Researchers painted a complex, and often troubling, picture of Latin American journalism during a webinar hosted by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas on Jan. 22, 2026.
Seventeen independent media outlets from 12 Mexican states have formed the Territorial alliance to address challenges facing local journalism and reconnect with audiences.
Rory Branker, an editor at online outlet La Patilla, has been detained for nearly a year, transferred without notice and never brought before court. He is among at least five press workers still held.
In Brazil, a new generation of storytellers is blending western journalism ethics with Indigenous narrative traditions, reshaping how the rainforest is seen and heard.
The recent release of 19 Venezuelan journalists – some of whom had been detained for more than two years – was a bitter sweet moment for the country’s press.
Despite no longer being in prison, those freed are living with precautionary measures, face legal cases and have health problems, according to the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP, for its initials in Spanish).
They are under a gag order, must report to authorities every 30 days and cannot leave the country, as reported by Agência Pública.
What’s more, at least five media workers remain in detention and face various charges such as conspiracy to commit a crime, treason, incitement to hatred and terrorism, SNTP says.
One of the most worrisome cases is that of Rory Branker, an editor for media outlet La Patilla who was detained on Feb. 20, 2025, by officers of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (abbreviated in Spanish to Sebin) as he was leaving his Caracas home.
In an article marking 11 months since Branker was first detained, La Patilla said it “would not rest” until he was released.
“His case will remain an open wound and the most uncomfortable proof that the offensive against the press in Venezuela is not over,” the publication said.
🔗 Click link in bio for complete article
✍️: Silvia Higuera
📸: La Patilla
The recent release of 19 Venezuelan journalists – some of whom had been detained for more than two years – was a bitter sweet moment for the country’s press.
Despite no longer being in prison, those freed are living with precautionary measures, face legal cases and have health problems, according to the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP, for its initials in Spanish).
They are under a gag order, must report to authorities every 30 days and cannot leave the country, as reported by Agência Pública.
What’s more, at least five media workers remain in detention and face various charges such as conspiracy to commit a crime, treason, incitement to hatred and terrorism, SNTP says.
One of the most worrisome cases is that of Rory Branker, an editor for media outlet La Patilla who was detained on Feb. 20, 2025, by officers of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (abbreviated in Spanish to Sebin) as he was leaving his Caracas home.
In an article marking 11 months since Branker was first detained, La Patilla said it “would not rest” until he was released.
“His case will remain an open wound and the most uncomfortable proof that the offensive against the press in Venezuela is not over,” the publication said.
🔗 Click link in bio for complete article
✍️: Silvia Higuera
📸: La Patilla
🌳🗞️ Antes da COP em Belém, o secretário-geral da ONU, António Guterres, concedeu sua primeira entrevista exclusiva a um jornalista indígena da Amazônia. Wajã Xipai, de 19 anos, fez perguntas baseadas em sua experiência de vida, questionando quem paga o preço pela ganância climática global — e quem é ouvido.
👆🏼 Clique no link acima para receber mais informações.
✍️: Leonardo Coelho
📸: Sumaúma/Soll
🌳🗞️ Antes da COP em Belém, o secretário-geral da ONU, António Guterres, concedeu sua primeira entrevista exclusiva a um jornalista indígena da Amazônia. Wajã Xipai, de 19 anos, fez perguntas baseadas em sua experiência de vida, questionando quem paga o preço pela ganância climática global — e quem é ouvido.
👆🏼 Clique no link acima para receber mais informações.
✍️: Leonardo Coelho
📸: Sumaúma/Soll
Festivales, congresos y conferencias internacionales volverán a reunir a periodistas para debatir los grandes desafíos del oficio. LJR reúne los principales para este año — de Cartagena a Perugia y de Bogotá a Austin.
👆🏼Haz click en el link de la bio para obtener más información.
