Juliana Rincon, Blogger |
| University of Iowa - Gender Studies and Media | |||
 Nawaar Farooq: Why did you become involved in online journalism?
JR: I kind of fell into it: I started writing on my blog, and would sometimes write about current events in my city, then I began doing it more often until I started writing for Global Voices Online.
NF: How do you balance your job, family, etc. in your online journalism career? JR: I work from home, so it is easy to balance it out. Since I am single, I am able to travel without much trouble, and when it is during the semester I just leave assignments for my students to do while I'm gone.
NF: How do you view blogging and online journalism? JR: It is my livelihood. I love doing it, and I believe it is changing the standards for reporting and informing. It is also changing the way we absorb information: as readers we need to learn how to be more critical of what we read, and to be able to cross check our facts to make sure we are receiving accurate information.
NF: Have you experienced any gender issues in online journalism? JR: I've perceived it only when the subject is related to technology, where men are the majority and women are usually not included, but I guess the same would go for sports. Other than noticing that, I haven't had any trouble personally.
NF: Is your online journalism read/viewed internationally? Are there certain regions that view your work more than others? JR: Yes. I write with a global audience in mind, about a diversity of topics across regions. I believe that for my blog, it is the Latin American region that reads it: it is in Spanish, after all. However, for the articles I write for Global Voices, I believe they are read by a truly wide audience, mostly international.
NF: What do students need to learn in order to find careers in online journalism? JR: They need to learn how to write to be read. If you write well, about topics you care about, people will read you. If you can write in a compelling manner, they will also begin to care for the topics you care about.
NF: What is the future for online journalism? JR: I think that in the future, there won't be a need to specify "online" journalism, it will just be journalism. Even today, mainstream journalists use online tools to do their work, contact sources, get information, do coursework and get feedback for what they write.
NF: What are some of the most interesting stories you have come across or written? JR: I guess that the latest ones are the stories that I like the most. Off the top of my head, the piece I wrote for Conversations for a Better World on Motherhood and prisons was eye opening. I guess those are the articles I like ... those where I go into them with an idea in my mind and through writing them I get a different vision of the situation, sometimes very different from the one I started with.
NF: What are some of the differences when writing/editing a story for online publications vs. print publications? JR: There are differences in form and in focus. In form, stories for the web don't really have length limits; it depends on editorial decisions rather than a matter of running out of space on the page. Also my area I believe is specific for online publications. I scour the web for video content, which I can embed in my articles. That is not possible with printed media. Also print publications have a sort of expiration date. Once the magazine is archived somewhere or the newspaper is read, it is gone ... however, with online publications, a story written months ago can get relevant once again if there is another situation, and anyone searching for information on a certain topic or subject can come across it and get it back in circulation by reposting, quoting or linking the text. It is a lot harder to revive newspaper stories, unless it is the paper itself that does it.
NF: What are some of the most prominent stories that have been discussed in news recently regarding the country/region you are from? Do you think Americans are as aware of these circumstances as they should be? JR: Recently in the Colombian news there have been cases of corruption in the highest ranks of the government, where rich people were given financial assistance that should've been reserved for those in need. Other news has been the false positive trials, where military personnel have killed innocent citizens and then have passed them as terrorists to receive bonuses. I think that it is something that doesn't really hold interest for foreigners: understanding the background, the back stories takes time, and it is not news that is easy to explain. Besides, many Colombians would rather the world ignores their troubles and focuses on positive Colombian role models such as Juanes and Shakira.
NF: What type of relationship do the government and press have in your country/region? Are there any issues with censorship or touchy subjects that many journalists choose not to discuss? JR: The government doesn't openly control the press, but they do have vested interests in it and keep them in check, although not openly. There are several touchy subjects that journalists wouldn't touch with a mile-long stick because of this. Anything that might go against politicians that fund media or companies that pay advertising wouldn't be published, or they would be written about to sound better than they are. There are also journalists that would rather not write about some topics to avoid getting threatened. Because we had a very violent recent history with journalists getting killed monthly, most of them still keep that in the back of their minds and will rather avoid death threats.
NF: How do you define a journalist? Do you feel they need to be qualified by means of a higher education or is experience more important? Is it a mix of both? JR: I think that journalism is a trade. It is something you do, and you may be good at it or bad at it, but if you are reporting news and writing stories to inform others about situations that concern them, you are doing journalism. Some people get there by going to college and learning there, others get there by writing and practicing and learning the trade. The bottom line is that for someone to be a good journalist, they need to be educated. Whether they do it in their own time, reading books, journals and keeping updated or whether they pay tuition at a university, both are ways to get there.
NF: What do you think are the top three things that make a good online journalist? JR: Keeping updated and informed. Being honest and transparent. Being thorough in research and giving credit. Interviewee: Juliana Rincón Juliana “Jules” Rincón was born in Peru and spent her first years in Lima. In her early teens, she moved to Costa Rica, where she had her first successful experience with the Internet. On the Web, she refers to herself as “Medea.” She chose this nickname when she started writing in online forums and blogs because she wanted a bit of anonymity. She received her B.A. in Theatre (referred to as “Dramatic Arts” there) from the University of Costa Rica. She didn’t work in stage after graduation. Instead she taught English classes, worked for different companies in a variety of departments, traveled, and kept working online. She kept an eye on what was going on around her all the while and wrote down what she saw. Most of her education has been empirical, although she has taken some courses on citizen journalism. She also studied halfway through dental prosthetics before realizing she loved to travel and move around too much to establish her own practice. After college, she eventually moved to Colombia, her parents’ homeland, where she currently resides. However, for her, Costa Rica is her hometown. That’s where she made strong local connections with friends, went online and discovered the Internet for the first time in 1994 and where she discovered the possibility of using the Internet to strengthen offline relationships and generate new ones. Her father has a Ph.D. in Communications and was also a college professor. Although his children tried desperately to do something completely different, they found themselves following in his footsteps. Her brother also ended up receiving his master’s degree in communication and technology and Rincón teaches courses in the communication’s department of another university and is currently working on her master’s degree. Rincón is also a video content editor and writer for Global Voices Online (http://globalvoicesonline.org/), but has been invited as a blogger to conference all over the place, with a commitment to watch and write about what goes on and then publish it in another language. She covers conferences on the most diverse topics: from technology, heath, science fiction, literature and anthropology, sometimes in their blogs and other times her own. Interviewer: Nawaar Farooq
|