André Duchiade, Author at LatAm Journalism Review

André Duchiade is a Brazilian journalist and translator based in Rio de Janeiro. André worked on the international politics desk at O Globo from 2018 to February 2023, and his stories have been published at The Scientific American, The Intercept, Época, and Agência Pública de Jornalismo, among others. He is also a former Media Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin.

André Duchiade es un periodista y traductor brasileño que vive en Río de Janeiro. André trabajó en la redacción de política internacional de O Globo entre 2018 y febrero de 2023, y se han publicado historias suyas en The Scientific American, The Intercept, Época y Agência Pública de Jornalismo, entre otros. También fue Media Fellow en el Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) de Berlín.

André Duchiade é um jornalista e tradutor brasileiro que mora no Rio de Janeiro. André trabalhou como repórter na editoria de política internacional de O Globo entre 2018 e fevereiro de 2023, e suas matéria foram publicadas em The Scientific American, The Intercept, Época, Jornal do Brasil e Agência Pública de Jornalismo, entre outros. Ele também foi fellow de mídia no Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) em Berlim em 2020 e 2021.

Artículos Recientes

A journalist walking barefoot through a burnt forest, surrounded by ash and charred vegetation. He is wearing a green shirt and jeans, carrying a camera over his shoulder. The scene reflects severe environmental damage, with sparse trees and grey ash covering the ground.

Falta de recursos y amenazas marcan el trabajo de periodistas freelance que cubren derechos humanos y medio ambiente en Brasil

Aunque trabajan de forma independiente y sin el apoyo de una redacción, reporteros brasileños dicen que el deseo de arrojar luz sobre problemas sociales y promover cambios son factores que los motiva para cubrir estos temas.

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.

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.

Black-and-white photo from inside Fort Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, 1964, by Evandro Teixeira, capturing a tense scene with Brazil’s soon-to-be president and coup leader present.

Muere el fotoperiodista brasileño Evandro Teixeira, quien deja un legado de audacia y creatividad

Su carrera, de más de 70 años, estuvo marcada por fotos de la dictadura militar e importantes imágenes de la vida cultural brasileña.

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Becas, ayudas y oportunidades abiertas a periodistas de América Latina para 2025 y 2026

El resumen anual de LatAm Journalism Review destaca las oportunidades que tienen los profesionales nuevos y experimentados para mejorar sus conocimientos, ampliar sus redes de contactos y emprender nuevos proyectos.

SIP otorga al Centro Knight el premio Gran Amigo de la Prensa por sus aportes al periodismo

Al aceptar el premio, el fundador y director del Centro Knight, Rosental C. Alves, dijo que se siente “optimista respecto del futuro”, aun cuando el periodismo del futuro no se parezca al de hoy.

A collage featuring five political figures from Latin America: President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.

Gobiernos de América Latina asfixian el periodismo independiente con el aumento de control sobre las ONGs

Legisladores de izquierda y derecha están elaborando leyes de “agentes extranjeros” para, según dicen, proteger la soberanía nacional. Pero estas leyes también amenazan a los medios de comunicación independientes que dependen de la financiación internacional.

A man, Anselmo Xunic from Cultural Survival, is inside a radio studio, sitting in front of a microphone. Behind him, a banner reads "las radios comunitarias, los pueblos indígenas."

Mientras enfrentan criminalización y persecución, radios comunitarias de Centroamérica luchan por reconocimiento y protección

Emisoras comunitarias de Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras, que enfrentan represión, dificultades económicas y falta de acceso a frecuencias de radio, piden ayuda a la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos.

A man on the left, José Luiz Datena, throws a chair at Pablo Marçal on the right, who defends himself during a mayoral debate in São Paulo on September 15

Ante debates electorales que caen en el caos en Brasil, ¿cómo puede el periodismo elevar el nivel?

El lanzamiento de una silla y un puñetazo levantan discusión sobre la responsabilidad de los periodistas en frenar a candidatos que recurren a violencia física y verbal en debates políticos.

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Siete consejos para crear cómics periodísticos

El investigador y periodista brasileño Augusto Paim acaba de publicar un manual en el que describe los pasos necesarios para producir cómics periodísticos, desde la definición de la historia hasta la investigación, el guion y la edición.