Latinamerica

The online journalism in Latin America

Austin, Texas, April 16-2004

Sources of information• From an online survey, performed by

eltiempo.com

• From the analysis of the works submitted to the Foundation for a New Iberian-American Journalism Award for online journalism

Support from…

• The Grupo de Diarios América, GDA, is a consortium of the fourteen most influential newspapers in twelve countries, which include: La Nación (Argentina), O Globo (Brazil), Zero Hora (Brazil), Diario de Sao Paulo (Brazil), El Mercurio (Chile), El Tiempo (Colombia), La Nación (Costa Rica), Siglo XXI (Guatemala), El Comercio (Ecuador), El Universal (Mexico), El Comercio (Perú), El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico), El País (Uruguay) and El Nacional (Venezuela).

Support from…

• Foundation for a New Iberian-American Journalism (Fundación para el Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano). Founded in 1984, the foundation is a nonprofit presided over by journalist and writer Gabriel García Márquez. The foundation promotes continuing education of journalists from Ibero-American countries.

• Inter American Press Association.

The survey• Survey realized through the Internet by

eltiempo.com, the official site to El Tiempo daily paper and the most visited site in Colombia. The research was organized by journalists Julio César Guzmán and Guillermo Franco.

• The survey was answered by more than 70 leaders of websites, Internet units or newspapers’ dotcoms. The latter group includes market leaders of almost each country in Latin America.

The survey

Newspapers’ dotcoms • Payroll• Profile of the online journalists• Training of the online journalists• Content• Reporting cycle• Revenues

Newspapers’ dotcoms

• 68 per cent of the dotcoms is run by eight or fewer journalists. At other websites, small newsrooms are more common: 81 per cent has eight or fewer journalists.

• Payroll:


• Dotcom journalists’ payrolls represent between 5 and 10 per cent of the total newsroom’s (print + online).

• Payroll:

Newspapers’ dotcoms • Profile of the

online journalist• Most of the

journalists at dotcoms and newspapers in Latin America (87 per cent) are aged between 20 and 30.

Newspapers’ dotcoms • Profile of the online journalist

– Which of those following sentences do you think best describes the perception of print journalists about online journalists? a. "They are the future” b. “That Internet thing is nothing but temporary hype”c. "I want to know more about online journalism"d. They are going to cannibalize use. "They’re just a bunch of nerds"f. Their level is lower than ours

Newspapers’ dotcoms • Profile of the

online journalist• Most of the

newspaper dotcoms’ leaders in Latin America believe online journalists are seen as “of a lower level” than their colleagues of the print edition.

Newspapers’ dotcoms • Profile of the online journalist:

– How would you describe the focus of your journalism activity?a. Mostly oriented towards reporting.b. Mostly oriented towards editing and writing.c. Mostly oriented towards audio and video editing.d. Mostly oriented towards creation of multimedia products.e. Balanced between all the previous options.

Newspapers’ dotcoms • Profile of the online journalist:

– None of the Latin American papers’ dotcoms considers reporting as the focus of their journalist activity; the vast majority believes their focus is text writing and editing. A small part thinks it is the generation of multimedia content.

– On the other hand, at newsy websites that don't come from a newspaper reporting is the focus for 28 per cent of them.


• Almost half, 49 per cent, of the journalists of papers’ digital editions earn less than journalists of the print editions and 43 per cent earn the same as their print edition counterparts.

• Profile of the online journalist


• More than half (53 per cent) of the newspaper’s dotcom’s journalists in Latin America doesn’t have educational background in online journalism whereas 47 por cent does.

• Training of the online journalist

Newspapers’ dotcoms • Training of the online journalist:

– 61 per cent of the academic programs offered in their countries are taught as courses or seminars; 13 per cent are at the undergraduate level and 13 per cent at the postgraduate level. More than half of the journalists asked assure that the quality of such programs is not good.


• 70 per cent of the people responsible for the dotcom departments at the Latin American papers believe that their greatest need in terms of training is the creation of multimedia products.

• Training of the online journalist


• 78 per cent says they do not rewrite texts from the print edition.– 91 per cent says

they edit to some extent the international wires they receive.

• Content


• Likewise, audience preferences are first sports news, followed by politics-related information, the ones regarding law and order and entertaiment.

