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Citizen Media in Latin America

Written by Rich Vázquez

News - Culture - Latin America

Many sites have cropped up in Latin America allowing citizens to submit news stories and videos. MediaShift, a blog by PBS, details this phenomenon and points out some of the top sites. I attended the Texas Community Media Summit this weekend. While citizen media was discussed, it was general community media that was present. Public Television, Free and subscribed locally owned newspapers and a few blogs. During a discussion of advocacy journalism and whether we should advocate or tell neutral facts, many pointed out that large corporate media giants have had advocacy for quite some time, and the representation of those we advocate for has been slanted for years, if not centuries.

It was also noted that sometimes presenting the facts is advocacy, like the ADL and NCLR site "We Can Stop the Hate." Pointing out that Hugo Chavez's policies are put before the people and either lose or win in wide margins and detailing the international monitors that say the elections are clean should go a long way in stopping the slant that Hugo Chavez is a dictator.

Everyone should look around at their local media outlets, the small paper you always walk by or the public television station you never turn on. There is a strong group of people constantly fighting to keep a segment of the media online independent and focus on every day life.

Look at the MediaShift list of sites, but also remember you can contribute to this site by submitting links that are useful or articles. Just create a log in and/or contact me.