Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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An American Editor
Santos redefines editor’s role in Colombia
Displaying some of the boldness displayed when his
brother was held by Pablo Escobar, El Tiempo’s editor forges ahead in changing
the role of the Colombian newspaper editor
By Edward Seaton
Word among foreign correspondents is that a person cannot survive
in Colombia without reading El Tiempo, the South American country’s leading
daily. Its managing editor, Rafael Santos, 42, has been ASNE’s single South
American member since he joined the society in 1990 after a Knight Fellowship
at Stanford. The Stanford year was Santos’ second experience living in
the United States. He graduated from the William Allen White School of
Journalism at the University of Kansas in 1976.
Managing a newsroom in Bogota comes with problems most ASNE members
don’t have to face. At the time he was preparing answers for this profile,
11 pounds of dynamite destroyed the family-owned daily’s brand new Medellin
bureau. Police are not certain whether the bomb was planted by guerrillas
or the Cali cartel. A security guard was injured.
In the fall of 1990 his assistant managing editor and brother, Francisco
"Pacho" Santos, was kidnapped by drug traffickers and held for eight months,
chained to a bed and unable to see daylight.
Q. Do you self-censor? Did you in the past?
A. Since the death of drug baron Pablo Escobar, the most cold-blooded
assassin we’ve ever had, newspapers, including El Tiempo, have been free
to write whatever they want. Before his death writing in favor of extradition
or tougher laws to prosecute drug lords was just like signing your own
death sentence.
Q. How did you cover your brother’s kidnapping by Escobar?
A. Francisco’s kidnapping has been the most difficult moment in the
paper’s history. Not even the days when El Tiempo was closed or burned
under a dictatorial government were so hard. It was not only Pacho’s body
and soul that were kidnapped but also the paper and the whole family. Covering
such an ordeal was like doing a heart surgery blindfolded. A wrong word
or a story that Escobar didn’t like could jeopardize my brother’s life.
Q. How do you cover the narco-traffickers? The guerrillas?
A. Covering drug traffickers and guerrillas is like covering ghosts:
you know they are there but you don’t see them. Getting to them is extremely
difficult and dangerous. For these matters you basically rely on police
and other government sources.
Q. What kind of press freedom issues are important in Colombia? Is
there an equivalent of the First Amendment?
A. The American press has been extremely receptive and understanding
of some of the tough problems that the Colombian press faces in reporting
about drug trafficking and guerrilla warfare. These two very active news
fronts have been difficult and dangerous to cover. Many journalists — more
than 50 — have been killed or kidnapped in the last seven years by drug
barons or guerrillas. Those facts have imposed strong but intangible restrictions
to freedom of the press
Article 20 of our Constitution guarantees freedom of expression. It
must be said that newspapers are totally free to say whatever they want.
I must recognize that we have been legally free to write about the political
crisis President Samper is going through. There is, however, one menace.
Congress, with full government support, approved a law that allows the
National Television Commission to revise the content of TV news programs
and evaluate their fairness and objectivity. It’s an unacceptable way of
punishing journalists that might be critical of government or Congress.
Q. What of the U.S. position against President Samper? Is it a major
issue?
A. We know that drug violence and corruption are Colombia’s toughest
problems. However, isolating a president and treating him the way the U.S.
has is not a very smart move when both countries have to fight together
a war against incredibly powerful enemies. Some of us feel the U.S., with
its great resources, hasn’t done enough to solve its part of the problem
— the consumption of drugs. The U.S. government, for political and electoral
reasons, has treated Colombia unfairly by not certifying its counternarcotics
efforts. Meanwhile, the U.S. certifies a country like Mexico, which poses,
because of its proximity to the U.S. and its key role in the drug business,
a more serious threat to the American people.
The main issue in Colombia is not how much our relations with the U.S.
have deteriorated. More than that is recognizing that drugs have penetrated
and corrupted our society to its highest levels and that we have to do
something about it if we want to regain our position in the world as a
respectable, honest and hard-working country.
Q. What are your priorities today as an editor?
A. First, I am working with editors and reporters on building managerial
skills. Our reporters and editors are bad at planning, using time efficiently
and making the best out of technology. They don’t take advantage of these
or many other resources available to make a better product for our readers.
Q. How does your role differ from that of a U.S. editor?
A. The position of editor in Colombian newspapers, as distinct from
publisher, is a recent one. In El Tiempo we’ve worked very hard at defining
and permanently redefining the profile and role of the editor we need for
the challenges that the next century poses to the media. What we have seen
in American newspapers and a few ASNE workshops has been helpful. There’s
still a lot of road to cover and cultural differences, but in the face
of a deep restructuring process that our newspaper is going through, the
newsroom is in the center of this very exciting process.
Q. Do U.S. approaches work for you?
A. For some of the problems and issues we’re facing they have been extremely
useful. I believe, despite some of the setbacks American journalism might
have suffered lately (low readership, losing credibility, etc.), it is
still the best journalism in the world, the most independent and wants
to serve its readers and communities.
Q. Are journalists poorly paid in Colombia? Is a six-day week the
norm?
A. Salaries are a problem. At the moment we are revising our compensation
scales to become more competitive. The quality of people coming out of
our journalism schools is still far from what we need, and there is not
much to pick from. The past three years we have offered workshops to recruit
people from other careers and teach them journalism skills. Having a five-day
week is a short-term goal we’re working on.
Q. What kind of people are your readers?
A. Our readers are mostly men (54 percent), between 25 and 44 years
old (54 percent) and college graduates (66 percent). Our circulation, during
the last four years, has been steadily growing at an average of between
7 and 8 percent. Most of our sales (nearly 60 percent) are subscription
and the rest are street sales.
Stories that sell the most are those that have to do with quality of
life (health, education, how to best use free time and stories that help
people make decisions).
Q. Is TV the primary news source for Colombians? What is the future
of print in Colombia?
A. Radio is the main source of information. Radio news programs are
very popular and have huge audiences. Newspapers, though with low circulations
for a country with a lot of potential readers, are more influential, have
more credibility and are more respected. We foresee an important growth
in circulation in the coming years.
Q. What do you get from an organization like ASNE?
A. ASNE provides an extremely useful and innovative view of what’s going
on in the industry. El Tiempo is a newspaper that has basically followed
American journalism trends, and ASNE is an excellent forum to keep in touch
with the latest developments. It also gives me a complete picture of what
American newspapers are doing to confront issues related to change in the
newsroom, technology, education, diversity, etc. I can always learn from
the forum that ASNE provides for constructive criticism and debate among
some of the most outstanding editors.
Seaton, editor-in-chief of The Manhattan (Kan.) Mercury, is secretary
of ASNE.