✍️: Silvia Higuera
Festivales, congresos y conferencias internacionales volverán a reunir a periodistas para debatir los grandes desafíos del oficio. LJR reúne los principales para este año — de Cartagena a Perugia y de Bogotá a Austin.
👆🏼Haz click en el link de la bio para obtener más información.
✍️: Silvia Higuera
👆🏼Click on the link above for more information.
Populist regimes in Latin America lead journalists to use access to information laws less. However, journalists in countries in the region with less press freedom are the ones who make the most use of these laws.
This is according to a transnational study that examined the influence of factors such as populist leadership, press freedom indices and the characteristics of laws, on the perceptions and experiences that journalists in Latin America have regarding access to information.
“Understanding these dynamics is crucial for safeguarding transparency and empowering journalists to hold power accountable—cornerstones of democracy in the region,” Summer Harlow, one of the study authors, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR).
✍️: César López Linares
👆🏼Click on the link above for more information.
Populist regimes in Latin America lead journalists to use access to information laws less. However, journalists in countries in the region with less press freedom are the ones who make the most use of these laws.
This is according to a transnational study that examined the influence of factors such as populist leadership, press freedom indices and the characteristics of laws, on the perceptions and experiences that journalists in Latin America have regarding access to information.
“Understanding these dynamics is crucial for safeguarding transparency and empowering journalists to hold power accountable—cornerstones of democracy in the region,” Summer Harlow, one of the study authors, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR).
✍️: César López Linares
💬 Comente “LJR” para receber o link do artigo completo.
Cristian Góes havia construído uma reputação como colunista que não temia criticar as figuras mais poderosas de Sergipe.
Ele escrevia para o pequeno veículo independente Infonet, sediado em Aracaju, capital litorânea do estado. Até que, um dia, decidiu tentar algo diferente da cobertura factual.
Góes escreveu uma breve obra de ficção que remonta ao Brasil do início do século XX, quando o poder político estava concentrado nas mãos de oligarquias locais sob o coronelismo. Ele escreveu a história intitulada “Eu, o coronel em mim”, em primeira pessoa, a partir da perspectiva de um coronel contemporâneo e sem nome, incomodado com a necessidade de respeitar as regras democráticas.
Um parágrafo — com apenas 57 palavras — assombraria Góes por anos, desencadeando uma batalha judicial que virou sua vida de cabeça para baixo e ameaçou sua carreira. Nele, o narrador reclama de ser obrigado a tolerar protestos públicos. “Não aceito nada”, escreve. “Chamei um jagunço das leis, não por coincidência marido de minha irmã, e dei um pé na bunda desse povo.”
O trecho não nomeava personagens, mas enfureceu alguém com poder para reagir. Um tribunal local condenou Góes a sete meses e 16 dias de prisão por injúria contra o desembargador Edson Ulisses de Melo, que argumentou que a história ficcional era um ataque direto a ele e a seu cunhado, Marcelo Déda, que à época era governador do estado de Sergipe.
O caso, que remonta a 2012, é um retrato de uma tática que se tornou familiar no Brasil: o uso dos tribunais para pressionar jornalistas, cujas reportagens seriam, segundo a acusação, uma violação da “honra” de figuras poderosas.
💬 Comente “LJR” para receber o link do artigo completo.
✍️: Patrícia de Matos
💬 Comente “LJR” para receber o link do artigo completo.
Cristian Góes havia construído uma reputação como colunista que não temia criticar as figuras mais poderosas de Sergipe.
Ele escrevia para o pequeno veículo independente Infonet, sediado em Aracaju, capital litorânea do estado. Até que, um dia, decidiu tentar algo diferente da cobertura factual.
Góes escreveu uma breve obra de ficção que remonta ao Brasil do início do século XX, quando o poder político estava concentrado nas mãos de oligarquias locais sob o coronelismo. Ele escreveu a história intitulada “Eu, o coronel em mim”, em primeira pessoa, a partir da perspectiva de um coronel contemporâneo e sem nome, incomodado com a necessidade de respeitar as regras democráticas.
