Media Relationship Building
Activities: Have meetings and dedicate more time to media connections that would give writers a frame of reference for viewing Loreto as a news subject. Build a relationship especially with an award winning journalist covering social, transparency and environmental issues.
Contribution planned: Funding of capacity building for Journalists covering our magical community, where the Foundation provides support for workshops and fellowships for a journalists-only familiarization trip to Loreto.
“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”
Loreto is one of five communities integrally planned by FONATUR, the National Trust Fund For Tourism of Mexico, but rarely have state, national or international media done coverage of Loreto. Notably, although the federally protected marine park (Parque Nacional Bahia) became the second such park when it was created 25 years ago, few stories have been published about the pristine nature that encompasses it.
From the perspective of tourism impact, Loreto has one of Baja California’s three international airports and strong tourism development yet goes without continuous national or international coverage, possibly because the independent and established national and international media are based in the state’s capital city in La Paz or in Mexico City. Loreto as a community loses out on opportunities.
Rarely are journalists from independent media able to do stories on small towns like Loreto. Also, because most of the municipal media are funded by the state, the limited scope and depth of their stories does not encourage syndication. It would serve Loreto to create a network of people who maintain mutual contact with widely followed journalists. Our foundation favors giving a push to the formation of this network by funding a one-week familiarization trip to and around Loreto for journalists from state, national and international media.
Although our journalist guests would cover their own travel to and from Loreto, they would receive room and board and the freedom to investigate their topics of choice. Knowing that publishers will expect stories to come from the time their writers spend on the trip, we would expect to see coverage of subjects other than those currently being covered in Loreto’s municipally- or state-paid papers. Different voices of Loreto will be heard.
Coverage by the independent press will give examples to municipal media of what local residents really want to read, with the possibility of generating new reporting trends. During a familiarization week, residents of Loreto will form connections with independent journalists for future stories. This type of networking not only allows for Loreto to be better known by media outlets but also opens up the government power structure to inspection so that officials are more motivated to offer information as a regular practice, embracing principles of transparency and accountability.