Artículos

A large group of people smiling and posing for a group photo in a brightly lit room. At the front, a woman in a yellow shirt holds a decorative cake, surrounded by others making cheerful gestures.

Cómo los medios nativos digitales están cultivando comunidades de apoyo financiero

El libro “Ladrillo a ladrillo” explica cómo los medios de comunicación nativos digitales de Brasil y Colombia están fomentando comunidades de apoyo financiero para sustentar al periodismo. Es un ejercicio de persistencia y resistencia.

In theory, the purpose of government advertising is to distribute information of public relevance to society.State advertising funds are meant to help governments communicate with the population about the services they provide and public policies they promote, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

In practice, however, government advertising funds form a crucial pillar of financial sustainability for many media outlets across Latin America. Without regulations defining how these funds should be distributed or transparency that shows where the money goes, the resources become ripe for corruption. They are frequently used as tools for indirect censorship, punishing independent journalism.

These are some conclusions from a study published last week by the Latin American Observatory of Media Regulation and Convergence with support from UNESCO. The study, called "Official Advertising, Media, and Freedom of Expression,” diagnoses existing regulations on official advertising in 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and how they are implemented.

Journalists, academics, and researchers from independent organizations in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay examined state advertising under the coordination of Uruguayan researcher Jimena Torres and guidance from Argentine researcher Santiago Marino. They sought to answer questions like: Are there specific laws regulating government advertising? Are there proactive mechanisms for disclosing these funds? Who is eligible to receive them?

The diagnosis is quite negative. Few countries have adequate regulations, and when they do, they are not systematically enforced. In countries with smaller advertising markets, official advertising becomes critical for the sustainability of media outlets, and it is managed without transparency and with political bias.

"Due to the absence of regulation and the logic behind its management, government advertising is administered from a friend-or-foe perspective, using very opaque criteria for its distribution," Santiago Marino, the chief researcher, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). "This, in turn, conditions both the operation and sustainability of media outlets."

Funds without laws

From the 11 countries studied, only Brazil, Mexico, and Peru have specific laws determining how government advertising funds should be allocated. But the mere existence of a regulation does not guarantee transparency, fairness, or that official advertising promotes pluralism in communication in any of these countries.

Brazil's regulatory framework, from 2008, is the most praised in the study and is considered “sufficiently clear.” It distinguishes between institutional advertising and public-interest advertising, with clear limits on self-promotion by government officials and political parties. However, the allocation of funds is not made easily accessible, requiring more meticulous methods to verify.

Additionally, the Brazilian law did not prevent the government of Jair Bolsonaro, in office from 2019 to 2022, from allocating funds to websites that publish false information. Furthermore, allocation criteria are strongly tied to audience size. “This parameter poses a problem for promoting pluralism by maintaining proportional transfers based on audience size, without investing in smaller, independent outlets,” the report says.

In Mexico, the General Law on Social Communication, enacted in 2018 and amended in 2023, regulates the issue. However, according to the study, the law leaves room for arbitrary use of government advertising budgets because it does not establish clear rules and has not been effective.

In Peru, even with various laws in place, the lack of clear allocation criteria means public entities distribute resources at their discretion. “Independent media, which are mostly critical of incumbent governments, have to seek alternative funding sources, as their stance often makes them targets of resistance to being granted official advertising,” the study says.

This vulnerability to political interests is the general rule among the countries studied. “In general, we struggled to find good practices,” Jimena Torres, the study’s coordinator, told LJR. “In many cases, we ended up saying, ‘there are no good practices in this country.’”

In Argentina, there is partial regulation for the federal executive branch but not for other branches of government. The study finds significant discretion in allocation, which becomes apparent in funds invested by public companies and other entities not directly under the national government.

Argentina also demonstrates “a distribution logic based on rewards and punishments to media outlets or groups according to their editorial stance.” As a result of this practice, several media companies have emerged in recent years, sustained almost exclusively by public funds, the study finds.

In Colombia, there is no specific regulation. As a result, ”the multimillion-dollar contracts for government advertising are distributed virtually without adherence to their intended purpose. “For years, they have been repeatedly used to pressure editorial lines or promote certain narratives,” the study says.

Marino considers the case of El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele’s government takes authoritarian measures and persecutes journalists, particularly severe. “There is no regulation whatsoever to frame this activity within an informational pluralism approach,” the report says. “The government has implemented strategies to weaken the media ecosystem, including creating its own media outlets and redirecting official advertising funds to a state-run newspaper and an official news channel.”

