Is it worth it to think about the idea of a regional journalism?

Latin America has become a port of landing for journalism companies that seek to expand their brands and audiences outside their traditional borders. The New York Times has opened a special edition in Spanish, aimed at the region. Previously, El Pais, from Spain, launched the America and Brazil editions. A long time ago, CNN transformed brief segments of their programming for the Hispanic audience in the United States to what today is CNN in Spanish.  

This is a search for audiences in which national and local communications media also participate. A struggle to keep up in an environment that demands flexibility and innovation as a condition for survival in the journalism industry. 

These ideas were brought to the round table: "Los retos del periodismo y el relato que se construye de América Latina" (The challenges of journalism and the story being built in Latin America), as part of an activity prior to the XX Annual CAF Conference held in Washington D.C. on September 7th and 8th. The objective was to inspire new ideas for the Latin American journalistic activity. 

A regional journalism seems like an alternative to diversify the audience and promote the business models. Latin America is a good market, as between 1981 and 2010 it has seen an increase in the income of its inhabitants, as indicated in a study carried out by CAF regarding the middle class. The document point out that poverty has decreased and the middle class has grown, and although it is vulnerable, it has consumption potential. This is the population that is expecting the arrival of the regional media. 

Although for the journalism industry Latin America seems to be the land of opportunity in terms of market, the definition of a regional information agenda is an important challenge. Hernando Álvarez, Director of BBC Mundo (BBC World) states, "Our audience is mainly in this region", this entails a complex task in the identification of issues, approaches, and priorities within a diverse scenario. 

It is difficult to define issues that are equally important to all countries. The case may be that an international information project may have difficulties to survive in this context. Participants in the round table cited the example of ECO, which had an agenda that was closer to the Mexican reality even when it could be seen in at least eleven countries through cable TV, and was defined as a regional broadcast. The round table concluded that one way of looking at things or one way of dealing with information is not enough.

The round table participants coincided in that some situations may be relevant for most Latin Americans, but other, although important, do not receive the same kind of attention. Tamoa Calzadilla, from the Research and Data Unit of Univisión  said, "We have made efforts to find the space to deal with key issues that do not attract big audiences. However,  we insist on them because part of our job is to fulfill the mission of informing about things that must be known".

The concern is open with respect to the information models needed to address Latin America as a region, is addition to how to tell the story in other regions of the world where conflicts such as Syria or Eastern European refugees may attract more attention. 

The debate, which included the participation of editors, reporters, directors of international media, and press agencies, was organized by the Fundación Gabriel García Márquez para el Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano -FNPI- (Gabriel Garcia Marquez Foundation for the New Ibero.-American Journalism) and CAF - Development Bank of Latin America, with the support of the Inter-American Dialogue.