• Content: – The sections where

dotcoms concentrate the largest amount of own-generated content are:


• Only 14 per cent of the newsrooms at newspapers generate real time content for their online editions as part of the company’s policies. 9 per cent does it out of their own initiative; 63 per cent just does it occasionally whereas 14 per cent does not do it.

• Content:

Newspapers’ dotcoms • Although 92 per

cent of the dotcoms assure they are autonomous at defining the focus of their information, at least 55 per cent mentioned the existence of some type of content withhold regarding the print edition.

• Content:


• 43 per cent of the Latin American papers’ dotcoms say they use audio and video in their sites. Out of that percentage, half say they do it sistematically, whereas the other half says they used it for special projects.

• Content


• Only 10 per cent of the newspapers’ dotcoms in Latin America says they update the content 24 hours a day. 61 per cent does it between 15 and 20 hours. Our reporting cycle: 15-20/5.

• The reporting cycle


• 78 per cent says they update their sites as many times as needed.



• On weekends, the situation doesn’t get any better: only 5 per cent updates 24 hours; 67 per cent does it between 12 and 20 hours; and 9 per cent does not update.


Newspapers’ dotcoms • The reporting cycle:

– At the other websites, updating seems to be less importance since roughly 60 per cent of the participants in the survey updates their content for 12 hours or less on weekdays and 22 per cent doesn't even cover news on weekends.


• 83 per cent of the Latin American papers’ dotcoms has discussed the issue of charging for their content.

• 61 per cent has already adopted some model of user registration.

• Revenue:


• For the 39 per cent of the newspapers' dotcoms in the region that responded the survey the income they receive finance their operation.

• Revenue:


• 50 per cent of the papers does not sell Internet ads or reports a minimum income related to advertising. Just 15 per cent says advertising-related revenue represents 75 per cent of their total income.

• Revenue

Newspapers’ dotcoms • Revenue:

– Barely 10 per cent of the newspapers report revenue for the sale of their content to the end user, such as archives or databases.

– Only one newspaper reported their classified ads as an important source of their income (it represents 40 per cent of their total revenue).


– Just a 25 per cent of the newspapers reported online service subscription-related revenue and only one of them says it represents a significant income.

– Likewise, just 25 per cent reports significant revenue due to subscriptions to the print edition submitted through the Internet.


– On the other hand, 50 per cent of the newspapers reports income from licensing content to third parties. Additionally, in at least five of those companies it represents their most important income source.


– On the other hand, 50 per cent of the newspapers reports income from licensing content to third parties. Additionally, in at least five of those companies it represents their most important income source.

• “Content on the Web is still driven by text narratives”.

» The State of the News Media 2004, an Annual Report on American Journalism’, Project for Excellence in Journalism, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism).

Internet penetration

PaísPenetración

PaísPenetración

PaísPenetración

2001 2005 2001 2005 2001 2005Noruega 63,1% 76,5% Corea del Sur 34,5% 62,7% Rusia 9,4% 17,8%Suecia 59,1 74,5 Hong Kong 33,7 59,4 Malasia 8,8 18,3Dinamarca 52,4 65,3 Alemania 33,3 52,5 Chile 7,6 16,2Australia 47,7 67,0 Francia 31,3 47,2 Argentina 7,6 22,2Finlandia 47,7 66,5 Israel 31,1 63,1 Líbano 6,5 25,3

Canadá 45,9 66,6Emiratos Árabes Unidos 30,5 37,0 México 6,5 28,7

Singapore 45,5 72,6 Japón 29,2 45,9 Brasil 6,0 14,3Holanda 42,7 62,1 Italia 29,1 55,1 Venezuela 4,1 11,8Reino Unido 41,2 63,9 Sur África 25,2 48,8 Tailandia 3,6 7,2Austria 40,4 58,1 Grecia 21,7 42,0 Colombia 2,6 4,5Irlanda 37,5 67,5 Polonia 19,5 31,3 Arabia Saudita 2,5 8,0Suiza 36,3 59,6 España 18,8 49,9 Filipinas 2,1 4,7Bélgica 35,1 53,8 Hungría 16,5 33,9 China 2,0 5,0Nueva Zelanda 34,8 62,3 Portugal 15,9 27,9 Indonesia 0,9 2,0

Taiwán 34,6 58,0Republica Checa 13,5 24,2 India 0,6 2,4


• Barely• Audience

News & Politics

Latinamerica