By Luciani Gomes, Media Policy Specialist, Brazil
Colombia will host UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week Feature Conference at the end of October, after an intense pre-campaign period ahead of the 2026 presidential election. According to the 2025 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, 59% of Colombians view misinformation as a significant issue, and 76% primarily access their news online, underscoring the need for initiatives that promote critical media literacy and responsible information consumption.
The conference builds on UNESCO’s support to other MIL projects in the country, including Media and Information Literacy training for youth in Cali, and the testing of a Media and Information Literacy Curricula in 23 primary and secondary schools, as well as two higher education institutions.
This year’s two-day MIL conference will take place from October 23 to 24 in Cartagena de Indias, a UNESCO World Heritage city. Titled “Minds Over AI – MIL in Digital Spaces”, the conference will focus on the intersections of MIL and AI and will explore the reshaping of the information landscape and MIL’s crucial role in empowering individuals, institutions and society to critically engage with the opportunities and challenges brought by AI. The conference will also discuss the impact of AI on trust in media; journalists’ pivotal role in promoting MIL; how MIL can support policymakers in crafting informed policies, ensuring accountability and transparency in AI governance, and promoting an open, inclusive, digital ecosystem; how to support the inclusion of digital communities into the digital world; and how MIL can improve community resilience to online disinformation and harmful content.
As in other Latin American countries, private media ownership is highly concentrated in Colombia. Concerns have been raised by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) in its annual report around the independence and autonomy of public media, further underscoring the need for citizens to learn how to navigate information critically.
In 2024, Colombia was the second most lethal country for journalists in the Americas, according to the IACHR’s annual report. It defined Colombia as an “unsafe environment for the practice of journalism, which has led to situations of self-censorship, forced displacement and exile of journalists”.
Last year, the Colombian Association of News Media (AMI), which has represented the majority of the nation’s press for the past 64 years, urged Colombians to “demand and defend their rights to freedom of expression, the right to information, and freedom of the press”. AMI has been consistently denouncing the deteriorating situation in Colombia over the past three years.