One year after the first survey carried out by LATAM Intersect PR with nearly 300 Latin American journalists to investigate the impact of the pandemic on newsrooms, the agency once again investigates the topic through an updated survey.
The aim is to show how the journalistic community continues to exhibit remarkable resilience and adaptability in almost every aspect of their professional lives, while highlighting some important aspects for the post-pandemic future.
In 2020, the research core of communications and public relations agency LatAm Intersect PR conducted a survey between July 10 and 15 through an email questionnaire, reaching 293 active journalists from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile , Argentina and Costa Rica, whose collective reach reaches more than 170 million people.
To compare and track the changes seen in 2020, the agency conducted a new survey, between October 4 and November 22, 2021, which drew insights from 303 active journalists from the same wide range of countries and collectively relevant reach.
Continuing research provided an impressive picture of how emerging trends in 2020 have evolved over the year and how journalists and media professionals in Latin America are experiencing the present moment; and also what to expect from the future.
The first positive news is that the disruption the pandemic has caused to journalists’ professional lives appears to be decreasing, and the proportion of Latin American journalists who responded that they could continue operating ‘without interruption’ increased by 10% (from 52% of respondents in June 2020 to 62.9%. ).
However, looking closely, we can see that this attitude is not shared by everyone. While in Argentina 78.2% of journalists work “100% uninterruptedly”, in Mexico the number is only 47.4%. However, in any case, these numbers still represent an improvement over last year, when only 65.3% of Argentine journalists and 39.3% of Mexicans made this statement.
As Maria José Braga, President of FENAJ (National Federation of Journalists) in Brazil comments: “despite all the difficulties, Brazilian journalists continued to fulfill the important role of bringing information of public interest to their audiences. This is already essential in normal times, and it becomes even more relevant in times of crisis such as the one we live in.”
Furthermore, many journalists seem to have growing confidence in the newsroom’s new modus operandi. While a year ago only 37% thought that the media had successfully adapted business models to the new reality, the most recent survey shows that a year after the pandemic, 41% of respondents believe these models remain sustainable, and another 18, 4% believe they have changed for the better.’
There is still a large number of journalists who believe that the post-pandemic journalism model is not sustainable and only survives for lack of better alternatives (37.5%). However, this attitude is much less common than in June 2020, when half (50%) of respondents considered it unsustainable in the long term..
But apparently the evolution of the pandemic has brought a new collective feeling. Looking ahead, Latin American journalists are slightly less optimistic than last year, with 65.9% of media professionals in the region saying they are ‘optimistic’ or ‘very optimistic’ about their future profession, compared with with 72% in June 2020.
Brazilian journalists are by far the most optimistic about the future of their profession, with nearly a quarter (22.5%) saying they are “very optimistic”, compared to just 5.9% of Chilean journalists, the least optimistic. .
Braga explains this caution, “due to the pandemic, there has been a reassessment of journalism, with more and more people looking for reliable information, but we need to collectively discuss the sustainability of journalism, how to have financial resources for media production and how not to there is journalism without journalists, we must seek better salaries for professionals in the sector”.
Perhaps this drop in optimism was caused by a small but worrisome increase in layoffs among Latin American media organizations. While by June 2020, nearly a fifth (19%) of news organizations had laid off between 10% and 30% of their employees, that number rose to 22% in the latest survey. Nearly a third (28.1%) of publications have dismissed 30% or more of their staff since the start of the pandemic.
A notable trend from last year’s survey was that 71% of Latin American journalists increased their presence on social media, with nearly half (48%) leveraging their personal networks to post and promote their work.
Overall, social media use continued its upward momentum, with 75% of respondents reporting that, since the start of the pandemic, they use social media “more often” or “much more often” and nearly a third (32 .6%) agree that it is their ‘main source of contact’ with spokespersons and companies.
In conclusion, the past year has made the work of Latin American journalists more demanding and precarious. While most journalists seem to have faced the new demands, there are still some who consider these changes unsustainable and others who remain unsure of what the future holds.
Social media continues to play an increasingly dominant role in how news is obtained and spread, while vaccines begin to affect how journalists see the future. Many journalists seem to favor a return to face-to-face work, while trying to maintain the new “hybrid” model that has emerged.
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