After a year in which all major Brazilian newspapers experienced a decline in the circulation of their print editions, new strategies are beginning to emerge to deal with a situation in which rethinking business models is imperative.
For years, Janine Warner has traveled Latin America, teaching as a guest professor at universities, speaking at conferences and meeting entrepreneurial journalists along the way. She wanted to find a way to connect all these people.
The Venezuelan TV network Globovisión put an end this week to their partnership with Colombian conglomerate RCN Televisión. The reasons behind the rupture were not specified but in the last two months the differences between the editorial lines of both media groups have grown.
The Argentine media conglomerate Grupo Clarín has drafted a plan to comply with the country's media law that would consist in dividing its audiovisual licenses between six business units.
The former director of the now-defunct Administrative Department of Security (DAS in Spanish) of Colombia, Jorge Noguera Cotes, will not be trialed for two charges related to the so-called “chuzadas” scandal, which involved the illegal wire tapping of journalists, politicians and opposition leaders during the administration of President Álvaro Uribe, according to several publications.
As of Oct. 1, El Impulso, one of the oldest newspapers in Venezuela, will publish a shorter version of its edition due to a lack of printing supplies. In an editorial published by El Impulso on Sep. 29, the newspaper's editorial board states that it has been waiting 11 months for government authorization that allows it to import the necessary materials.
In the form of a letter, Reporters without Borders (RSF in French) has just taken up arms against a recently passed Grenada law that punishes offensive content posted on the Internet. The letter, drafted by Secretary-general Christophe Deloire, urges Grenada’s Governor-General to veto the Electronic Crimes Law so that amendments could be made to it to ensure that freedom of speech would not be threatened by its provisions.
The initiative is unheard of in Brazil: Distributing grants for independent investigative reporting and using online crowdfunding to collect the money. The news site Agência Pública announced last Friday, Sep. 20 -- a day before the deadline -- that it had raised the necessary amount to fund its project.
A total of 55 radio and television frequencies will be appropriated by the Ecuadorian government for failing to comply with the country's new communications law, said telecommunications minister Jaime Guerrero during a Sep. 20 press conference, news portal Infobae reported.
The current shortage of newsprint in Venezuela has caused a crisis among print publications that is hurting regional newspapers the most. According to El País, at least three regional dailies have been forced to suspend their operations since early August due to the lack of printing paper. Some of the affected newspapers have circulated for decades, like El Sol, in the city of Maturín, in the state of Monagas, and Antorcha, in El Tigre, in the state of Anzoátegui.
A media phenomenon has emerged in Brazil in the wake of the massive protests that are spreading throughout the country since June. The news collective Mídia NINJA, broadcasting live from the streets with its "no cuts, no censorship" model, has attracted the attention and admiration of thousands of people in the last few weeks.
More than 200 reporters, editors, students and journalism professors came together in Santiago, Chile on July 5 and 6 for the First International Workshop on Investigative Journalism Techniques, which served as the inaugural event for the new Chilean Journalists' Network.