Murder in Brazil: Covering the assassination of Marielle Franco

On The Listening Post this week: The murder of a champion of the poor puts the spotlight on Brazilian media’s treatment of the slums. Plus, Honduras’ Radio Progreso.

Murder in Brazil: Covering the assassination of Marielle Franco

The assassination of a city councillor in Rio de Janeiro was a hit job clearly intended to send a message.

Marielle Franco embodied a new kind of politics, on behalf of the country’s poor. She campaigned against the violent policing of the favelas, urban slums, which are mostly populated by Brazilians who share Franco’s African heritage.

The coverage of her story has revealed the Brazilian media’s own attitudes to the poor.

Contributors:
Clovis Saint-Clair, city editor, Jornal do Brasil
Leandro Demori, executive editor, The Intercept
Renata Souza, chief of staff for Marielle Franco
Jorge Melo, executive editor, Mare de Noticias

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Richard Gizbert speaks to Flo Phillips about the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica data abuse scandal and the sale of Turkey’s largest media conglomerate.

Radio Progreso: Representing voices on the margins in Honduras

In the Central American country of Honduras, close to 40 people have been killed and more than 2,000 arrested, following the bitterly contested re-election of President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

However, Honduran mainstream media outlets have been echoing the right-wing ruling party’s narrative of “nothing to see here”.

Radio Progreso has been putting voices on the air Hondurans don’t hear elsewhere, but working there is a job that comes with risks.

Contributors:
Ismael Moreno, director, Radio Progreso
Tirza Ulloa, head of news, TNH8
Andres Molina, media analyst, C-Libre
Thelma Mejia, investigative journalist