Doha: Three new books by Northwestern Qatar Professor Jairo Lugo-Ocando that explore journalistic practices, ideologies, and the effect political influence has on agenda-setting in the newsroom – specifically in the Global South have been published.
One of the books served as a focus for a recent Northwestern webinar.
His first book, Foreign Aid and Journalism in the Global South: A Mouthpiece for Truth, which was explored during a webinar “Multiple News Grammars or One Universal Journalism?” examines how world powers influence and shape journalistic practices to push political ideologies and propaganda in the Global South.
The webinar, co-hosted with the University of Salamanca, featured international reporters and academics who discussed journalism as a universal phenomenon while focusing on the challenges that journalists in the Global South face in an evolving media and political landscape.
The panelists included Dima Khatib, managing director of AJ+; Exequiades Chirinos, CNN en Español; and Patrick O. Malaolu, CEO of Rockcity FM, Nigeria.
The session was chaired by Professor Shakuntala Rao, State University of New York, Plattsburgh.
During the webinar, Lugo-Ocando explained how by having control over the media, world powers can infiltrate local communities to shape the public’s opinion and promote ideas that align with their political or economic agenda.
Other topics addressed throughout the webinar included the role of digital and social media in shaping a new age of journalism, the importance of localizing global issues for specific audiences, and the notion of objective versus truthful reporting.
The News Media in Puerto Rico: Journalism in Colonial Settings and in Times of Crises, which Lugo-Ocando co-authored with University of Leeds Professor Federico Subervi-Vélez and investigative journalist Sandra Rodríguez-Cotto, is a study on the role of the news media in society within the context of colonial relations between the United States and Puerto Rico.
“Since a hurricane struck Puerto Rico in 2017, it has become crystal clear that the people of the island are treated almost as colonial subjects. Particularly, given how the current U.S. president referred to inhabitants and the reluctance to acknowledge the suffering, the level of destruction, and even the real numbers of deaths. However, Puerto Rico has been considered and treated as a colony for a long time not only by this administration but many before it. Washington officials have systematically failed to engage with the island in equal terms,” Lugo-Ocando said.
Finally, his book Statistics and the Quest for Quality Journalism: A Study in Quantitative Reporting, co-authored with Professor Alessandro Martinisi of Breda University of Applied Science in the Netherlands, examines how statistics are incorporated in the news and the way they not only provide context and meaning to the stories but also award quality and legitimacy to the messages.
Before entering academia, Lugo-Ocando served as the news editor-in-chief of Venezuela’s Dairio La Verdad and worked as a journalist and freelance writer for several news organizations in Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, and the US.
Read also
Read More
05 Nov 2020 – 8:37
DPS-Modern Indian School conducted the ‘Intra-school Arabic and Urdu Handwriting Competition and Holy Quran Recitation Competition’ for the students of Class I to VIII aiming to promote better understanding of vibrant Arabic culture and its inherent religious values.
