{"id":34479,"date":"2016-12-29T11:59:57","date_gmt":"2016-12-29T14:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=34479"},"modified":"2020-10-20T10:41:05","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T13:41:05","slug":"favelas-in-the-media-how-the-global-narrative-on-favelas-changed-in-rios-mega-event-years-report-launched-with-panel-at-casa-publica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=34479","title":{"rendered":"“Favelas in the Media: How the Global Narrative on Favelas Changed in Rio\u2019s Mega-Event Years” Report Launched"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

On Thursday, December 15<\/a>, Catalytic Communities (CatComm<\/a>), the NGO that publishes RioOnWatch<\/em>,\u00a0released<\/a> its report Favelas in the Media: How the Global Narrative on Favelas Changed in Rio\u2019s Mega-Event Years<\/a>, a study of the international media\u2019s portrayal of favelas from 2008-2016.<\/p>\n

CatComm Executive Director and RioOnWatch<\/em> Editor\u00a0Theresa Williamson<\/a> presented a short overview of the report and opened a dynamic panel discussion about the role of international media in covering Rio’s favelas during the city’s pre-Olympic years, featuring:\u00a0Raull Santiago<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Alem\u00e3o<\/a>‘s media collective\u00a0Coletivo Papo Reto<\/a>;\u00a0Michel Silva<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Rocinha<\/a>‘s community print newspaper\u00a0Jornal Fala Ro\u00e7a<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and community contributor to\u00a0The Guardian<\/em><\/a>‘s View\u00a0from the Favelas<\/a> series; Sandra Maria<\/a>, community organizer from Vila Aut\u00f3dromo which received widespread international visibility due to its eviction for the Olympic Games; Dom Phillips<\/a>, Washington Post<\/em> correspondent and regular contributor to The Guardian<\/em>; and Leonardo Cust\u00f3dio, favela media-activism researcher<\/a>. The event was graciously hosted by Casa P\u00fablica<\/a>, a non-profit center for investigative journalism, located in Botafogo.<\/p>\n

RioOnWatch<\/em> and Other Tools to Change the Narrative<\/h3>\n

Williamson began by presenting on how RioOnWatch<\/em> began. Short for Rio Olympics Neighborhood Watch, RioOnWatch\u00a0<\/em>borrowed from the English concept of a\u00a0neighborhood watch<\/a>. The site began as a collaborative blog during CatComm’s 2010 Strategic Use of Social Media training<\/a> for favela organizers, as a collective blog\u00a0for them to report on the changes they saw taking place in pre-Olympic Rio, from the vantage point of their communities.<\/p>\n

By late 2010 the site was also publishing accounts by volunteer ‘international observers’ (building on similar networks established in Vancouver prior to their Winter Games), including documenting the first mega-event-induced forced evictions<\/a> of favelas in Rio.<\/p>\n

These reports caught the attention of international freelancers and global correspondents for major outlets, who were arriving in Rio at the time to cover the mega-event build-up years. By early 2011 major outlets began seeking out CatComm<\/a> staff\u00a0for context, story ideas, and contacts in favelas, and following\u00a0RioOnWatch<\/em> for context, updates and leads.<\/p>\n

However, CatComm team members detected a significant lapse between the reality of Rio’s favelas and the coverage that ensued, particularly from “parachute journalists” who would arrive for short periods, but even among major contributors to international publications. Inaccurate, unbalanced, stigmatizing portrayals of favelas were common, and journalists, focused on specific stories and fast deadlines, were unaware of how their reporting contributed to a global stigma that legitimized counter-productive policies towards favela communities on-the-ground. Ultimately, this meant that stigmatizing coverage further exacerbated problems which led to more stigmatizing coverage, in a sort of relentless wheel that kept communities marginalized.<\/p>\n

CatComm thus noted the opportunity presented by\u00a0Rio’s mega-event years to improve the narrative surrounding favelas, given\u00a0the greater quality and quantity of coverage Rio would experience during these years. The organization then set out to provide a number of tools to hasten improvements in coverage, beyond RioOnWatch<\/em>,\u00a0including its RioONWire<\/a> favela news wire, World Cup press<\/a> resources,\u00a0press materials<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Olympics Resources for Journalists<\/a>, analyzing the Best and Worst reporting<\/a> on favelas regularly,\u00a0alternative press conferences<\/a>, community contact lists<\/a> and maps<\/a>, reality tours<\/a>, and one-on-one support<\/a> for journalists covering Rio, which over time resulted in hundreds of reports<\/a> supported or facilitated by the CatComm team. CatComm also kept track of all international coverage through monthly digests<\/a> sent to researchers’ and journalists’ inboxes.<\/p>\n

Favelas in the Media Report Launch<\/h3>\n

Catalytic Communities’ research coordinator Cerianne Robertson led a team of approximately 30 volunteers over three years in researching and compiling the report,\u00a0Favelas in the Media: How the Global Narrative on Favelas Changed in Rio’s Mega-Event Years<\/a>,\u00a0launched and summarized\u00a0by Williamson at the event. All 1094 articles mentioning ‘favela’ and published in eight diverse major English-speaking publications from 2008-2016\u00a0were coded. Publications covered included The New York Times<\/em>, The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, USA Today<\/em>, The Guardian<\/em>, The Daily Mail<\/em>, The Telegraph<\/em>, Associated Press<\/em>, and Al Jazeera<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Broadly speaking, the\u00a0study found that coverage of favelas increased significantly, with the most taking place in\u00a02013-14 and 2015-16, the years leading up to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. Over the eight-year period, the media continued to portray favelas negatively most of the time. \u201cSlum<\/a>\u201d remained the most-used English translation for favela, and \u201cviolence and drugs\u201d was the most common topic.<\/p>\n

The full report is available in English<\/a> and Portuguese<\/a>. The full presentation from the December 15 launch is available here:<\/p>\n