Journalism in Bolivia: interview with Ronald Catari
Ronald Catari is a Bolivian journalist with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Communication - emphasis in Audiovisual Production - at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) in La Paz. Specialist in crossmedia journalism at Deutsche Welle Akademie and passionate about film and photography, he was a student in the Red Latam de Jóvenes Periodistas project in 2018.
His professional experience includes work in media such as the online radio of the Asociación de Periodistas. Currently Catari is a reporter for a national television network in Bolivia and a correspondent for Spain’s ABC. He is also one of the founders and collaborators of Piedra en el Zapato, an independent journalism portal. Read more above.
Enio Moraes Júnior - You are one of the professionals behind Piedra en el Zapato, a portal that focuses on the struggle for human rights in Bolivia, with denunciations related to drug trafficking, for example. What has been the impact of this work?
Ronald Catari - Piedra en el Zapato was born in 2018 with the participation of five journalists specialized in different areas. The goal is to promote independent journalism, with content focused on human rights and freedom of expression, at a time when the control of news is increasingly evident in the world, and Bolivia is no exception. In five years, we have exposed social problems - looking away from political and governmental fights that dominate the news in the different media - as a response to the demands of a population interested in being protagonists of information, as a result of the popularization of social networks.
The podcast is a format we adopted to inform, initially, about the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions taken in Bolivia. Due to the acceptance, we started using it for content that is now translated into native languages, such as Quechua and Aymara. As the information in the mainstream media is disseminated only in Spanish, and we understood the need to take into account traditional peoples: according to the 2012 Population and Housing Census, 41% of the Bolivian population identifies itself as indigenous, and within this group, 25% identifies itself as Aymara and 30% as Quechua. In addition, the project is open to all Bolivian journalists interested in publishing topics of their interest.
EMJ - How is the project financed?
RC - Piedra en el Zapato started with funding from the five founders and continues to be funded that way. However, we do accept some invitations to report on specific topics, although it is not a usual nor a regular way. For example: COVID-19, street people, and food security.
EMJ - What role have journalists played in the quality of democracy in the country?
RC - The journalism in Bolivia was and is very important for the consolidation of democracy. The denunciation and careful investigation of acts of corruption, drug trafficking and abuse of power, among others, have been decisive for an informed society and for the fulfillment of the role of journalism, which is to disturb power. Today, despite the tendency of governments to control information, Bolivian journalism continues to do its job. This can be seen in the current context. There is, for example, the "Bolivian narco-plane" that sent half a ton of drugs to Europe and in which government authorities are implicated, as well as the corruption in some ministries and government institutions. The follow-up of these issues puts pressure on the government to respond to the citizens. This is not an easy task and is reflected in the constant pronouncements that journalists' associations in Bolivia have to make. In the department of La Paz, in the last month, five complainings have been published denouncing aggressions against journalists, impediments to press coverage by official forces, and even the rejection of bills that aim to criminalize the work of reporters.
EMJ - What are the most relevant and frequent social issues in mainstream Bolivian journalism?
RC - Bolivia is one of the few countries where the political agenda, rather than social issues, still predominates in the media. It is a society very influenced by these issues and has not been able to truly look at the demands that are registered in the social networks. However, some media outlets are trying to change this agenda. As a consequence, issues such as calling for causes like feminism, the fight for equality, lack of health, work and education are gaining space.
EMJ - How does regional and local journalism work in the country and what are the most recurrent subjects demanded by the communities?
RC - There is a good coverage of the different regions of the country and the most shared issues are related to health and the non-fulfillment of campaign promises by the authorities. In Bolivia, the common citizen wants to be the protagonist of the content, the important thing is their demands.
Bolivians organize, mobilize and communicate with journalists to reflect their reality because they want the authorities to listen to them. There is always a journalist interested in covering the events, even in more distant regions.
EMJ - Social networks have changed the way news is produced around the world, what are the positive and negative aspects of this change in Bolivia?
RC - The content that dominates the news in the Bolivian media is political. It is possible that this is due to the presence of editors with experience prior to the social networks, who do not take into account these demands. But slowly new formats and ways of transmitting information are being adopted. The positive side is that medium-sized vehicles have started to diversify their news content with the participation of younger and independent journalists, who take into account the needs of the public indicated in the social networks. This trend will certainly influence the larger, mainstream media, a path that has been followed worldwide. For example, it is not uncommon to see young people taking up networks like Tik Tok or photographing and sharing images on Whatsapp. There are also those who create their own digital media like Facebook.
EMJ - How do you evaluate press professionals training? What picture would you like to see in the Bolivian press, representing, in the future, the country that journalists helped to build?
RC - The public universities are the most important academic institutions for the formation of professionals in Bolivia, because their teaching is almost free. They offer a bachelor’s degree in Social Communication so that their professionals can work in different areas such as Public Relations, Advertising and Journalism, mainly. The teachers and the contents are obsolete, centered on theory and not on practice. There are few exceptions. Unfortunately, they are very few. There are, however, private universities that have made efforts to create journalism courses with valid attempts to expand activities involving the practice of the profession. The internet has also become an important tool for improvement, through refresher courses.
Bolivian journalism is still on the way to digitalization. The front pages of Bolivian newspapers are mostly dominated by corruption or cases linked to drug trafficking. Headlines about femicide and abuse of power by police and judicial forces are also very frequent. I would like to see two pictures that reflect the maturity and progress of Bolivian society: women with their rights and corrupt politicians serving their sentences. X
This interview is part of a series on journalism around the world, an initiative of researcher and journalist Enio Moraes Júnior together with Alterjor — Study Group of Popular and Alternative Journalism at the University of São Paulo. The interviews are also published in Portuguese at the Observatório da Imprensa.
Enio Moraes Júnior is a Brazilian journalist and professor. A PhD in Communication Sciences at the School of Communications and Arts (ECA) at the University of São Paulo (Brazil), he has lived in Berlin since 2017. Access his portfolio: EnioOnLine.
