Nieman Lab.
Predictions for
Journalism, 2024.
In 2023, Brazilians realized that climate change is not a concern for the future. Historic droughts in the Amazon, heatwaves in the Southeast, the Pantanal on fire, and floods in the South showed that the catastrophe is real and already happening. And when a crisis comes knocking, people turn to Journalism to make better decisions. This is what is happening with the climate emergency.
In 2024, Brazilian journalism must incorporate the climate crisis into its discourse.
The municipal elections in October could be a good opportunity. Generally unprepared to deal with issues requiring prevention, public authorities will be exposed to the scrutiny of a population suffering the consequences of a multidimensional problem and, therefore, may be slippery when assigning responsibility. Connecting the dots will be our job.
Disinformation, as always, will be one of the biggest challenges, mainly because the news deserts are most barren far from the urban centers and on the outskirts of the big cities. When the heat is stifling, and the water is invading the houses, fake news replaces accurate information and public action — or the lack of it.
One of the ways out for journalism — as we have seen in recent times — is to get closer to audiences. It requires more than transparency and asking what interests them. We need more diverse newsrooms that can win over a section of society that our discourse has never really covered: Children and young people.
The challenge will be to narrate what is happening and incorporate a temporality that moves away from the daily (instant!) beat of the news to offer a more complex understanding of everyday events. Public safety coverage is a case in point. On a broader scale, the knowledge of Indigenous peoples — and the narratives they produce — will also be crucial. In 2024, Brazilian journalism will need to be more attentive to Indigenous communication and the professionals who make it.
It’s a huge task. As well as dealing with an increasingly complex global scenario, we still need to understand how artificial intelligence can benefit our work. The first step is to incorporate it into the profession’s processes in such a way as to put it at the service of journalism and not the other way around. The same goes for the discussion on social media platforms, which should be regulated next year.
This is what the 10 authors invited by Farol Jornalismo and Abraji predicted for the most recent edition of O jornalismo no Brasil (Journalism in Brazil), a unique feature that for the past eight years has brought together journalists and researchers to reflect on what to expect from journalism in the coming year.
The predictions for 2024 were written by Ana Regina Barros Rêgo Leal, Ariene Susui, Cristina Tardáguila, Fausto Salvadori, Gabi Coelho, Giovana Girardi, Jamile Santana, Juliana Doretto, Maurício Ferro, Sanara Santos, and Thaís Helena Furtado. All the texts are available here, in Portuguese.
Moreno Cruz Osório is cofounder of Farol Jornalismo.
In 2023, Brazilians realized that climate change is not a concern for the future. Historic droughts in the Amazon, heatwaves in the Southeast, the Pantanal on fire, and floods in the South showed that the catastrophe is real and already happening. And when a crisis comes knocking, people turn to Journalism to make better decisions. This is what is happening with the climate emergency.
In 2024, Brazilian journalism must incorporate the climate crisis into its discourse.
The municipal elections in October could be a good opportunity. Generally unprepared to deal with issues requiring prevention, public authorities will be exposed to the scrutiny of a population suffering the consequences of a multidimensional problem and, therefore, may be slippery when assigning responsibility. Connecting the dots will be our job.
Disinformation, as always, will be one of the biggest challenges, mainly because the news deserts are most barren far from the urban centers and on the outskirts of the big cities. When the heat is stifling, and the water is invading the houses, fake news replaces accurate information and public action — or the lack of it.
One of the ways out for journalism — as we have seen in recent times — is to get closer to audiences. It requires more than transparency and asking what interests them. We need more diverse newsrooms that can win over a section of society that our discourse has never really covered: Children and young people.
The challenge will be to narrate what is happening and incorporate a temporality that moves away from the daily (instant!) beat of the news to offer a more complex understanding of everyday events. Public safety coverage is a case in point. On a broader scale, the knowledge of Indigenous peoples — and the narratives they produce — will also be crucial. In 2024, Brazilian journalism will need to be more attentive to Indigenous communication and the professionals who make it.
It’s a huge task. As well as dealing with an increasingly complex global scenario, we still need to understand how artificial intelligence can benefit our work. The first step is to incorporate it into the profession’s processes in such a way as to put it at the service of journalism and not the other way around. The same goes for the discussion on social media platforms, which should be regulated next year.
This is what the 10 authors invited by Farol Jornalismo and Abraji predicted for the most recent edition of O jornalismo no Brasil (Journalism in Brazil), a unique feature that for the past eight years has brought together journalists and researchers to reflect on what to expect from journalism in the coming year.
The predictions for 2024 were written by Ana Regina Barros Rêgo Leal, Ariene Susui, Cristina Tardáguila, Fausto Salvadori, Gabi Coelho, Giovana Girardi, Jamile Santana, Juliana Doretto, Maurício Ferro, Sanara Santos, and Thaís Helena Furtado. All the texts are available here, in Portuguese.
Moreno Cruz Osório is cofounder of Farol Jornalismo.
