Veeduría Ciudadana de la Comunicación Social - Peru

Established in 1999, Veeduría Ciudadana de la Comunicación Social is a social movement composed of civil society organisations, volunteers, supervising citizens, and strategic allies. Operating in Peru, this movement seeks to inspire citizens to reflect on and challenge the quality and influence of mass media (for instance, what Veeduría sees as the media's role in legitimating political power and its ethically questionable practices). Specific goals include:

• Protecting freedom of expression and encouraging contributions on the part of mass media toward democratisation of Peru.
• Educating the citizenry about their rights to information and communication.
• Proposing systems for democratic and efficient media regulation that provide a legal framework.
• Placing the subject of media on the public agenda and encouraging debate about its role in society, in culture, and in the political and ethical life of the country.

Main Communication Strategies
Veeduría's central strategy is creating networks between and among media authorities and citizens. Specifically, organisers seek to support the development of alternate media through its Advisory Board, which includes communications specialists. The idea is to create a network of journalists connected with Veeduría who effect change within their own media or journalistic institutions. Veeduría has also engaged with the national association of advertisers (ANDA), who shares its commitment to make the mass media more ethical and responsive to the people's needs. Schools of communication at Peru universities are also involved in this network, as are lawyers who support the process of legitimating citizen participation and media montoring. Programme organisers operate through direct contract with citizens - contact that is designed to motivate and activate people to express themselves and make demands on the media to change. Volunteers (generally students of communication) participate in training sessions, discussion forums, and mobilisation efforts. "Supervising citizens" include any person who often exposes himself to the media and who is interested in giving his opinion and getting involved. Veeduría establishes the conditions needed for this kind of participation.

One key aspect of this participation is media monitoring. Citizens are urged to observe and evaluate the media's work in continuous, critical ways. The results of this monitoring are shared with volunteers and allies through publications, forums, and opinion polls accessible on the Veeduría website (Spanish language only), and public campaigns and debates. As an example of the latter, street forums are hosted by citizen caravans who use video in public squares to enable thinking and discussion about the media.

Citizens' opinions are sought through telephone, postal mailings, and email. These activities serve an additional purpose: to support citizen campaigns. In August 2003, Veeduría launched a campaign to demand new regulations for radio and television. The claim is that a plurality of information should be available that guarantees the conditions needed for the formation of free public opinion. Human dignity, this campaign message holds, is expressed in the quality and democracy of Peru's communication (media) service, as it entertains and informs. Signatures are sought to support these claims. The petition will be presented to the Congress by the citizens and representatives from the civil society organisations that support it.

Another of the group's strategies is to organise national and international meetings to discuss problems and projects and to develop relationships with members of the media. Where possible, results from the campaigns and polls - as well as associated publications - are shared directly with media professionals. According to organisers, some of these professionals integrate the results into their plans; others ignore them.