São Paulo’s Mural Blog Helps Citizens Shed Light on Neglected Communities

By: Izabela Moi | 05/13/2014

For more than three years, the blog Mural has practiced collaborative journalism, run away from stereotypes and sought quality in local coverage.

Community journalism, citizen journalism, hyperlocal journalism, nonprofit journalism. I do not accept any of these labels. In my assessment, what the correspondents for the blog Mural have done for more than three years is good-quality journalism. Good journalism. Period.

It all started in 2010 when Bruno Garcez, an ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellow, developed a program that trained 60 citizen journalists who lived on the outskirts of São Paulo. From this group, 20 embarked on an adventure: a partnership with Folha de S. Paulo, which hosted a news blog about the peripheral regions and municipalities of Greater São Paulo.

Housed by a new host, Mural went live on Nov. 24, 2010. This would be a daily challenge: to work during the hours that remained after studying, paid work and an average three-hour commute in poor and crowded public transportation. Each correspondent is responsible for covering the place where he or she lives -- from story pitch to text, photo and video, everything.

Read the full post on IJNet from Moi, a journalist who has lived and worked in Sao Paolo for 20 years and was recently named a 2014-15 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.


_The International Journalists' Network, IJNet, keeps professional and citizen journalists up to date on the latest media innovations, online journalism resources, training opportunities and expert advice. ICFJ produces IJNet in seven languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. IJNet is supported by donors including the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Image courtesy of SumAll.com with a Creative Commons license.

Latest News

Leveraging AI to Boost Efficiency and Innovation in the News

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has generated excitement and fear alike within the news industry, prompting many to ponder what lies in store for journalism’s future.

If approached smartly and leveraged strategically, AI offers journalists and their outlets promising potential to boost efficiency and innovation.

In an ICFJ

ICFJ at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy

I’m writing to you from Perugia, Italy, where the biggest annual media event in Europe has just kicked off.

ICFJ staffers and dozens of ICFJ network members are here for the International Journalism Festival, to learn, connect and collaborate with other journalists and those who support them from across the

Guidance for Building Trust with the Communities You Serve

Trust in the media has fallen globally. 

Today on average, according to Reuters Institute’s 2023 Digital News Report, just four in 10 people say they trust news most of the time. Amid this decline, people are also more likely to avoid consuming news coverage.

One way journalists and news organizations