Avoador: a social and technical formation experience in Brazilian journalism

Abstract

In the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, the public university has sought to help the population in different ways, thus showing the importance of its existence in a country like Brazil, which is going through so many problems, from a negligent president to structural social and economic inequality. In the Journalism course at the Southwest State University of Bahia, located in the city of Vitória da Conquista, 500 km from Salvador, the capital of Bahia province, the university extension project called Avoador, has developed quality information by publishing daily news and in-depth reports, as well as checking for false information. Through these activities, the future journalists have applied theoretical learning and journalistic techniques in practice, working under the pressure of the evolution of events, the vigilance of the audience and the responsibility to act in order to differentiate journalistic content from false information. To identify how much the project has contributed to the training of the students, a qualitative and quantitative survey was conducted among all participants. From the questionnaires, it was possible to identify that they had a clearer notion of what it is like to work in a newsroom, the importance of journalism for society, especially in times of crisis, and the human and technical difficulties inherent in the exercise of the profession in the interior of Brazil. In addition, students began to value more theoretical reflection to support ethical decisions in the determination and dissemination of facts.