The Government of the Azores promotes a visit with the directors of media organizations of the United States and Canada to the region, from May 16 to 20, with the goal to deepen the knowledge on the current reality of the Azorean society and to stimulate a closer informative proximity between the nine islands and the diaspora.
This initiative, organized by the Regional Directorate for the Communities, counts on the participation of 13 directors of media organizations that serve the largest Azorean communities of North America.
From the United States, the representatives of the newspapers Portuguese Times and O Jornal and the radios Voz do Emigrante and WJFD, from the State of Massachusetts, as well as the newspaper Portuguese Tribune and Televisão Portuguesa da Califórnia / Rádio Portuga USA, from the State of California, and SP Television, from the State of New Jersey, will travel to the Azores.
From Canada, representatives of the newspaper Correio da Manhã Canada, Radio CIRV and Festival Português TV, from the province of Ontario, and also the newspaper A Voz de Portugal / Rádio Center-Ville / A Voz de Montreal TV, the newspaper Lusopresse / LusaQ TV and Montreal Magazine TV, from the province of Quebec, will attend.
The island of Terceira will be the first stopping point of the delegation, where they will be received by the Vice-President of the Government of the Azores, Artur Lima, within the Lajes Air Base agreement, and by the City Council presidents of Angra do Heroísmo, Álamo Menezes, and Praia da Vitória, Vânia Ferreira. Beside these commitments, the media directors visit the Radio Clube de Angra and Diário Insular.
On the third day of the visit, on May 18, in the island of São Miguel, the delegation presents their compliments to the President of the Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, at the Palácio de Sant’Ana. In the morning they will meet the Diocese of Angra administrator, Canon Hélder Fonseca Mendes, concerning the Holy Spirit Worship in the Azores and, in the afternoon, they will meet the presidents of the Economic and Social Council of the Azores, Gualter Furtado, of the Azores Tourism Association, Carlos Morais and of the Board of Directors of SATA Group, Luís Rodrigues.
On the following day, after visiting RTP/Açores and the Ponta Delgada City Council, where they will be hosted by the president Pedro Nascimento Cabral, takes place the Meeting of Media from the Azores and North America.
The last day of the program, May 20, will be dedicated to visits to the facilities of the newspapers Açoriano Oriental, Correio dos Açores and Diário dos Açores and to the city of Ribeira Grande, for a meeting with the City Council president, Alexandre Gaudêncio, with a stop at the Emigrant Square and the Azorean Emigrants Association.
The group ends the visit with a meeting with the Rector of the Sanctuary of the Lord Holy Christ of the Miracles, Canon Adriano Borges, before the official opening of the festivities.
Within the visit of the director of press organizations from the United States and Canada to the Region, the Regional Directorate for the Communities promotes a work meeting of Media from the Azores and North America.
The meeting occurs on May 19, starting at 4 p.m., at the meeting room of Palácio da Conceição, in Ponta Delgada, and aims to create an opportunity for reflection and debate on “The New Challenges of Transatlantic Communication”.
The first panel, under the title “From Press to Internet”, will have as initial speakers Armando Mendes (Diário Insular), Diniz Borges (Portuguese Tribune), Eduardo Vieira (Correio da Manhã Canadá), Francisco Resendes (Portuguese Times), Osvaldo Cabral (Diário dos Açores) and Paulo Simões (Açoriano Oriental).
On the second panel, dedicated to “Radio and Television”, the initial communications are on charge of Carlos Brito (SPT Television), Bon Falcone (Festival Português TV), Norberto Aguiar (LusaQ TV), Paulina Arruda (Rádio WJFD), Pedro Ferreira (Rádio Clube de Angra) and Rui Goulart (RTP Açores).
The two panels are followed by debates that counts with the participation of all guests from the United States of America and Canada and the media representatives headed on the island of São Miguel. The Meeting will be chaired by the Regional Director for the Communities, José Andrade.
