Since President Maduro’s rigged elections on July 28 and the subsequent crackdown on the opposition, news reporting from Venezuela has become increasingly complicated. Sources are silent. Journalists are forced to work anonymously, sometimes going into hiding and hiding their identities for fear of government retribution. Social media accounts are silent. Moreover, important parts of the news ecosystem, like X (formerly Twitter), are blocked in the country.
With so many stories to tell, more than a dozen independent media have come together to launch the #LaHoradeVenezuela initiative with Venezuela Vota (you may have seen some of our articles under one of the bylines). The idea is to pool resources. Remember that traditional media in Venezuela (big newspapers, TV and radio networks) are somehow controlled by the government, so independent media, mainly small online platforms (except for the analog ElBusTV), have to get creative.
Operación Retuit features short social media videos summarizing the coverage of this initiative. The problem is that these videos are hosted by two AI avatars: La Chama and El Pana. You may remember that a year ago there was a government-backed campaign using AI anchors to spread fake news. Now, Venezuelan journalists are now using AI to report verified news and avoid persecution. This is good for the money.
Helicoide doesn’t allow you to throw your AI reporter in a cell, which is probably the only use case where editors and journalists could be replaced by robots.
The first episode of Operación Retuit was released today.
This includes information on the government’s crackdown on post-election protests, which have left at least 23 people dead and over 1,000 arbitrarily detained, as well as a possible digital summit between Maduro and the presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil to explore a diplomatic solution, and the impact the current crisis is having on the economy.
Venezuela Vota was founded as part of an effort by 12 media outlets to cross-publish news stories while limiting the personal risks faced by journalists ahead of the July 28 elections. The first major achievement was the 36-hour livestreamed election coverage spearheaded by El Pitazo, featuring 50 independent journalists, 30 reporters from across Venezuela, and more than 300 activists.
#LaHoradeVenezuela is an initiative coordinated by Connectas that aims to amplify quality reporting from Venezuela, where more than 50 digital media outlets are blocked by the government.
