received the generous support of Artesanías de Colombia, Google, Marfeel and Protecmedia
WHEREAS the Mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez, took part in the opening ceremony of the Midyear Meeting and gave a dissertation on the dynamism and strength of the city titled "Deconstruction, Transformation and Reconstruction of the New Medellín for the New Universal Citizen"
WHEREAS Javier Darío Restrepo, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano FNPI, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia; Jaime Abello Banfi, FNPI; Fernando Berckemeyer, El Comercio, Lima, Peru, made up the first panel of the meeting to reflect on the key issues of journalistic ethics as part of the legacy of Nobel Literature Prize Winner Gabriel García Márquez, and Eduardo Quirós, La Estrella and El Siglo of Panama served as moderator
WHEREAS thereafter María Elvira Domínguez, El País, Cali, Colombia; Marcel Granier, RCTV, Caracas, Venezuela; Javier Darío Restrepo, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo, reflected on the function of journalism awards in the search for quality, credibility and innovation
WHEREAS in Friday afternoon's second seminar titled "The Latin American newspapers are re-evaluating their digital business models" media executives Javier Kraviez, Clarín, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Patricia Centeno, Grupo Nación, San José, Costa Rica, and Eduardo Tessler, in representation of O Globo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, made a magnificent impression among the participants for their knowledge of the new strategies for the monetization of newspapers, and in addition that session was moderated by Fernando Gómez Carpintero, Protecmedia, Madrid, Spain
WHEREAS in Friday's final seminar David Hyman, Google, São Paulo, Brazil; Andrés Mompotes, El Tiempo, Bogotá, Colombia; Marta Rocamora, Marfeel, Madrid, Spain, with the chairman of the IAPA Internet Committee, Ernesto Kraiselburd, El Día, La Plata, Argentina, in the role of moderator, shared their experiences and knowledge concerning the administration of contents in multi-platforms
WHEREAS the Host Committee offered the Midyear Meeting participants an enjoyable welcoming cocktail on the terrace beside the pool of the Medellín Intercontinental Hotel
WHEREAS on the Saturday at midday a panel made up of Francisco Acuña, Instituto Nacional de Transparencia, Mexico City, Mexico, and Alex Grijelmo, Grupo Prisa, Madrid, Spain, demonstrated great knowledge about the matters of Transparency and Access to Information and the moderator of that session was the chairman of the IAPA Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Roberto Rock, La Silla Rota, Mexico City, Mexico
WHEREAS during the Saturday lunch Paola García of Procolombia gave an interesting presentation on The New Colombia in which she enumerated the development factors maintained by the country of which Medellín is an example
WHEREAS in the afternoon Juan Sebastíán Betancur, of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana university and former ambassador of Colombia in Italy, spoke about innovation as a motor of that sustainable development and as a path to follow for the rest of the region
WHEREAS the Host Committee offered a dinner in the beautiful El Castillo Museum which left a pleasant impression on the Midyear Meeting participants
WHEREAS in the first panel discussion on Sunday titled "New challenges in the fight for press freedom after the digital disruption" Federico Deyá of Google, São Paulo, Brazil, Roberto Rock, La Silla Rota, Mexico City, Mexico, and Erick Iriarte of Iriarte & Asociados, Lima, Peru, spoke on the risks that every time are represented by the digital transformation for the practice of journalism and this session was moderated by IAPA President Gustavo Mohme, La República, Lima, Peru
WHEREAS Ana María Fries Martínez of Artesanías de Colombia and Weildler Guerra of the Cultural Center of the Bank of the Republic in San Andrés Islands, Colombia, explained with cultural and social sensibility the important role of popular manifestations of expression in the future of communications, and Rocío Arias Hofman, journalist and political expert and founder of Silla Verde, Colombia, had at his charge the moderation of the panel
WHEREAS a panel discussion chaired by Colombian Attorney General Fernando Carrillo Flórez and made up also of former Brazilian Attorney General Rodrigo Janot dealt with a great sense of ethics and jurisprudence the issue of the press confronting corruption and its role in electoral processes, and Laura Puertas of Medcom, Panama City, Panama, moderated the interesting exchange of ideas
WHEREAS during the Sunday lunch Scott Williams, executive director of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., received the Chapultepec Grand Prize presented by IAPA President Gustavo Mohme and Chapultepec Committee Chairman Gilberto Urdaneta, El Regional del Zullia, Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela, and in addition to expressing his gratitude Williams gave an illustrative speech titled "The five unflinching and necessary freedoms to build society"
WHEREAS on Sunday afternoon Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado delivered a message on a video to the Midyear Meeting participants and in the same session there spoke former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga Ramírez, former Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega and member of the National Assembly of Venezuela Jony Rahal, and the moderator of this panel discussion titled "The Venezuelan dictatorship surrounded by its humanitarian crisis" was Asdrúbal Aguiar, Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida
WHEREAS the President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Juan Manuel Santos distinguished the Midyear Meeting with his presence and on Sunday afternoon offered the participants a presentation titled "How a country is built for peace and in peace"
WHEREAS in continuation, during the closing dinner in Botero Square, in midtown Medellín, President Juan Manuel Santos again distinguished with his attendance and at the same function Juan Carlos Botero, son of the great artist Fernando Botero, gave a special presentation titled "Patronage as a distinguishing standing of the transformation of a city and its social fabric"
WHEREAS the Medellín Mayor's Office made it possible the closing reception and dinner to be an unforgettable event for those attending
THE IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES
to express on the part of its president, officers, directors and members their deepest feelings of gratitude to and appreciation of the persons and companies that contributed to and supported this successful meeting held in Medellín, Colombia.
