In Venezuela, online news helps journalists get their voices back

"Right now there is a boom in news websites," Marianela Balbi, director of the Caracas-based Institute for Press and Society (IPYS), told CPJ. "I feel better informed than ever." The websites include everything from Prodavinci, which provides news analysis by historians, scientists, and scholars, to Poderopedia, which publishes profiles of Venezuelan powerbrokers, and Armando, which provides investigative reporting. Most are fiercely critical of the Nicolás Maduro administration, but several pro-government news sites have sprung up, including Contrapunto and Misión Verdad. Elsewhere, technological advances, changing business models, and evolving cultural habits drove news companies and journalists to transition to the Internet. Those factors played a role in Venezuela too, Balbi said, but the explosion in online news sites was also the result of government efforts to crack down on or co-opt TV, radio, and newspapers. More…