Alternative News Reporting in Brazil

This book examines the emergence of alternative forms of news reporting in Brazil with a focus on progressive not-for-profit initiatives. In combining different genres of non-commercial journalism, this study allows us to better understand the potential of alternative news producers in times of continuing technological shifts and their efforts to diversify the news production.

Sarmento explores a range of significant questions, including: what does it mean to practice “alternative” journalism? To what extent do non-mainstream practices subvert the taxonomy of news values? Do alternative journalists adhere to or reject journalism’s core values? And, more specifically, as more and more journalists or media producers are collecting, disseminating and interpreting news without being employed by large media groups, what insights can they provide in relation to the economics of digital journalism?

Using the turbulent political landscape of Brazil as a case study, Sarmento asks us to reflect on what the erosion of traditional journalism really means. The resulting conclusions will be of value to all those who study or practice journalism around the world, in addition to media researchers and activists.

Claudia Sarmento is a Brazilian journalist currently based in London. She holds a PhD in Media and Communication from the University of Westminster and is a former editor at O Globo in Rio de Janeiro. She is a former editor and foreign correspondent at O Globo, one of the leading Brazilian publications. She is currently teaching at King's College London.