Fallout from the War on Terror in Brazil

Brazil has largely been able to stay out of the spotlight in terms of it’s involvement in the war on terror. Given their relative diplomatic distance from U.S. foreign interests and intentions, they haven’t played a major role in the war on terror at all. The most relevant involvement Brazil has had came in 2010, […]

News Reporting in Brazil by Non-Traditional Outlets

A March 14th bus crash in Brazil’s Santa Catarina state left 40 people dead and more than 10 others injured, Buzzfeed Brazil reports. This story was featured on Buzzfeed’s website’s news portion and was cited as “multiple news agencies report…”. Buzzfeed’s coverage of news events differs significantly from how a traditional news outlet might cover […]

Social Media and Reporting in Brazil

Social media’s permeation into Brazilian society has significantly changed the way news spreads and the way reporting is done. As South America’s most populous country and as one of the largest developing economies in the world, Brazil’s social media population continues to expand. A June 2013 piece by emarketer.com covered Brazil’s growth with this summarization: […]

Freedom of the Press in the US

Freedom. Independence. Checks and Balances. At one point, these three terms helped define the United States and its goals for society. They also applied to the media, allowing journalists and reporters great leeway in terms of how they reported on stories and officials, how they used and anonymized sources, and how they conducted their journalistic business […]

Wikileaks and Brazil

When PFC Bradley Manning made his decision to release thousands of classified documents from a number of US Government Agencies to the public, many documents incriminated the US government in many different acts. A number of these documents revealed US government involvement in Brazil and in Brazilian affairs and further revealed communications with Brazilian officials. […]

The Ninjas of Brazil

In August of 2013, protests shook the streets of Brazil as citizens marched for government spending reform and education policy reform. These people demanded that their government listen to the desires of the public and take their wishes into account when creating new policies. While in the United States this might seem outrageous, for Brazil, […]

Restrepo

Restrepo is an extremely touching film and thought provoking piece of art. The movie films the daily lives of soldiers in Battle Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infrantry Regiment and their struggle to fight the Taliban on the unforgiving terrain of Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. Under the command of Captain Kearney, the soldiers of 2nd platoon were […]

Non-Conflict Security Challenges in Brazil

Brazil features one of the highest rates of governmental wiretapping in the world. Rather than as a tool of last resort, wiretapping has become the norm for Brazilian authorities, with the technology often being used to catch regular criminals and ensnare citizens in accusations that are void of evidence. This poses a serious issue for […]

Reporting Death

Death in the media is very difficult to cover. Different communities have different standards for what is acceptable to photograph and record from these ceremonies and for who is allowed to be present at these ceremonies. My personal view on death is that if the family of the deceased agrees, then reporters and journalists should […]

Armed Conflict in Brazil

Journalists in Brazil have a surprising amount of freedom in covering domestic armed conflict and police actions in the country. A majority of the internal conflict in Brazil occurs between vicious drug cartels who often battle for territory across Brazil’s largest city, Rio de Janeiro. The notorious favelas, or Brazilian slums, have become ground zero […]