In June 2020, with Brazil rapidly accumulating cases and deaths from COVID-19, the federal government acted to hide the reality of the pandemic in the country. Six news outlets responded by establishing a consortium to release COVID-19 data. It ended in January, but leaves behind lessons on the value of transparency and collaboration.
InfoAmazonia, a trilingual platform devoted to covering the Amazon Rainforest, has launched a Citizen Network of news outlets based in the Brazilian Amazon that cover socio-environmental issues. The idea is to strengthen local journalism in the region and expand media audiences, improving the content and bringing it in and around the Amazon to local populations and a global audience.
In journalism, participation and collaboration are essential. LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) has created a list of the most important events for journalists in Latin America to be held during 2023. Buenos Aires, Bogota, Quito, and Mexico City, are some of the expected venues.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) worked with a team of experts from the Ford Foundation to develop the Journalist Safety Assessment Tool (JSAT), which provides an online diagnostic of an organization's physical and cyber security strategies, with recommendations on how to improve them. The network recently launched a version of JSAT in Spanish for colleagues in Latin America.
Oct. 31 was the official launch of the Southern Hemisphere Climate Database, a tool created by Carbon Brief and the Oxford Climate Journalism Network. It seeks to support journalists in their work to diversify expert voices on climate change in the media.
The 'Disarming Disinformation' series of master classes was held on Nov. 17 and 18. Craig Silverman (Propublica), Patricia Campos Mello (Folha de S. Paulo), Claire Wardle (Brown University), and Giannina Segnini (Columbia University) made up the 'dream team' of instructors. LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) attended the classes and presents a summary of the most important points discussed.
Journalists, communicators, and researchers have created COLO - Coletivo de Jornalismo Infantojuvenil [Children and Youth Journalism Collective] - to organize and strengthen the market for news content for children and adolescents in Brazil. Acting together, the group wants to overcome prejudice against journalism created for children and teenagers in newsrooms and the advertising market.
Quinto Elemento Lab, Conexión Migrante, Agência Pública and ((o))eco are some of the new media partners of the Report for the World journalist support program. In its first year of operation in Brazil, it managed to boost journalistic coverage of issues related to the Amazon region.
The fifth edition of the International Conference on Migration and Development Journalism took place in the city of Merida, Spain on Oct. 5, 6 and 7, 2022. Journalists from all over the world gathered to talk about journalism and migration, as well as to build networks and develop ties of collaboration. LJR covered the event and summarizes outstanding presentations by Latin American journalists in attendance.
Practicing journalism at the local level has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, the proximity allows a better understanding of the sources and the creation of stories more in line with reality, but on the other hand, greater physical and economic risks are taken. In this article, local journalists discuss the pros and cons of their work in Latin America.
The Argentine organization Chequeado, with the support of Google News Initiative, invited news organizations Verificado (from Mexico), Colombia Check (from Colombia), Convoca and Ojo Público (both from Peru) to form a 'Latin American network of fact-checking trainers' and thus make up for the lack of fact-checking-oriented courses in university journalism curricula in Latin America.
Billing itself as a "platform for journalism in the Americas," CONNECTAS emerged in 2012. It has since fulfilled its purpose through providing editorial and financial support for journalistic investigations, teaching courses and providing tools for journalists. With almost 800 investigations published in ten years, CONNECTAS intends to continue strengthening the community of Latin American journalists investigating abuses of power in a collaborative way.