Embracing local journalism

We are closing a difficult year. New variants and peaks of COVID, a slow-moving global economic recovery and a broken social fabric that is still recovering. However, this experience has brought with it some lessons that we would like to highlight here. Health journalism has become more relevant, people have learned more and more to consult reliable sources and question the information they receive. Local and alternative media have once again been able to move to other territories and, once again, to strengthen the powerful voices of community leaders.

And of course, there are still pending health issues to work on, such as the sexual and reproductive health and rights of indigenous women, people with disabilities and other historically marginalized populations. For this reason, Sinergias ONG and the Internews Global Health Journalism Network joined forces to discuss how health journalism and grassroots organizations and communities can work in partnership to advance the realization of sexual and reproductive rights for the entire population. We had four panelists representing different but fundamental sectors for this conversation:

So what did you recommend to bring journalism closer to the communities and support the struggles for sexual and reproductive health and rights?

“The recommendation would be to hold dialogues with women defenders, leaders, so that from their voices we can build a journalistic agenda, co-creating stories with the community” Edilma Prada.

• If you are going to report a story or news from a community, INCLUDE THEM. And not just in interviews or photos, it is essential that their voices, ideas, pains and joys are read, heard and seen directly from the source.

“For the people who come to the territory it would be very important to start by getting to know the context, the territory and the differences of the people so that they can explain, understand the territory, work with trust, this issue [sexual and reproductive rights] would not come out overnight" Rosa González.

• How to do this?

  • Visit the territory, get to know the people, their communities, streets, rivers and families. GENERA CONFIANZA, talking about sexual and reproductive rights implies a previous dialogue and a high level of trust.

  • Before arriving with a camera and tape recorder, talk to leaders, women leaders and also to other people in the community; that's where the best stories are.

  • If it is difficult to travel, invite local journalists who know the territory and can narrate from the inside. You can create alliances with organizations that work in the field and can channel the information, always recognizing all contributions.

"Something valuable is to have conversations with [local] colleagues who are filling those gaps that are being left by the mass media, those conversations come out of the dialogues we are having [with this event], being self-critical to identify those gaps." Sergio Silva

• If you already know the territory or the local journalists, the panelists recommended intercultural dialogues, editorial committees, co-creation spaces and word circles with people who know the subject in order to create a joint agenda.

All this will help us to create better stories, news that respond to the needs of the territory, to know the languages, the right words. By knowing the territory or working with someone who knows it, we will know which media are the most consulted, some aspects of the context in which we are working, for example if only the radio works because there is no internet, if it is important to make news written for people with hearing disabilities, if we should produce videos with sign language interpretation.

Rosa and Bubulina, as community leaders, recommend using accessible language that includes the different ways of understanding a concept. For example, Rosa mentions that in the indigenous communities of Vaupés the term sexual and reproductive rights is very long and does not adapt to their territory, but that does not mean that they do not exist or are not needed. Bubulina mentions how fundamental it is to use language that dignifies women with disabilities.

“The idea is that they reach people first, that they chronicle the realities and experiences, that they give a voice to people and women with disabilities...this is part of reaching the reality of the women themselves and how we experience it on a daily basis". Bubulina Moreno

As communicators, journalists or writers, it is fundamental not to judge the visions of different cultures, to understand where the justice and health of indigenous peoples comes from. Sexual violence can be perceived and dealt with very differently from place to place and it is essential to respect that.

“Do not stereotype and ask first, directly to the person with disability, not to the families and doctors. When have women with disabilities ever been asked what they think about forced sterilization?" Bubulina Moreno.

This blog contains only a few aspects that we wanted to highlight from the conversation of our panelists and the work that Sinergias carries out with the communities. We hope that they can serve to contribute to the discussion on the importance of knowing people and territories beyond the figures and data, of establishing dialogues between communities and communicators, journalists and in general any professional who seeks to generate information and contribute in one way or another to the improvement of the health of marginalized populations in the country.

If you want to see the event you can follow this link.

Bonus: What lessons can we learn to make an inclusive event for people with disabilities?

• If you have a visual presentation that you will share at the event, quickly describe what is on each slide. “We are presenting a slide with a blue background with photos of the panelists and the title of the event.”

• Use sign language interpretation! Each country has its own sign language and there is an international one that many people in Latin America can understand.

• You can also use subtitles, Google Meet has a free service that is fairly reliable. Zoom has English only but they have promised to include more language versions.

Daniel Andrés Ocampo - Deaf Interpreter S.I.

Laura Herrera - Hearing Interpreter S.I (International Signs)

Andrea Corredor Acuña - Interpreter LSC Colombian Sign Language. Behind-the-scenes support

This is what it looks like behind the scenes for the interpreters who joined us at the event.