CJR: Knight Fellows are spurring entrepreneurship in Latin America

By: ICFJ | 08/04/2014

In a story on Latin America media innovation, Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) singled out several Knight International Journalism Fellows for blazing the path.

Media Factory, a project by Knight International Journalism Fellow Mariano Blejman, will provide funding and mentorship to promising digital projects in Latin America. This news accelerator was launched in January and will fund three projects: El Cambur, a network of digital media that provides a daily news bulletin aimed at Venezuela’s political moderates; GkillCity.com, a counter-cultural citizens’ media project based in Ecuador; and El Meme, a viral, Buzzfeed-like site based in Argentina.

“We see an opportunity of investment in an emerging community of people [who are] growing very fast and trying to make a change,” Blejman said about the work of Media Factory in an interview with CJR.

Knight International Journalism Fellow James Breiner is also credited with spurring this media revolution. As part of his fellowship, he launched the Digital Journalism Center (Centro de Formación de Periodismo Digital), a training center focusing on new media and the web created in partnership with the University of Guadalajara in Mexico.

Thanks to the Center, journalists across Latin America have launched digital projects of their own. Among them: Emma Amador, who created an investigative news blog in Nicaragua on local issues that other media don’t cover.

_You can read the complete CJR story here._

Image: Mariano Blejman. Photo courtesy of Ramiro Chanes.

Latest News

ICFJ Statement on African News Innovation Challenge

From 2012 to 2014, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) worked in partnership with the African Media Initiative (AMI) to manage programs aimed at helping African media and media support outlets to improve the quality of their journalism, their use of technology, and their financial sustainability. Among these programs was the African News Innovation Challenge (ANIC), with its digital innovation lab, which provided grants and mentoring to organizations with the best ideas for finding technological solutions for news gathering and dissemination.

U.S. Ethnic and Indigenous Media Play Critical Role in Countering Disinformation, New ICFJ Study Finds

While political disinformation is surging across the United States, one part of the news media is proving especially resilient in stopping the spread of false information – ethnic and Indigenous newsrooms, according to a new study by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).

ICFJ+ and Project C to Map Standout News Creators Worldwide

There are a lot of talented news creators out there doing compelling journalistic work. But finding them can be hard. That’s why ICFJ+ and Project C are teaming up to launch regional lists of news creators to watch across the globe. The goal is simple: surface and elevate news creators who are building deep relationships with loyal audiences across newsletters, video, podcasts, social media, and more.