A group of journalists tries to change the image of Rio slums
Rio de Janeiro, 25 March 2008. Name: Rodrigo Nogueira (photo Jean-Cosme Delaloye). Age: 26 years old. Occupation: journalist. Ambition: to change the image of the Rio de Janeiro slums in Brazil and in the rest of the world. In the last 7 years, the Viva Favela website has been covering the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro to try to report about other news than the ones available in mainstream media. Rodrigo Nogueira says his team gives a voice to the people of the slums. “There is so much more than violence in the favelas, he says. There is a rich culture life and incredible people in the slums”. The young journalist who grew up in a middle-class neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, joined Viva Favela a year ago. Last month, he covered the death of Michelle Silva, a 27-year old woman who lived in Cidade de Deus and who was killed by mistake by the police on March 5. “We have been working for the past seven years in the slums”, Mr Nogueira says. “We have more access than mainstream media because people there trust us. In the case of Mrs Silva, one of our correspondents put us in touch with the family of the victim. After speaking with us, the husband of Michelle Silva thanked us for having listened to him”. Viva Favela is thw Internet portal of Viva Rio, Rio de Janeiro’s leading anti-violence NGO. Viva Rio runs free Internet-access centers, media and tech courses. It also has free job listings for favela residents. Unlike Mr Nogueira, most of the ten journalists and photojournalists come from the shantytowns and still live there. In the last few months, they started working with Jean-Jacques Fontaine, a Swiss journalist who provides a French adaptation of some of their stories. Rodrigo Nogueira and his team aim to create a large community of favelas on the web and are now working on a 2.0. version of their website. But the outcome of the project will depend on their fundraising capabilities. “It is hard to find money”, admits Mr Nogueira. “As an NGO, we do not sell advertisement on the site. Right now, Viva Favela is financed by the Brazilian oil company Petrobras. If they decide one day to withdraw their support, the project would die. We have to try to become self-sufficient”. On March 7 2008, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched a new infrastructure project to improve the living conditions in the slums. The nearly $700-million program aims to take control of slums by creating thousands of jobs and by granting land titles to residents of some of the 752 favelas of Rio de Janeiro.The Viva Favela journalists support these latest efforts by the Brazilian government to try to revive the slums but remain cautious. “It is a huge challenge”, says Renata Sequeira, a 22-year old reporter. “We should not deal with the slums as if they were not part of Rio de Janeiro. They are totally integrated”. 11 people killed in a police raid on Rio de Janeiro slums11 suspected gang members were killed on April 3 in a raid on two Rio de Janeiro slums. According to the authorities, the police came under fire after entering Coreia and Vila Alianca, two slums in the western zone of Rio de Janeiro. The traffickers targeted by the raud apparently escaped. Seven people were arrested and the police confiscated two machine guns, a hand-grenade and three fake police uniforms as well as cocaine. Last year, 1300 people were killed by the police in Rio de Janeiro. CommentsYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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