We Brazilian journalists have to admit that we can do more to contribute to the public debate. Every post published by a newspaper in its social networks triggers comments that are examples of how Brazilian society is divided and, worse, intolerant. The polarization we saw in 2014 is increasing even more as we enter 2018 — not by chance, yet another year of general elections.
Of course, it’s not all journalism’s fault. We are immersed in the same tangle of networks that, according to psychoanalyst Christian Dunker, affects our systems of identification and demand, inflates our egos, diminishes our empathy, and creates hatred in the digital world. At the same time that groups close themselves up in filter bubbles with a false sense of consensus, they also attack whoever puts their beliefs in jeopardy.
Far from feeling sorry and pointing fingers, the goal of this second edition of O jornalismo no Brasil (Journalism in Brazil), a partnership between Farol Jornalismo and the Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (Abraji, the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism), is to forecast the conditions we’ll see in 2018 and to propose alternatives, in order to write a different story for the year ahead.
The filter bubbles on social networks will not disappear, nor will the lies spread as if they were news. And it’s not only the public that will be affected by these phenomena; good journalism will also be subject to the effects of a society divided and made up of voracious consumers of social media, as shown by researchers Gabriela Zago and Pablo Ortellado. Brazilian journalists should resist the pressure to reduce editorial standards in order to answer a polarized public that demands content for campaigning to share in their social media profiles. But there are ways to win some of these battles. First of all, we must understand how networks work and help our audience do the same.
“Bursting” these bubbles is also possible — using even the very same weapons that trap us inside them. Against fake news bots, for example, researcher Daniel Magalhães foresees “checking bots,” as well as collaboration between newsrooms and media labs as efforts that will help media outlets use algorithms to their advantage.
In this belligerent atmosphere, it will take a lot of skill from reporters to cover the election. Our series points out two themes that will be highlighted in the political debate: public safety and the environment. The former has great appeal to voters and, to escape from “he said, she said” journalism and the “miraculous proposals and magic solutions” that will surely emerge, professor and former police reporter Francisco Amorim bets on data-driven journalism and notions of statistics. His text is also full of practical tips for anyone who will cover the theme in 2018.
Accused of using environmental issues as a bargaining chip, the federal government is expected to conduct more discussions in this area in the first half of next year, predicts journalist Thiago Medaglia, founder of Ambiental Media. Once again, the path of collaboration seems promising, and journalists should be closer to scholars in order to fight misinterpretations of scientific facts.
Improving our products are an important way to confront the industry’s revenue crisis, according to professor and journalist Rafael Sbarai. In 2018, multidisciplinary positions are expected to gain space in journalistic organizations, especially in digital businesses, from where the most innovative services and products in the Brazilian market should emerge.
According to Nina Weingrill and Simone Cunha, from Énois Escola de Jornalismo, the financial health of media outlets is also linked to their credibility recovery. Although the confidence of the Brazilians in the press is still high, these numbers have been falling, following a tendency seen in newspapers abroad and caused mainly by the discrediting on social networks. Partnerships between big outlets and new initiatives, some from the periphery, are expected to increase in the coming year and may help reverse the situation in Brazil. This strategy is a cost-effective alternative in times of increasingly lean newsrooms.
But the most important outcome of this collaboration is the possibility of increasing the public’s trust by diversifying the ways we looks for new stories and the teams that produce them, which are not very representative, a warning note we sounded in last year’s as well. In this issue, we specifically draw attention to the need for newsrooms to reflect on gender inequality in their newsrooms. Veronica Toste, a Ph.D. in sociology, is the one who approaches the subject and presents unpublished numbers recently raised by Abraji and Gênero & Número in the research Mulheres no Jornalismo (Women in Journalism).
Even though politics promises to take up most of the Brazilian news in 2018, there will be, as in every year of presidential elections, a pause in party debates when we’ll turn our eyes to the World Cup in Russia. The huge event will give journalists opportunities to be creative and explore immersive narratives, according to researchers Suzana Barbosa and Adalton dos Anjos Fonseca.
Despite the fact that the prognoses are generally not optimistic, signs of efforts defending the ethical use of technology in elections can already be seen. A public letter was issued this month in order to preserve freedom of speech and access to quality information and to repudiate the dishonest use of false profiles and the propagation of lies masked as news. Among the signatories are journalistic initiatives such as Agência Lupa and Aos Fatos. Focused on the general public, from citizens and candidates to news outlets and civil society organizations, the #NãoValeTudo (#NotAnythingGoes) campaign could well motivate the work of Brazilian journalists and content producers. Let’s make this pact for 2018.
Marcela Donini is cofounder of Farol Jornalismo. Thiago Herdy is a reporter at O Globo and president of Abraji.
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
L. Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Juleyka Lantigua-Williams Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Richard J. Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way