Maria Isabel Magaña

Victor García-Perdomo, María Isabel Magaña, Juan Camilo Hernández-Rodríguez, & José Augusto Ventín-Sánchez. (2024). Engaging Social Media Audiences with Riots: TV and Newspapers’ Coverage of the 2019 Protests in Colombia and Chile. International Communication Gazette

This research utilizes the theoretical framework of the protest paradigm to analyze how major TV channels and newspapers in Chile and Colombia covered—on their official X (Twitter) accounts—the massive 2019 protests. The paper collected data using the software Crimson Hexagon (CH), a social media analysis software that accesses all public messages posted on Twitter, and then conducted a manual content analysis to fully explore the adherence to the paradigm in digital environments, including audience interactions with media content. Results show that chosen media outlets take mainly the riot and confrontation frames to delegitimize protesters, partially influencing the reaction of audiences who engaged with those diminishing devices. A further analysis demonstrates how deeply intertwined the media are with the status quo and elites. In addition, legacy media, particularly TV, seem to fall into a systematic delegitimization of social protest. This research is valuable as it enhances the understanding of media portrayals of protests in Latin America given the new dynamics of news engagement on social media.

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María Isabel Magaña & Víctor García-Perdomo (2024). Cracking the Data Journalism Code in Latin America: Activism, Transparency and Democracy Fuel the Adoption of Technology. Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies

The impacts and transformation of data journalism have been widely studied in the Global North but remain understudied in the Global South despite the growth of such practice in regions like Africa and Latin America. This study bridges that gap by exploring how adopting data, software and coding have redefined journalistic values and practices in top-tier units in Latin America. Drawing from the social construction of technology, this mixed-methods research combines insights from fourteen in-depth interviews with journalists from leading data teams and a content analysis of 210 of their pieces. Findings reveal that the primary motivation for adopting data journalism is a profound commitment to democracy in a historically challenging context, evidenced by an emphasis on transparency and collaboration that pushes the boundaries between reporting and activism. While journalists exhibit an alignment in values and motivation, the organizational influence of their media affects how those values manifest in their end products. This research contributes to the data journalism discourse and champions the need to incorporate perspectives from the Global South to enrich and de-westernize academic literature.

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Víctor García-Perdomo & María Isabel Magaña (2020). The Adoption of Technology and Innovation Among Native Online News Media in Colombia. International Journal of Communication

This study analyzes how entrepreneurial native online newsrooms in Colombia are implementing digital technologies and innovation in their workspaces. The article uses technology studies and entrepreneurial journalism as frameworks to investigate eight relevant case studies. The method used in-depth interviews with the directors of these online media. Results show that native online outlets value people, quality of content, access to information, and journalistic standards more than digital technology and platforms. For them, innovation is not strictly related to implementing new technology, but it is somewhat linked to the type of journalistic innovation products they are creating. They believe they are an alternative voice to mainstream media content but use traditional outlets to distribute their stories and increase their relevance. The integration of users into their editorial process is a goal, but it is still limited.

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