It´s 5pm here in Bogota and it´s been a very busy news day. We had Uribe in Venezuela with Chavez, the rescue of Jorge Celedon´s brother from kidnappers in Cali, and protests about the Planilla Unica. We´re tweaking our production schedule to hit peak internet times. It looks like we will be moving our webcast schedule to 7am and 7pm Monday through Friday.
I took the Transmilenio to work today. I usually get on at the Virrey station, then take the bus to the Hero´s station. There, I take the F14 to Pradera. The busses were really crowded today... but I got to the office in 20 minutes. Riding the Transmilenio is like being stuffed in a can of sardines. But, it´s definately an adventure!
This morning, one of the RCN Reporter, Miguel Angel Morales, offered us a story on the Planilla Unica protests. Miguel Angel is a very interesting guy. Not only does he do the news... but he´s also a pop singer with songs all over Colombia radio. He´s style is like Sin Banderas or a Fonseca. Check out his report on our Friday PM webcast... and then check out his music! His website is www.webmiguelangel.com. He´s got a myspace too. try www.myspace.com/miguelangelpopmusic.
RCN is launcing a new 24 news channel in a few weeks. It´s being run by Luis Fernando Restrepo. He used to be with the BBC in London. RCN brought him back to Bogota to run the project. In addition to being a great news manager, he´s a fantastic journalist with a knack for explaining complicated Colombian issues. So, I invted him to come on the news Friday to offer some commentary about the Uribe/Chavez story.
As we were waiting to record the news, the story of Jorge Celdon´s brother broke. Jorge Celedon is the guy who signs the vallenato "eiy yi yi yi.... que bonita es la vida" song. Celedon´s brother was apparently kidnapped with 3 others in Cucta a few weeks back... and nobody said a word about it. Usually, these things are handled very quietly. Anyway, we got great video from Police in Cali of the resuce. You can see it in our webcast.
There´s also a wacky story out of Santa Marta up on the coast. The poilce there give you a traffic ticket for speeding, and then make you ride a donkey around town to teach you a lesson. What lesson you ask? Don´t drive like an ass!
We ended Friday´s news in Valledupar. Hundreds of you have emailed us with suggestions on places in Colombia you´d like to see. Our editors are putting together new images for next week´s webcasts of Cali and Mompos, for example.
One last thing, as of Friday at 5:30pm Bogota time, more than 15,000 people have viewed RCN News in English online. 50 percent of our traffic is coming from the United States. The rest of the traffic is split up from dozens of different countries, including Colombia. In fact, many Colombians are watching the webcast because they want to learn to speak english!
Brian Andrews - International Journalist
