A multi-million-dollar grant from a major media conglomerate to a communications school here has been hailed by some as a shining example of corporate philanthropy working to improve the quality of journalism.<\/p>\n
But others view it as a worrisome case of undue influence of media corporations on the formation of journalists.<\/p>\n
Last June GFR Media<\/a>, Puerto Rico\u2019s largest media company, gave a five-million-dollar grant to the Communications School of Universidad del Sagrado Coraz\u00f3n<\/a> (USC), one of the country\u2019s leading private universities. Upon receiving the grant, the university changed the school\u2019s name to Ferr\u00e9 Rangel School of Communication, after the Ferr\u00e9-Rangel family, which owns GFR Media.<\/p>\n GFR Media runs three local daily newspapers, including El Nuevo D\u00eda<\/a>, Puerto Rico\u2019s most widely read daily, and 10 business web sites. It is part of Grupo Ferr\u00e9 Rangel<\/a>, a family-owned portfolio of companies and investments which includes real estate, printing, marketing and health services.<\/p>\n GFR Media and USC already have a history of collaboration. Together they run Agenda Ciudadana<\/a>, a roundtable of business and civil society leaders that aims to enhance citizen participation in public affairs, and the PR Center for Press Freedom<\/a> (CLP), founded and funded by El Nuevo D\u00eda, which is housed in the USC Campus.<\/p>\n \u201cThis centre was founded to educate the citizenry about freedom of expression, which is our dearest human right,\u201d said CLP director Helga Serrano.<\/p>\n The centre works with high school students, holding journalism summits, forming journalism clubs and giving youths hands-on for print media and digital radio workshops.<\/p>\n \u201cWe encourage people to read the media with a critical eye,\u201d said Serrano. \u201cThe Ferr\u00e9s have been totally supportive of us on that. An alert and questioning public pushes the media out of their comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n Serrano does not believe that accepting five million dollars from GFR Media and having the school renamed after the Ferr\u00e9-Rangel family compromises the institution in any undue way.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the United States this is a very common practice. You see plenty of buildings and institutions named after philanthropists over there,\u201dSerrano told IPS. \u201cColumbia School of Journalism in New York, for example, was founded by Mr. Pulitzer, a newspaper publisher and creator of the journalism prize named after himself.<\/p>\n \u201cThe [USC] trustees approved the name change, because the grant is a major contribution to the school\u2019s development.\u201d<\/p>\n But others believe the donation will undermine the Communication School\u2019s independence and intellectual integrity.<\/p>\n \u201cThis grant [from GFR Media] means that the poorly formed communicators graduated from the school will have to carry the message and editorial line of the Ferr\u00e9-Rangels and their publications,\u201d said a source in the USC faculty that refused to be identified. This grant \u201ccontradicts the institution\u2019s mission, which is to form persons with intellectual liberty, with critical thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n According to \u201cUn Diario Amable<\/a>\u201d, a critical 2009 documentary about El Nuevo D\u00eda, between 2001 and 2005 the Ferr\u00e9-Rangel group of companies had profits of over 100 million dollars. And yet, in February 2007 El Nuevo D\u00eda laid off some 40 employees.<\/p>\n According to the PR Journalists Association<\/a> (ASPPRO), after the layoffs the remaining staff writers have lived in a state of fear and uncertainty, and are afraid to publicly denounce their working conditions.<\/p>\n GFR Media is now one of ASPPRO\u2019s top donors.<\/p>\n El Nuevo D\u00eda is a member of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), an organisation that has frequently been accused of right-wing bias and political activism. Chilean entrepreneur Agust\u00edn Edwards, owner of the El Mercurio newspaper and IAPA president from 1968 to 1969, met with U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director Richard Helms<\/a> to discuss ways to undermine the government of Chilean president Salvador Allende, who was overthrown by a right-wing military coup in 1973.<\/p>\n El Mercurio, which strongly opposed Allende, became a strong supporter of the military regime.<\/p>\n Mauricio Gallardo, a close associate of Edwards, was executive director of El Nuevo D\u00eda from 2007 to 2009. He had previously worked for El Mercurio as editor of its Sunday magazine. Gallardo is currently back in Chile directing La Segunda, another newspaper owned by the Edwards family.<\/p>\n Gallardo was allegedly fired from El Nuevo D\u00eda shortly after he was featured in \u201cUn Diario Amable\u201d.<\/p>\n Good riddance, according to the documentary\u2019s executive producer, Luis Fernando Coss: \u201cGallardo represented the worst of corporate strategies, that is, those measures that compromise journalism with greed and market routines in detriment of the interests of the people and their most noble hopes. Corporate colonialism suffered a hard setback.\u201d<\/p>\n From 1986 to 1998, Coss directed Di\u00e1logo<\/a>, the University of Puerto Rico\u2019s monthly newspaper. He now directs 80 Grados<\/a>, an online magazine.<\/p>\n IPS repeatedly tried to contact H\u00e9ctor Pe\u00f1a, director of El Nuevo D\u00eda\u2019s opinion columns section and IAPA board member, for comment but he did not respond by deadline.<\/p>\n