FAO and EL PAÍS join forces to improve coverage of food and agriculture

15 February, 2016, Rome - FAO and Grupo PRISA, publisher of Madrid-based daily EL PAÍS, have agreed to collaborate to improve public awareness of critical issues related to hunger, agriculture and food systems. 

Quality journalism and responsable communication media offer key public services by spreading tecnical and scientific themes to broad audiences, making them key allies in the fight against hunger and the promotion of better nutrition, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said while signing the Memorandum of Understanding. 

“Offering rigorous information on hunger and malnutrition at a global level is essential to raise awareness, promote debate and mobilize the necessary political will to eradicate this problem,” he said. “It is a privilege for FAO to count on the collaboration of a publisher like PRISA and a news Organization with the reach and influence that EL PAÍS has in Spain and Latin America,” he said, emphasizing the need for deep analysis of global themes. 

As a result of the agreement, EL PAÍS will broaden its coverage of food security and nutrition issues as well as of the challenges that food procuers and consumers around the world face – ranging from land use, food security and food safety, the role of micronutrients and food waste and loss. 

FAO for its part will lend the group’s reporters its expertise, knowledge and data bases on natural resources, prices, trade, animal health and a host of statistical measures. FAO will also provide an EL PAÍS reporter with a training period on the Organization’s programs and mandate at its Rome headquarters.

“This agreement is part of our vocation as a global newspaper and is a natural fit for our desire to Foster development, peace processes and robust democracies,” said Juan Luis Cebrián, Executive Chairman of the Prisa group and of EL PAÍS. 

The Spanish daily plans to roll out new contents for Planeta Futuro, a specialized digital section devoted to the subject of development that also counts the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – another important FAO ally – amongst its supporters. 

“This is a great opportunity for EL PAÍS to access information and research relevant to the interests of our readers,” said  Antonio Caño, the newspaper’s editor in chief. “I believe both organizations share similar values in favor of tolerance, respect for the rights of others, development and the fight against hunger. We will distribute information and FAO produces very valuable information, so this is a way we can contribute to keeping our citizens better informed, which is our core misión,” he added. 

Also attending the signing ceremony were Dolores Huete, in charge of Planeta Futuro, Bárbara Manrique de Lara, head of Prisa’s corporate communications, and Enrique Yeves, FAO’s communications chief. 

 

The alliance with EL PAIS is the latest of a series of successful collaborations between FAO and international media organizations, including Spanish news agency EFE, the Emirates News Agency WAM, Russia’s TASS and China’s Xinhua agencies, as well as U.K. daily The Guardian and the U.S.-based magazine National Geographic. 

PRISA is the leading media organization in the Spanish and Portuguese language markets, active with information, educational and entertainment products as well as comercial televisión franchises. Present in 22 countries, it reaches more tan 60 million users through its global brands, EL PAÍS, 40 Principales, W Radio and Santillana. Its presence in Brasil and Portugal, as well as in the growing Hispanic market of the United States of America, give it a trans-Atlantic reach.