"Today the quality of information is a collective endeavor among sources, readers, informants, and journalists," said media researcher Adriana Amado. LatAm Journalism Review interviewed her about her book "Journalism metaphors: Mutations and challenges," an investigation and reframing of concepts like "mutant journalism" and "gamer culture."
While coverage of femicides focuses on the details of the crimes and presents them as "isolated cases," the majority of the Argentine public wants more focus on preventing gender-based violence and more empathy for the victims, points out the study "Femicidios en los medios y en la opinión pública" ("Femicides in the media and public opinion").
Faced with an increase in violence against the press in Latin America, two South American journalists are promoting a Model Law for the protection of journalists that could be applied worldwide. Chile is the country that has made the most progress in this regard. Paraguay, Mexico and Brazil follow.
Journalists in Latin America have found in true crime podcasts an ideal platform for bringing investigative reporting on real crime to new audiences. However, journalists still face major challenges in terms of distribution and monetization.
Proyecto Desclasificados, in Argentina, created a public and easily accessible database of declassified U.S. government documents related to Argentina, while Archivero, in Mexico, works against the authorities' refusal to allow access to documents classified as "state secrets" or "national security."
Faced with the racial and cultural biases that exist in artificial intelligence tools, journalists from Grupo Octubre (Argentina), El Surtidor (Paraguay) and GMA News (Philippines) created Image2Text, a computer vision platform that seeks to add context from the Global South to image recognition technology.
Brazil is where a growing aversion to the news is worst, as 54% of Brazilians avoid the news, well above the world average of 38%. In Argentina, 46% now say they avoid news content. The other countries in the region surveyed were Chile (38%), Colombia (38%), Mexico (37%), and Peru (37%).
The social movement created in 2015 after a case of femicide that shocked Argentina also caused profound changes in journalism in the country: “gender editor” roles were created in several news outlets and the approach to themes related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was strengthened.
An Argentine, a Chilean and a Brazilian share the challenges they have faced while covering the conflict from the front lines of this Eastern European country. A dangerous environment is not the only obstacle and challenge for journalists in Ukraine. The logistics of coverage have also been complex.
Media accelerator Velocidad shared lessons learned in 16 months of consulting, follow-up and financial support to ten news outlets in Latin America. During this time, these media organizations saw improvements in their organizational structure, audience loyalty, business model and product vision and culture.