Um parágrafo — com apenas 57 palavras — assombraria Góes por anos, desencadeando uma batalha judicial que virou sua vida de cabeça para baixo e ameaçou sua carreira. Nele, o narrador reclama de ser obrigado a tolerar protestos públicos. “Não aceito nada”, escreve. “Chamei um jagunço das leis, não por coincidência marido de minha irmã, e dei um pé na bunda desse povo.”
O trecho não nomeava personagens, mas enfureceu alguém com poder para reagir. Um tribunal local condenou Góes a sete meses e 16 dias de prisão por injúria contra o desembargador Edson Ulisses de Melo, que argumentou que a história ficcional era um ataque direto a ele e a seu cunhado, Marcelo Déda, que à época era governador do estado de Sergipe.
O caso, que remonta a 2012, é um retrato de uma tática que se tornou familiar no Brasil: o uso dos tribunais para pressionar jornalistas, cujas reportagens seriam, segundo a acusação, uma violação da “honra” de figuras poderosas.
💬 Comente “LJR” para receber o link do artigo completo.
✍️: Patrícia de Matos
Venezuela is entering one of its most unpredictable periods in years after the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro. Almost immediately, the situation for journalists inside the country escalated.
Watch the full story to see what reporters are facing and how they’re collaborating to inform the world.
#Venezuela #Journalism #Journalists #Media
Venezuela is entering one of its most unpredictable periods in years after the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro. Almost immediately, the situation for journalists inside the country escalated.
Watch the full story to see what reporters are facing and how they’re collaborating to inform the world.
#Venezuela #Journalism #Journalists #Media
💬 Comment “LJR” to receive the article.
Although Latin America faces serious scenarios of disinformation, with direct impacts on electoral processes, social conflicts and even personal finances, there is very little academic research being conducted in the region on the link between AI and disinformation.
The study “Global Mapping of Research on AI and Disinformation,” conducted at the Technical University of Loja (UTPL, for its initials in Spanish) in Ecuador, showed that although academic research on the topic has skyrocketed worldwide in the last two years, in Latin America this research is scarce, isolated and lacks regional comparison.
This vacuum not only limits the understanding of the phenomenon in the Latin American context, but also leaves regional journalism without key scientific references to confront the wave of increasingly sophisticated false content, said Claudia Rodríguez Hidalgo, professor and researcher in the Department of Communication Sciences at UTPL, and one of the authors of the study.
“Latin America is a region heavily affected by disinformation, especially due to its connection to political instability and social crises,” Rodríguez Hidalgo told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). “It’s a research topic that is only just emerging [in Latin America], and the studies that have become most visible are those conducted in collaboration with universities in Spain, primarily.”
💬 Comment “LJR” to receive the article.
✍️: César López Linares
💬 Comment “LJR” to receive the article.
Although Latin America faces serious scenarios of disinformation, with direct impacts on electoral processes, social conflicts and even personal finances, there is very little academic research being conducted in the region on the link between AI and disinformation.
The study “Global Mapping of Research on AI and Disinformation,” conducted at the Technical University of Loja (UTPL, for its initials in Spanish) in Ecuador, showed that although academic research on the topic has skyrocketed worldwide in the last two years, in Latin America this research is scarce, isolated and lacks regional comparison.
This vacuum not only limits the understanding of the phenomenon in the Latin American context, but also leaves regional journalism without key scientific references to confront the wave of increasingly sophisticated false content, said Claudia Rodríguez Hidalgo, professor and researcher in the Department of Communication Sciences at UTPL, and one of the authors of the study.
“Latin America is a region heavily affected by disinformation, especially due to its connection to political instability and social crises,” Rodríguez Hidalgo told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). “It’s a research topic that is only just emerging [in Latin America], and the studies that have become most visible are those conducted in collaboration with universities in Spain, primarily.”
