Independent media in Brazil and Colombia is facing an urgent crisis of traditional business models alongside a deteriorating security environment, according to new audience landscape studies and security assessments commissioned by Thomson Media.
The research was carried out under AGILE (Advancing Global Innovation and Learning Effectively to Build Resilience in Independent Media), a global project co-funded by the European Union and delivered by a consortium led by Internews Europe, with partners Thomson Media, ARTICLE 19, Fojo Media Institute and CFI Media Development. In its first phase, Thomson Media has commissioned audience landscape studies and security assessments in Brazil and Colombia.
Main findings at a glance
- Independent outlets in both countries show high exposure to financial shocks, with heavy reliance on external and often unpredictable support.
- In Colombia, the research agency Mirador report on digital-native media found 63% of outlets are not financially self-sustaining.
- In Brazil, research found 60% of participating organisations earn under 500,000 Brazilian Reais annually (approx. 92,600 USD), and 26% reported no revenue.
- The security profile differs by country: Colombia shows high levels of physical risk, while Brazil’s independent media reports judicial harassment and legal intimidation as a major pressure.
The Findings in detail
The Scale of Financial Vulnerability: Colombia
Independent journalism in Colombia is described as financially exposed despite a dynamic ecosystem of digital-native outlets. Mirador Agency found that, among hundreds of verified independent outlets established since 2010, “63% of outlets are still not financially self-sustaining”.
Non-profit local media reported particularly low formal income, with 55% of outlets reporting monthly income below 1,300,000 Colombian Pesos (about USD 300). The sector was also affected by the suspension of USAID funding, which increased competition for remaining grants.
José Guarnizo, director of online news website Vorágine, described how shifts in international cooperation can rapidly affect newsroom operations: “When billions of dollars disappear from the world of international cooperation for foundations and other organisations, it has repercussions… the media are left in the lurch”.
The Scale of Financial Vulnerability: Brazil
In Brazil, the research points to low revenue and reliance on short-term support, with limited stable financing for many outlets. The Brazilian Journalism Support Fund (FAJ) 2025 diagnosis found that 60% of participating organisations earn less than 500,000 Brazilian Reais, while 26% reported having no revenue.
Interviews also pointed to capacity gaps. Sergio Ludtke, editor of Projeto Comprova – a non-profit initiative which brings together 42 media institutions to safeguard the integrity of information - said many outlets are created without planning or business skills. “The ease of opening a digital media outlet based solely on social capital: networks, audience, and readership; means that management, audience relations, and business model development take a back seat.”
AGILE’s Response: Building Financial Sustainability
AGILE is responding with technical support intended to strengthen business planning, audience strategy and revenue diversification. The programme combines audience analytics with targeted mentoring.
Data-driven revenue generation (Overlapping Audience Dashboards, OADs): to combat dependence on unpredictable international grants and fight the "culture of the click" fostered by major platforms, AGILE is supplying media outlets with sophisticated audience analytics tools. These OADs are designed to help outlets turn data into growth through transformation of fragmented metrics into a reliable decision framework that can spot high-ROI topics, fix distribution bottlenecks, and grow subscribers and monetisation.
Resilience Incubator and in-house mentorship: to address the lack of administrative and financial expertise that keeps many journalists reliant on project-based funding, AGILE's Resilience Incubator provides hands-on guidance. During three-month mentorships programme, media managers, supported by business and audience engagement mentors, will work on brainstorming and validating new ideas for revenue diversification.
The need for this intervention is exemplified by the struggles of outlets like El Cuarto Mosquetero, whose director, Lina Álvarez, noted the expensive nature of obtaining specialised financial guidance: "We’ve had paid consulting work, but normally it’s very expensive, so we can’t do it very often, and therefore, things improve through trial and error.”
We’ve had paid consulting work, but normally it’s very expensive, so we can’t do it very often, and therefore, things improve through trial and error.
AGILE counters this cost barrier through structured mentorship for selected outlets: Cerosetenta and Mutante in Colombia and Aos Fatos and Genero e Numero in Brazil.
