I don’t know how to say that human journalism is different without sounding shallow, a consequence of the bad reputation the mass media has earned for itself these days. Human journalism is simply journalism and has many facets.
First of all, it’s professional, or in other words, carried out by people who are aware of the responsibility of their position and act consequently, because they know that the quality of communication is an indicator of democratic health. Secondly, it’s independent, which means that the criteria used to select the news is based on its informative importance and not the laws of the market or the economic interests of certain business lobbies. Thirdly, it doesn’t have any profit motive, which means that its aim is not to compete for the consumer’s attention but to provide high-quality information for its user community. Fourth -and this is patently obvious- it’s journalistic because one of it’s objectives is to deepen our knowledge of what’s happening in the world, in a neighbourhood or in a village and to do so with affection, dignity and without turning it into a show. Human journalism is everything that the mass media isn’t to those of us who can access it normally and the most encouraging digital initiative than has come about in the state media panorama in recent times.
One example: the recent victory of Juan Manuel Santos in Colombia. We already know how this news is covered in the traditional media: throughout the first days, a series of articles appear which feature a varying degree of description, and which confuse more than they inform; a couple of editorials appear in the weekend supplement; some emotive report with images of paramilitary fighters and cocaine dealers on TV; and what’s more, the Colombian situation is very depressing, the hands of Uribe are very long and the reader or spectator’s time is scarce.
Human Journalism treats the question with a completely different focus, through a series of documentary videos "Deciphering Colombia" which, shown one per day, examine without fear the extremely complicated situation in this Latin-American country, with testimonies, analysis and transparency.
Besides audiovisual pieces (another highly recommendable one is "Iraq, postguerra" by the prestigious Albero Arce), and quality articles on themes that don’t usually appear in the media or only do so in a superficial way, Human Journalism also includes podcasts (like "Radioactivos" by the cultural research collective Zemos98 or “¿Quieres hacer el favor de leer esto, por favor?” by the journalists Elena Cabrera and Carolina León) and links to the contents of other media (like the chapter "50 years of... women, a men’s thing" made by Isabel Coixet for Spanish television). You can follow them on their web, on facebook or on twitter, and use their contents provided that you respect the Creative Commons license by which they’re governed and support the initiative by becoming a member or via a donation. If you’re interested in the world you live in, if you think that information shouldn’t be just a business or you simply want to be reliably informed, there they are.
They are a highly-motivated, exciting and committed team and they deserve a community of followers to match.
http://periodismohumano.com