💬 Comment “LJR” to receive the article.
✍️: César López Linares
💬 Comenta “LJR” para el artículo completo
Eran alrededor de las 2:00 de la madrugada del 3 de enero cuando en redes sociales comenzaron a circular reportes de explosiones y ruido de aeronaves a baja altura en la ciudad de Caracas.
Luz Mely Reyes, periodista venezolana en el exilio y directora del medio digital Efecto Cocuyo, no tardó en enterarse de los hechos. Se puso en contacto vía mensaje de texto con un grupo de colegas también en el exilio, quienes en pocos minutos se organizaron para lanzar una transmisión en vivo y narrar a sus compatriotas lo que estaba sucediendo en Venezuela.
En el inicio de la transmisión estuvieron, además de Reyes, César Batiz, director del medio digital El Pitazo; Luis Ernesto Blanco, de Runrun.es; y Víctor Amaya, de TalCual, coordinados por Ronna Rísquez, de la red de medios independientes venezolanos Alianza Rebelde Investiga. A lo largo de la transmisión, se fueron sumando otros, entre ellos el periodista en el exilio César Miguel Rondón.
“En la madrugada del 3 [de enero] un colega mío me dice ‘hay bombardeos en Caracas’, y todos nos activamos en la pequeña redacción virtual que tenemos”, dijo Reyes a LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). “Los que estábamos despiertos decidimos inmediatamente ‘vamos al aire’ y empezamos a hacer la transmisión, que fue histórica”.
Lo que comenzó como un streaming para informar sobre las explosiones en Caracas se convirtió en una transmisión de 10 horas y 48 minutos en la que se fue reportando, explicando y verificando paso a paso la operación militar que terminó en la captura y traslado a Estados Unidos del líder del chavismo Nicolás Maduro, quien hasta ese momento había gobernado Venezuela por más de 12 años.
💬 Comenta “LJR” para recibir el artículo completo
✍️: César López Linares
#venezuela #periodismo #medios
💬 Comenta “LJR” para el artículo completo
Eran alrededor de las 2:00 de la madrugada del 3 de enero cuando en redes sociales comenzaron a circular reportes de explosiones y ruido de aeronaves a baja altura en la ciudad de Caracas.
Luz Mely Reyes, periodista venezolana en el exilio y directora del medio digital Efecto Cocuyo, no tardó en enterarse de los hechos. Se puso en contacto vía mensaje de texto con un grupo de colegas también en el exilio, quienes en pocos minutos se organizaron para lanzar una transmisión en vivo y narrar a sus compatriotas lo que estaba sucediendo en Venezuela.
En el inicio de la transmisión estuvieron, además de Reyes, César Batiz, director del medio digital El Pitazo; Luis Ernesto Blanco, de Runrun.es; y Víctor Amaya, de TalCual, coordinados por Ronna Rísquez, de la red de medios independientes venezolanos Alianza Rebelde Investiga. A lo largo de la transmisión, se fueron sumando otros, entre ellos el periodista en el exilio César Miguel Rondón.
“En la madrugada del 3 [de enero] un colega mío me dice ‘hay bombardeos en Caracas’, y todos nos activamos en la pequeña redacción virtual que tenemos”, dijo Reyes a LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). “Los que estábamos despiertos decidimos inmediatamente ‘vamos al aire’ y empezamos a hacer la transmisión, que fue histórica”.
Lo que comenzó como un streaming para informar sobre las explosiones en Caracas se convirtió en una transmisión de 10 horas y 48 minutos en la que se fue reportando, explicando y verificando paso a paso la operación militar que terminó en la captura y traslado a Estados Unidos del líder del chavismo Nicolás Maduro, quien hasta ese momento había gobernado Venezuela por más de 12 años.
💬 Comenta “LJR” para recibir el artículo completo
✍️: César López Linares
#venezuela #periodismo #medios
