{"id":32037,"date":"2016-08-24T09:57:48","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T12:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=32037"},"modified":"2022-07-05T12:30:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T15:30:03","slug":"the-best-and-worst-of-olympics-reporting-on-rio-de-janeiros-favelas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=32037","title":{"rendered":"The Best and Worst of Olympics Reporting on Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This is the latest contribution to our media watchdog series on the\u00a0Best and Worst International Reporting on Rio\u2019s favelas<\/a>, part of\u00a0<\/em>RioOnWatch\u2019s ongoing conversation on the\u00a0media narrative<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0media portrayal<\/a>\u00a0surrounding favelas.<\/em><\/p>\n

The international media is aflutter\u00a0with assessments of the Olympic Games<\/a>, but how did the media themselves fare<\/a> in reporting on the city of Rio and its favelas?<\/p>\n

The words “slum” and “shantytown” were unfortunately back in full force during the Games, as “parachute” journalists less familiar with Rio struggled to explain favelas to foreign audiences. A large number of articles\u00a0covered athletes visiting favelas, and while Olympians like basketball star Carmelo Anthony had only positive things to say about Santa Marta<\/a>, the journalists reporting on his visit often supplemented his reflections with stigmatizing assumptions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, we saw more media than ever before taking pains to explicitly\u00a0debunk favela stereotypes, including high-profile programs like NBC’s The Today Show<\/em><\/a>. Experienced Rio correspondents and other insightful reporters refused to get swept away entirely by Olympic euphoria,\u00a0keeping a spotlight on critical issues facing favelas and highlighting these communities’ qualities alongside their challenges. Here’s our take on the best and worst favela reporting from the Olympics.<\/p>\n

The Worst<\/h3>\n

In one of the more mind-boggling and careless factual errors we\u2019ve seen, a USA Today<\/em> video<\/a><\/strong> claimed that 40% of Rio\u2019s favela residents use crack. The claim appears to be informed by a church minister working with crack users who can be heard stating that statistic in Portuguese, but the video\u2019s English-speaking narrator presents it as a fact, rather than a direct quote. This is an absurd claim, as even the number of regular crack users across all Brazilian capital cities<\/a> does not add up to 40% of Rio favela residents, and crack\u00a0use is not limited to low-income areas. USA Today<\/em>\u2019s gross exaggeration is a fundamentally unproductive misrepresentation of favelas, while the article overall does little to destigmatize addiction.<\/p>\n

\"USA<\/a><\/p>\n

An article on Sporting News<\/em><\/a><\/strong> suggests that \u201cfreak-out[s]\u201d about security threats in Rio are valid \u201cbecause the pleasant neighborhoods are always hugged by the vicious poverty that has come to define the city\u2019s favela\u2014slums, essentially\u2014communities.\u201d It\u2019s unclear who gave this author the authority to pronounce what defines favelas, especially since he appears not to have visited one or spoken to residents for this piece. Meanwhile, contrasting favelas with \u201cpleasant neighborhoods\u201d smacks of elitism that is blind to the culture<\/a>, innovation, and community that also could \u201cdefine\u201d favelas. The author describes \u201cspillover violence from the favelas\u201d without a nod to the country\u2019s systemic violence that has spilled over from the pre-colonial era into modern Rio to continuously marginalize poor, black favela residents<\/a>. The lack of context is unsurprising, given the main source for this article is a \u201csecurity expert\u201d who spent a whole \u201ctwo weeks\u201d in Rio before the Olympics.<\/p>\n

A short AP<\/em> article<\/a><\/strong> accompanying a series of photos suggests poverty, drugs and violence \u201cdominate life\u201d in Rio\u2019s favelas, described as \u201cgrim slums\u201d and \u201cshantytowns.\u201d While the failures of the state pacification policy<\/a> are important to highlight, this article leaves readers with the impression there is little else to favelas outside of drug traffickers\u2019 conflicts, which belies the fact that less than 1% of favela residents are involved in drug trafficking. Image captions identify where each photo was taken, but the article itself says \u201cgruesome scenes of death and impunity play out daily in Rio’s hundreds of shantytowns,\u201d as if all favelas experience the same levels of violence and in the same way. In reality, most\u00a0favelas<\/a> have no trafficking influence at all, while some others have a trafficking presence but little conflict.<\/p>\n

\"AP<\/a><\/p>\n

In a double-whammy headline, a Christian Today<\/em> article<\/a><\/strong> calls favelas both \u201ccrime-infested slums\u201d and a \u201ccenter of witchcraft.\u201d The claims of witchcraft are likely an ugly attack on Candombl\u00e9<\/a>, a traditional Afro-Brazilian religion which has faced immense prejudice in Brazil for centuries. The report\u2019s depiction of visitor-friendly<\/a> favela Santa Marta as the city\u2019s \u201cmost violent section\u201d where \u201cmost\u2026 husbands are in prison\u201d is about as inaccurate as its labeling of Rio as the \u201cBrazilian capital.\u201d The blatant criminalization of the community\u2019s residents is exactly the kind of reporting that serves to justify violent state policies<\/a> against favelas.<\/p>\n

Ten days into the Games, former Brazil correspondent Roger Cohen wrote in The New York Times<\/em><\/a><\/strong> that he was \u201ctired, very tired, of reading negative stories about these Brazilian Olympics\u2014the anger in the slums, the violence that continues\u2026, the enduring gulf between rich and poor,\u201d and so forth. Does Cohen not realize that Rio\u2019s favela residents, too, are \u201ctired, very tired\u201d of violence? He prioritizes his own privileged desire to indulge in uplifting sports stories<\/a>, unperturbed by pesky societal inequalities, over the urgent need of Rio residents to draw international media attention to their long-term struggles. Asking for a blackout on negative stories is to dismiss millions of people\u2019s experiences of the impacts of these Games. To write unequivocally and without evidence, as Cohen does, that \u201cthese Olympics are good for Brazil and good for humanity\u201d is to abandon journalistic nuance entirely.<\/p>\n

The Best<\/h3>\n

Matt Sandy\u2019s report “Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Forgotten Legacy of Slavery Shadows the Olympics<\/a>” for TIME<\/em> magazine<\/strong> is a vital exploration of Rio\u2019s history of slavery<\/a> in the context of the Olympic port developments<\/a> on the site where two million<\/a> enslaved Africans arrived and Brazil\u2019s problematic relationships to race<\/a> and labor remain ongoing. Thoroughly researched and based on interviews with a range of experts and local residents, the article is an essential look at the ways in which Rio\u2019s history of slavery is remembered, forgotten and impacts the city today. Bloomberg\u00a0<\/em>coverage<\/a>\u00a0of the heavy corporate presence in the revitalized Port in contrast to the “sidelined” slave history provides further excellent analysis on this topic.<\/p>\n

Johnny Harris\u2019 superb video report “Inside Rio\u2019s favelas, the city\u2019s neglected neighborhoods<\/a>” for Vox<\/em><\/strong> is an explicitly stigma-busting<\/a> look at the city\u2019s favelas. Ambitious in scope, visually arresting and masterfully produced, the video is a fast-paced and dynamic journey through favelas across the city, covering the history<\/a>, definition<\/a>, qualities<\/a> and most strikingly, creativity of Rio\u2019s favelas. Harris doesn\u2019t gloss over the problems of drug gang and police violence<\/a>, but makes a nuanced and persuasive case for these being the least interesting frame through which to view and understand these vibrant communities.<\/p>\n