Geographic concentration

Another recurring issue identified by the study is the concentration of resources in capitals and metropolitan areas, disadvantaging regional or local media outlets.

“We live in media systems where news production and money are often concentrated in big cities,” said Jimena Torres. “For example, in my country, Uruguay, in a department called Cerro Largo, the main advertiser for local media is the municipality. This means there are often no news stories, or very few, that question what the municipality is doing.”

The lack of advertising funds for non-commercial media is another problem, Marino said. Non-profit outlets are often excluded from government advertising, undermining their sustainability and reducing the diversity of voices.

The study concludes with 15 recommendations. Among them is the need for “specific, clear, and unequivocal” laws to regulate the issue at all levels of government. The allocation of advertising should generally be through competitive processes, with direct contracts being the exception. Advertising must not serve as propaganda for political parties, and transparency must encompass all actors involved in the distribution of funds.

Governments should also implement or promote audience measurement systems that include different types of media and use objective, reliable criteria. These measurements should incorporate data from small, community, and local media outlets to ensure their inclusion in allocating advertisements, avoiding their indirect exclusion.

Finally, other public policies are necessary to support journalism, with resources that promote diversity and plurality in media, the study says.

“For example, through public funds distributed transparently and non-discriminatorily, separate from government advertising expenditures,” the study concludes. “These resources must not be used to influence or condition the editorial line of these outlets.”

Gobiernos de América Latina utilizan la publicidad oficial para controlar a la prensa, según estudio

Un análisis de la publicidad oficial en 11 países de la región muestra cómo los gobiernos hacen mal uso de los fondos, recompensando a los medios leales y poniendo en peligro a los independientes.

Cinco periodistas reflexionan sobre la cobertura de salud en Latinoamérica antes, durante y después de la pandemia

Las experiencias de cinco destacados periodistas de la región ilustran cómo la salud ha pasado de ser un tema técnico y esporádico en los medios de comunicación a ocupar un lugar central en la cobertura informativa.

Two people talking in chairs on top of a laptop

Curso gratuito en línea sobre influencers y periodistas arranca con 9 mil participantes de 172 países. ¡El registro sigue abierto!

El Centro Knight para el Periodismo en las Américas, en colaboración con la UNESCO, ha estado al frente de una exploración de un año sobre lo que significa para la industria de los medios de comunicación el auge de los influencers, o creadores de contenidos digitales.

A group of journalism students interview a man in Mexico City.

Taller de periodismo universitario en las periferias de la Ciudad de México enseña a estudiantes a poner el foco en comunidades estigmatizadas

En un taller de periodismo de la Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México, estudiantes de la periferia de la ciudad tienen la oportunidad de visibilizar sus barrios e intereses, al tiempo que combaten estigmas y llenan un vacío dejado por los medios tradicionales.

A woman with glasses, wearing a black outfit and a colorful headband, speaks into a microphone at a podium on stage

Periodistas afro de América Latina se conectan a través de fronteras para aumentar la representación racial en los medios

La nueva Red de Periodistas Afrolatinos tiene como objetivo aumentar la diversidad en el periodismo en América Latina y el Caribe. Sus miembros están trabajando para superar las barreras lingüísticas para combatir el aislamiento y amplificar las voces negras.

Image of a man listening to the radio among trees in the Brazilian state of Acre

En la Amazonía brasileña, emisoras locales de radio cubren cuestiones socioambientales y desafían poderosos intereses

El Mapa Vivo de Medios de la Amazonía, de InfoAmazonia, identifica decenas de emisoras que transmiten desde comunidades remotas. Pese a presiones económicas, estos medios se enfrentan al agronegocio y ponen de relieve los derechos indígenas y medioambientales.

Digging into Telegram: Investigative Techniques for Journalists

Nuevo taller en línea en inglés ofrece herramientas para usar Telegram de manera efectiva en reportajes

El taller en línea en inglés está diseñado para ayudar a periodistas a navegar por la estructura de Telegram, localizar información crítica y aprovechar herramientas de terceros para mejorar la investigación y reportería. Al final, sus participantes estarán equipados con habilidades prácticas para recopilar información en Telegram.

Régimen nicaragüense estrecha el cerco de la libertad de expresión con una nueva ley de telecomunicaciones

Autoridades nicaragüenses ya han cerrado, procesado u obligado a exiliarse a medios de comunicación críticos. Según la nueva ley, defensores de derechos humanos advierten que funcionarios podrían acceder a la ubicación, llamadas y el historial de navegación de usuarios de internet.

Illustration of a desk with newspapers on it, an elephant sculpture, a computer and a lamp, with a map of Latin America on the wall in the background.