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As news outlets across the world close amid plummeting revenues, the number of independent news outlets in the Amazon is growing. Over the last decade, the region has seen the creation and expansion of several new, nonprofit outlets dedicated to producing reporting on the Amazon without the influence of politicians and corporations. Still while a handful have become thriving news organizations with stable editorial staffs, most of these new outlets barely scrape together enough money to survive.
The outlets that have become financially sustainable have done so not by putting their reporting behind paywalls, selling advertisements, soliciting donations from readers, or, as the largest and most traditional news outlets in Brazil do, receiving funds from governments and corporations in exchange for positive coverage. Instead, in order to investigate the threats to the Amazon’s survival thoroughly and unabashedly, the independent news outlets of the Amazon have turned to a funding source non-profits in other sectors have long relied upon: international charitable organizations.
It is by knocking on the door of deep-pocketed NGOs in the U.S. or Europe, such as Ford Foundation and Google News Initiative, that these news outlets in the Amazon have been able to fund their in-depth local reporting. They have benefited from the soaring interest in the Amazon among North American and European environmentalists, which has motivated NGOs to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to preservation initiatives in the region, including independent journalism.
However, reliance on this source of funding has also created a two-tiered system within independent journalism in the Amazon. The news organizations that have successfully raised money are often those founded by well-known journalists, who have extensive international contacts and speak fluent English. Meanwhile, other independent outlets, often founded by local Amazonian journalists who don’t have the same international reach, rely almost exclusively on volunteer work and survive by applying to small, temporary grants that fund one-off projects.
“The crisis in journalism funding is an effect of our society. So it also reproduces, to some extent, the unequal structure that exists in this country,” said Daiene Mendes, programming director of the Journalism Support Fund, a new initiative to fund independent journalism in Brazil. “Few organizations receive the majority of the resources, and those organizations generally have a specific profile, a specific color, a specific voice, and a very small share of the resources is shared with the rest of the numerous initiatives.”
Sumaúma, perhaps the largest independent news organization in the Amazon, was founded by Jonathan Watts, a long-time environmental journalist at The Guardian, and Eliane Brum, originally from Southern Brazil, who has become one of the most well-known reporters on the Amazon region. “Both Jonathan and Eliane are much more well-known internationally as journalists,” said Verónica Goyzueta, a journalist who helped found Sumaúma with Brum and Watts. “So they already had good contacts to secure initial funding.”
In just three years, Sumaúma has already raised significant levels of funding, allowing them to employ at least 15 editorial staff members and fund expansive reporting projects. It now employs someone solely focused on applying to funding opportunities.
“These processes are difficult and not accessible to all journalistic organizations, because some are very small, some have difficulties, for example, requesting funding because they don’t have the contacts that we had the opportunity to have,” Goyzueta said.
Other well-established independent news outlets in the Amazon include InfoAmazonia, which has an annual budget of around R$2 million (about US$350,000), according to Executive Director Stefano Wrobleski.
InfoAmazonia emerged as a project by O Eco, a well-known environmental reporting site in Brazil, before becoming its own outlet. “So we already had that space and we also had contacts. That made things a lot easier,” Wrobleski said.
But even for the most well-connected news outlets, support from NGOs doesn’t come close to eliminating financial constraints. For example, InfoAmazonia, despite receiving consistent support from several different organizations, has only two full-time reporters. But NGO-backing does provide stability that other independent outlets in the Amazon lack. While InfoAmazonia and Sumaúma have long-term funding sources, many smaller publications rely on one-off grants that fund individual reporting projects.
These temporary grants, which often are offered by journalism associations, provide funding for a journalist to travel to report on a particular story. Usually worth around US$1500, these grants leave little left over after travel expenses, especially in the Amazon, where travel and safety measures are enormously expensive.
“To do a good story in the Amazon and to go out into the field, to a community, today the minimum cost of your salary, a photographer’s, and travel expenses will be between R$10,000 and R$15,000 (US$1800 to US$2700) at the very least,” said Fabio Pontes, editor of Jornal Varadouro, a small, independent outlet based in Acre.
Additionally, since these grants are temporary, the news outlets that rely on them must constantly search for new grants to apply to.
“You have to submit a proposal, pitch the story. Often it has to be done for organizations outside Brazil, so you have to do it in English. Many times it’s very bureaucratic to receive money from outside Brazil,” Pontes said. “It’s very tiring, very draining. You only really do it because sometimes you have to, because you have no other option.”
Pontes works on Varadouro almost exclusively without payment, freelancing as a writer on the side in order to get by. To make Varadouro financially sustainable and be able to pay a fixed team of reporters, he would need a budget of about R$250,000 (US$45,000) per year, he estimates.
Fred Santana, the founder of Vocativo, a small independent outlet in Manaus has the same challenges. He said he often receives about one temporary grant per year that covers the cost of one specific reporting project. Beyond that, the site receives almost no funding. Santana said he spends about six hours per day working on the website.
“If nothing changes in the next few months, I’ll start looking for a steady job and just keep the site going as a side activity, whenever possible,” Santana said.
Correio do Lavrado, an independent news outlet based in Boa Vista, suffers from similar instability, said editor Vanessa Vieira. “We get one-time funding to produce a specific product. It’s something very short-term, like four months, six months,” Vieira said. “Thinking about physical health, mental health, quality of life—it’s very complicated because there have been times when I didn’t know how I was going to pay next month’s bills.”
This year, some of the leading financiers of independent journalism in Brazil have united to form the Journalism Support Fund, intending to provide more independent news outlets access to financial stability. The fund, which is backed by Ford Foundation, the International Fund for Public Interest Media, Luminate, Oak Foundation, and Open Society Foundations, will select 15 news organizations across Brazil to support with annual funding between R$75,000 to R$150,000 (US$13,500 to US$27,000) for three years. The intention, according to Mendes, the initiative’s programming director, is to decentralize funding for independent journalism. The fund will prioritize outlets that are located in news deserts and that are led by people from marginalized communities.
The funding will immediately transform the news outlets that receive it, and Mendes said she hopes an outlet from the Amazon will be selected. Even so, there are far more than 15 independent news outlets in need of funding across from Brazil. “I don’t think the fund is or should be the only way to distribute resources to these initiatives. There have to be several other funds, several other initiatives,” Mendes said.
For the outlets that are not selected, there are few other options. Campaigns soliciting donations from readers are largely unsuccessful, Pontes said, and while Varadouro’s website has designated advertisement space, for now, no business has reached out to place an ad.
“I’m at the point of being mentally exhausted, very tired,” Pontes said. “Many times we feel hopeless, because when we look around, we have no resources, so discouragement often hits. Sometimes there’s that desire to give up, because you don’t see the return of your work coming back to you.”
Goyzueta, one of the founders of Sumaúma, knows the financial support her outlet receives isn’t always attainable. “People really work hard and really want to do journalism, but it’s not easy for everyone,” she said.
Reporting the Understory