Sostenibilidad de los medios Archives

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.

Estudio revela que apoyo de Google a medios en América Latina puede generar dependencia

Investigadores afirman que el Desafío de Innovación de Google fomenta la dependencia de las organizaciones de noticias en las empresas tecnológicas. Organizaciones dijeron a LJR que participar en el programa condujo a otros tipos de financiamiento.

Four issues of Gatopardo magazine laying on a wood table, seen from above. (Photo: Canva and courtesy Gatopardo)

Gatopardo apuesta en el futuro del periodismo narrativo en América Latina de cara a su 25 aniversario

La revista Gatopardo reinventa sus productos impresos y digitales para que su reconocido periodismo de largo aliento y gran formato visual pueda seguir influyendo en la región.

Person holding a digital globe with currency symbols around it

La amenaza que se avecina (y posibles soluciones) para el periodismo latinoamericano financiado por donantes extranjeros

Un estudio de 40 medios de comunicación en América Latina encontró que estos recibieron más de US 27 millones de dólares de solo dos fundaciones entre solo 2016 y 2022.

Caída de financiamiento e inestabilidad política llevan al cierre a medios digitales de América Latina, según estudio

El año pasado dejaron de publicar más medios nativos digitales en América Latina que en ningún otro año desde 2015, según SembraMedia. El número de nuevos medios en la región también ha disminuido. La caída en el financiamiento y la inestabilidad política son algunas de las causas de este escenario, señala el estudio.

Lanzamiento de un nuevo fondo de US $2 millones para apoyar el periodismo de interés público en Brasil

Cinco fundaciones filantrópicas ya se han comprometido a donar 2 millones de dólares para los dos primeros años de funcionamiento de un nuevo fondo de apoyo al periodismo de interés público en Brasil. LJR habló con las consultores responsables del fondo, cuyo objetivo es proporcionar "más y mejor dinero" a las iniciativas periodísticas brasileñas.

Cierre de 400 medios en 20 años agrava crisis de desempleo en el periodismo venezolano

Periodistas y reporteros gráficos venezolanos realizan otros trabajos fuera del periodismo para tener ingresos extras que les permitan subsistir. En 20 años del gobierno de Hugo Chávez y Nicolás Maduro 400 medios de comunicación han cerrado.

Profesionales del periodismo discuten el papel de los gobiernos dando forma al futuro del periodismo

Cinco líderes del periodismo se reunieron en el 25º Simposio Internacional de Periodismo Online (ISOJ) en Austin, el 12 de abril, para discutir cómo las políticas gubernamentales sobre derechos de autor, regulación de redes sociales y subsidios podrían afectar el panorama futuro del periodismo. Aunque todos los panelistas enfatizaron el poder de las políticas públicas […]

Press Forward, una coalición filantrópica cuyo objetivo es ampliar la financiación del periodismo local en EE.UU., primer panel del 25º ISOJ

El panel inaugural de la 25ª edición del ISOJ mostró cómo la iniciativa Press Forward está creando una coalición de donantes en Estados Unidos para apoyar el periodismo local en todo el país, con el objetivo de distribuir 500 millones de dólares en recursos en los próximos cinco años.

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La publicidad oficial se utiliza para censurar a medios y “autopromocionar” a gobernantes en Colombia, según la FLIP

Tras doce años de investigar la publicidad oficial en Colombia, la Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP) considera que este recurso público es utilizado principalmente por las administraciones públicas para censurar a los medios e incidir en su línea editorial. También para que los gobernantes se autopromocionen como figuras públicas.

Medios latinoamericanos usan YouTube Shorts para incrementar vistas, monetizar y llegar a nuevas audiencias

Tanto medios grandes como pequeños en América Latina se han unido a la ola del uso del video vertical, el formato natural del móvil, a través de los YouTube Shorts. LatAm Journalism Review entrevista a representantes de tres medios latinoamericanos para conocer cómo este formato los ha beneficiado.