Bills making their way through Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies will be closely followed by a new kind of beat reporter: a news-producing robot, the first of its kind in the country.
Brazilian voters will have a robot helper to fight disinformation in this year's general elections. Her name is Fátima, a conversational bot that is being developed by the team at fact-checking site Aos Fatos in partnership with Facebook. Fátima’s launch is scheduled for June, in time for the October elections.
Can a rapidly growing digital media outlet, which focuses exclusively on judicial matters and which charges for information, succeed and become sustainable in the current media environment? The founders of Brazilian site JOTA – named for the J in Justice – are proving that yes, all this is possible.
If you are a woman working in a newsroom, the above accounts may seem familiar. They were collected during focus groups for the report "Women in Brazilian Journalism," produced in partnership between the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji, for its acronym in Portuguese) and the journalism site Gênero e Número. The results indicate that 70.4 percent of the women who answered the online survey said someone had made a pass at them at work that made them feel uncomfortable. Another 70.2 percent reported having seen or heard of harassment of colleagues in the workplace.
On Nov. 29, the São Paulo Court of Justice (TJ-SP) denied an appeal in the second instance from Brazilian photographer Sérgio Silva, who sought compensation from the State for losing his left eye after being hit by a rubber bullet while covering a protest in São Paulo on June 13, 2013.
Only a couple years ago, data journalism was starting to mature in Brazil, gaining recognition from the country’s media outlets and awards organizations as an effective method of revealing trends and producing material that would not have been possible before. Today, the country celebrates a consolidated and growing community. Brazil has become a meeting place for professionals from all over the world.
On Nov. 29, the São Paulo Court of Justice (TJ-SP) denied an appeal in the second instance from Brazilian photographer Sérgio Silva, who sought compensation from the State for losing his left eye after being hit by a rubber bullet while covering a protest in São Paulo on June 13, 2013.
Although the promise the internet would be a way to create a global village has, to some extent, been achieved, digital media have also allowed the production of hyperlocalized and hyperspecialized information. In Brazil, where 66 percent of the population is connected to the Internet, social networks have allowed the creation of hyperlocal media – pages and groups that focus on a neighborhood, a place or even a street.
The fight against fake news will likely be a priority for several Brazilian governmental entities as the country faces national elections in the coming year. The National Congress, the Superior Electoral Court, Army and Federal Police have already stressed the importance of reducing fake news commonly disseminated on social networks in order to prevent negative influence on the contests for the president, governors, congressmen and senators.
A decision by the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil (STF for its acronym in Portuguese) maintained the censorship of the blog of carioca journalist Marcelo Auler. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes denied the continuation of a complaint filed by the journalist, who requested an injunction to suspend a sentence that prevents the publication of two of his reports.