Connections and Disconnections
The Presence of Data Journalism in the Caribbean: Analysis of the Frequence of Use in Digital Media from Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ramaris Albert Trinidad
Data-driven journalism is a specialization that allows the compilation and in-depth analysis of structured information to present it in more versatile formats through interactive visualizations and other multimedia tools. This specialty serves to tell stories based on vast amounts of information that, without the assistance of a computer and the application of statistical methods, would be challenging to report. This work presents a study about the degree of penetration of data journalism through a comparative study of the journalistic media of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. For this purpose, an exploratory pilot questionnaire investigated the processes and techniques used by journalists in the preparation of publications in digital media of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, in order to determine whether they apply data journalism from the defining elements that Paul Bradshaw establishes in his inverted pyramid of data journalism. The findings point out that journalists from these countries vary in the level of frequency of use of the five characteristic functions, of which the analysis of databases is the most used by all. The respondents agree that the least used data journalism techniques are the collection of data through contests or open collaboration projects (crowd-sourcing) and the development of tools and informative web applications based on database contents. The digital journalists who have trained in this discipline did so, mainly, through workshops and practical seminars they took on their own initiative.
The Misinformation Networks in Brazil View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gabriel S Huland
Our exposure to immeasurable amounts of news and information constitutes a distinctive mark of the digital age. However, it is well-known that part of this information is either inaccurate, manipulated, or directly fabricated. In times of information overload, members of society must understand how misinformation networks operate. This paper identifies and dissects the networks of production and distribution of fake news in Brazil, giving special focus to the actors involved in disseminating them. It also examines how fake news discourses relate to reactionary populism and other variants of political authoritarianism. As something durable and enduring, the misinformation industries consist of numerous aspects, such as funding networks, channels of production and distribution, ideological systems, and different political actors. The use of misinformation and fake news to favor Jair Bolsonaro during the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections demonstrates that these narratives have the potential to damage electoral processes and prop up political groups interested in destabilizing democratic systems. This paper takes an approach that blends different theoretical frameworks of media studies and political science, such as the political economy of the Internet, frame analysis, fake news theories, the rise of the far-right and other antidemocratic movements, dependency theories, and decolonization approaches. It also explores how growing inequality in the global South and the consolidation of the far-right as a global and long-lasting (although heterogenous) actor relate to the emergence of a digital environment characterized by information abundance. These different phenomena intersect in Brazil in a unique way.
"Competing Narratives" during Times of Crisis: Trump, COVID, and the American Divide View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Laurence French
The chaos surrounding the 2020 U.S. presidential election was exacerbated by the unsuspecting worldwide COVID-19 crisis. Sociopolitical divides in America took on a more dramatic cultural focus, one that evoked deep emotional elements not seen since the turbulent 1960s/70s during the anti-Vietnam/civil rights conflicts. These issues are still being explored and are hardly settled. Central to this dilemma is the use of the "Big Lie" as a major means of mass media communication and its ramifications for future elections and, as some, suspect, American democracy itself. Our paper discusses the socio-political and ethical ramifications of this phenomenon.
