Alternative spaces on the internet as a mean to make women visible in brazilian journalism

Abstract

Despite the feminization of journalistic newsrooms in Latin America, the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media (2015) indicates that the top professional status in those places is still male, which leads to a lower likelihood of women writing stories, or being it’s characters; the same report also demonstrates Vtha the percentage of women as a source of information is still low. The process reproduces the persistent patriarchal vision and is part of the so-called women «invisibility» in the media. This work assumes that also in Brazil, the feminization process of the editorial staff does not come along with any content that values the woman, although there are advances. The text presents five digital journalism experiments that seek to fill the gap of traditional coverage on women’s issues, treating woman as an autonomous social actor. The structure of these initiatives was examined and their content, during the period July/August of 2016, have been analysed to verify how the woman appears as a social protagonist. This work allowed a reflection on how the «new journalism» can overcome stereotypes, inducing the visibility and the social empowerment of women. It is concluded that the analyzed initiatives can be considered points of observation to integrate positive practices in hegemonic journalism, expanding the democratic and egalitarian use of the media.