Monitoring carried out by the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) recorded 119 cases of gender violence against journalists in 2021 in Brazil. Of these, in 58 cases state authorities were involved – Brazil’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, took part in eight of these attacks. The survey highlights the special vulnerability of women journalists dedicated to the political editorial section, since 60% of the attacks were motivated by coverage of this topic.
The recent decriminalization of abortion in Latin America has once again opened the conversation on the importance of appropriate media coverage when dealing with issues of sexual and reproductive rights. We spoke with several feminist journalists from the region to learn about the challenges they faced when covering these issues in their countries.
Mexican investigative reporter Anabel Hernández believes the mechanism for protecting journalists will never work well while impunity in crimes against journalists persists. And yet, Mexico’s president has not relinquished a discourse of hostility and intimidation towards the press.
Media accelerator Velocidad shared lessons learned in 16 months of consulting, follow-up and financial support to ten news outlets in Latin America. During this time, these media organizations saw improvements in their organizational structure, audience loyalty, business model and product vision and culture.
Brazilian documentary 'Boca Fechada' (Gagged) starts from the stories of three journalists killed by gunmen. The film shows the vulnerability of journalists with a critical voice in small towns in the interior of the country.
Atlas da Notícia identified a 9.5% reduction in the number of municipalities considered news deserts in Brazil. News deserts are municipalities that do not have local journalistic information and today these number 5 out of 10 Brazilian municipalities.
Journalist Juan Carlos Muñiz was murdered in Zacatecas on March 4. Organizations such as RSF, Article 19 and the IAPA, as well as journalists from Mexico and abroad, called for Mexican authorities to stop the violence against journalists.
Experts in the coverage of violent confrontations in Latin America warn of the need for comprehensive security training that involves the entire newsroom, from bosses to reporters.
To help raise awareness for the threats women journalists face around the world, and promote concrete solutions, the Knight Center, International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) and UNESCO are jointly organizing a free, multilingual webinar on International Women’s Day, March 8 at 10 a.m. U.S. Central Time.
The president of the Council of Ministers of Peru (PCM), Aníbal Torres allegedly tried to interfere with the allocation of state advertising for a government school campaign, requesting the exclusion of the media from Grupo El Comercio. Experts and organizations spoke out.
The WINN network of women journalists offers, since November 2021, free 30-minute online mentorships with highly experienced journalists. In this second attempt at a mentoring program, they have been successful in providing a space of support and, often, also a therapeutic space for young journalists from Latin America.
A report by Reporters Without Borders found “serious problems that require urgent changes” in the mechanisms for protecting journalists in these four countries, which account for 90% of the murders of journalists perpetrated in Latin America in the last ten years.