Journalists from El Salvador, Venezuela, Brazil and Panama were winners at the 15th edition of the Latin American Awards for Investigative Journalism. The Press and Society Institute (IPYS for its acronym in Spanish) and nonprofit Transparency International revealed the winners on Nov. 5 during the 2017 Latin American Conference for Investigative Journalism (COLPIN). In addition to recognizing the award winners, the organizations also provided funding for new transnational investigations.
Brazil is in "red alert" due to the high concentration of audience, of property and geographical location, lack of transparency and economic, political and religious interference in the country's media. This is the main conclusion of the survey on media ownership in Brazil carried out by the Intervozes communication collective in partnership with the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF for its acronym in Spanish).
Mexico and Brazil are among the countries that saw the highest increases in impunity ratings in cases of murders of journalists over the past 10 years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and its 10th Annual Global Impunity Index.
In the course of 9,190 miles and four months, reporters Bob Fernandes and Bruno Miranda visited four Brazilian states to find out who pulled the trigger and who ordered the firing of 36 shots that killed six Brazilian journalists in iconic cases for the country's press.
Brazil’s Grupo Globo, one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, announced changes to the direction and operation of its two main print outlets, newspaper O Globo and weekly magazine Época on Oct. 23. The changes point to an attempt to renew the media organizations in the context of the newspaper’s digital expansion and the decreased print circulation of both publications.
With the objective of sharing experiences and “getting your hands dirty,” the Escola de Dados (School of Data) is organizing the second edition of the pioneering Brazilian Conference on Data Journalism and Digital Methods, Coda.Br, on Nov. 25 and 26 in São Paulo. The idea is to bring together professionals from various fields to discuss common issues such as algorithmic responsibility, machine learning and privacy. Registration is open.
Residents of favelas, villages and low-income neighborhoods all over Brazil gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the 1st National Meeting of Communication of the Peripheries. After four days of discussion between Oct. 12 and 15, 70 activists and communicators wrote a statement in which they committed to creating a network of support and action to use communication as a tool to fight for life and to guarantee human rights.
On Oct. 7, the Brazilian digital newspaper Nexo won a 2017 Online Journalism Award (OJA) in the category "General Excellence in Online Journalism - small newsrooms.” As a result, the outlet became the first in the country to win the top category of the prize from the Online News Association (ONA), which recognizes the excellence of digital journalism around the world.
The Public Prosecutor of the State of São Paulo wants to identify and punish those who threaten or persecute journalists on social networks. From now on, it will be possible to make a complaint to the entity’s Center for Combating Cybercrime, which wants to identify groups that incite the actions of “haters.” However, the change is valid only for the state of São Paulo.
Brazil has seen dozens of independent journalism initiatives emerge in recent years, many of them launched with the proposal of innovating in terms of content and the ways it’s presented. One challenge facing most of these initiatives concerns financial sustainability: how to generate the income needed to improve journalistic quality, keeping content accessible to as many people as possible?
On Sept. 19, a justice of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF for its acronym in Portuguese) overturned prior censorship imposed on Portal 180graus, journalistic site of Piauí in northeastern Brazil, which was decided by a State judge at the end of August.
In just one year, Brazilian journalists received almost $1 million (U.S.) in prizes for their work. This is according to a recent report published by premiosdejornalismo.com, a site that catalogs awards available to journalists working in the South American country, with the idea that these prizes contribute to strengthening the trade.