First Quechua language TV news show premiers in Peru

The Quechua language dates back to the Inca Empire and on December 12 the first TV
news show aired in Peru.
Rick Kearns Updated: Sep 13, 2018 Original: Jan 7, 2017

The first Quechua language TV news show in Peru hit the airwaves in December,
providing all types of news to the country's four million Quechua speakers for the first
time and with a Quechua perspective that includes indigenous news stories usually not
featured in mainstream broadcasts.
Quechua was the principal language of the Inca Empire and is the mother tongue of
approximately eight million people concentrated in Latin America, along with smaller
groups in Europe and the United States.
The Ñuqanchik show, which means “We,” premiered December 12 on Peru's public
television Channel 7 and airs Monday through Friday. The show's hosts are Clodomiro
Landeo and Marisol Mena, veteran Quechua journalists, activists and educators.
Landeo is a broadcast producer with many years of experience in radio as a producer
and host; he is also an official translator/interpreter of Quechua to Spanish and vice-
versa. For 11 years he was the host of a morning radio show on Peru's public Radio
Nacional, which is now co-producing Ñuqanchik along with the public television
company. In an earlier interview Landeo pointed out one of the positive aspects of
presenting the news through a Quechua perspective. “Quechua isn’t only useful to
translate or repeat what is said in Spanish, but rather to give other references. Its
principal value is in complementing the same information through a different perspective.
For example, in Quechua water isn’t just a chemical element, but also a vital element. It
has a different value,” Landeo stated.
Mena, the show's other host, is also a Quechua language activist, a trained teacher and
an experienced radio journalist. In an interview on January 3, she talked about her career
and the new TV show. She explained that she has been a radio host for 10 years, first
on local radio shows focusing on the mostly indigenous Abancay, Aymaraes and
Antabamba regions. Those shows had a mix of educational, musical, arts and news
formats.
"But it was seven years ago when I dedicated myself exclusively to radio programs in
Quechua as an Educator which was parallel to my work as a journalist. I put together
radio programs about the rights of children and those were educational and informative
where students, parents and teachers participated; all of which were presented in
Quechua," Mena explained.
In 2015, Mena helped create and launch the Quechua Memes (QM) project, dedicated
to the promotion of the written and oral use of the language through social media. QM
grew out of Mena's doctoral thesis "The Strengthening of Quechua through Music and
Song."
Then in December of last year Mena and Landeo began their TV broadcast experience
where they present regional, national and international news in the Quechua language.
Mena pointed out that they have recently covered "...the achievements of people
involved in forestation along with the effects of the drought and then excessive rains in
the regions."