By pairing data analytics for revenue growth with intensive training in business structure, AGILE aims to move independent media away from perpetual financial precarity toward models of sustainable solvency, directly tackling the structural weaknesses uncovered by the research and outlets’ assessments through an open call.
Dire Security Trends: Colombia
A security assessment by researchers Laura Carolina Ávila Cortés and Angie Viviana Yanguma Ayala reports high levels of risk for journalists in Colombia, including death threats, physical assaults and murder. The assessment describes the current environment as the press’s “most critical security moment in the last ten years”, with death threats and physical assaults characterised as extreme and highly probable. It notes that at least 12 journalists have been murdered in the last five years, including for coverage of corruption and conflict.
Jorge Velásquez, President of the Colombian Federation of Journalists (Fecolper), linked insecurity to editorial decisions: “The issue of insecurity, threats, and intimidation ultimately leads to risks or consequences such as censorship and self-censorship. Journalists, in some cases for safety reasons, stop investigating or pursuing certain stories for fear that something might happen to them, their physical integrity or their families.”
This violence bleeds into the digital realm, disproportionately targeting women. Attacks against female journalists often contain misogynistic and sexualised messages referencing their “sexuality, how they look, and their families,” leading to anxiety and professional silencing. This harassment is amplified when figures, such as Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, refer to female journalists as “mafia dolls,” sparking massive online abuse, explained in the research’s case study.
The link between financial weakness and safety is clear: economic precarity stifles the creation of formal safety protocols.
Dire Security Trends: Brazil
In Brazil, the security assessment describes a different pattern: intimidation through the judicial system. The draft highlights judicial harassment (judicialização), including Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), as a method used to pressure outlets, with financial consequences for organisations with limited resources.
Kátia Brasil, cofounder of the independent investigative journalism agency Amazônia Real, provided a stark personal example, reporting that her organisation faces eight judicial processes, which leads to profound self-censorship on sensitive issues. Moreover, organisations led by Black, Indigenous, and peripheral communities face systemic barriers, including structural racism, when trying to formalise their businesses and access funding, reinforcing their vulnerability, according to findings from the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (ABRAJI).
AGILE’s Response: Addressing security risks
Recognising the high operational risk, AGILE delivered a specific Security Assessment Study in Colombia. This was followed by an in-person, tailored security workshop for Fundación Mutante on 28 October 2025, an outlet identified as having higher exposure to online threats. The consultants worked with the team to develop a bespoke security roadmap for identifying vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies. This focus on training and practical protocols directly addresses the high likelihood of physical and digital threats documented in the risk matrix.
Mutante media newsroom during the kick-off of the AGILE mentoring sessions on 28 October 2025 in Bogotá, Colombia.
In Brazil, AGILE’s Security Assessment Study recommended measures including pre-publication legal checks, aimed at reducing exposure to legal intimidation and associated financial strain. By strengthening internal editorial and legal safeguards, AGILE is helping outlets anticipate and resist judicial intimidation, thereby reducing the pressure leading to self-censorship.
Learning Network Events
Building on the lessons emerging from AGILE, Thomson Media is committed to sharing practical learning across the region. Under the AGILE framework, Thomson Media recently co-organised a side event at the Central American Journalism Forum (Foro CAP) in Antigua, Guatemala, bringing together editors, reporters and media managers to discuss concrete ways of financing independent journalism without compromising its mission.
This learning-focused session forms part of a wider series of exchanges designed to ensure that insights from research and mentoring in countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Guatemala are fed back into the wider independent media community in Latin America and worldwide.
Securing the Future of Independent Journalism
Filmed during the Central American Journalism Forum (ForoCAP) in Antigua, Guatemala, these short interviews capture journalists and media leaders reflecting on what sustainability looks like in practice. They include perspectives from AGILE-mentored outlets Ojo con Mi Pisto and No Ficcion on building loyal communities, diversifying revenue and sharing lessons with peers across the region.
Audience Landscape Study and Security Assessments in Brazil and Colombia available in Spanish and Portuguese upon request here.
Videos Credit: ForoCAP/El Faro
