7 minute read
Living the story: Pascal Fletcher
from BBC MONITOR 30
As this is the summer edition of Monitor, we feature Editorial Lead Pascal Fletcher, based in Miami, in the USA’s “sunshine
What brought you to BBC Monitoring?
After a very full and active three decades in what I’d call “front-line” journalism (mostly with Reuters), which took me to many parts of Latin America and Africa, I was looking for something new and an opportunity to work for BBC Monitoring presented itself in 2016. I was interested, because in my past travels I had heard of Monitoring and knew something of its history. I initially started part-time and soon realised that the work of BBC Monitoring added a fascinating fresh dimension to “straight” journalism: the overlay of observing and analysing news events through the prism of the media and social media, with all that this entails in terms of disinformation, geopolitical power plays and political and economic influences at work. So if you can imagine a job that combines day-to-day journalism with the work of strategic security analysis, open source intelligence and media consultancy all wrapped up into one, then this is it. One thing led to another and I found myself heading up the BBC Monitoring team covering Latin America, which is based in Miami.
What does a typical day look like?
There is never a dull moment in Latin America, where so many global themes play out on a daily basis – climate change, environmental problems and weather emergencies, migration, insurgency, violent organised crime and drug-trafficking, and not least, geopolitical rivalry, as the United States faces challenges in its traditional Western Hemisphere “backyard” from China, Russia and Iran. “Constant watch” is a daily task for any BBC Monitoring team, looking across a vast landscape of media sources and social media to detect breaking news and angles that might have been missed or neglected by traditional international news sources, as well as trends and developments in national and regional media cover, or “nuggets” of information of potential interest to our customers. As well as filing spot-news alerts and reports, we also work on more in-depth Insight pieces that seek to join-the-dots on any trends observed and “nuggets” found, providing context and analysis. On any given day too, we might be fielding requests from other BBC units requesting two-way radio and TV interviews, and help with translation, material and analysis to produce online stories, programmes and podcasts. We also work on media guides. So every day is a full plate.
Is disinformation a big issue in Latin America?
Absolutely. There are published studies which indicate that disinformation is even more prevalent in Spanish – and Portuguese-language media than in English, including the US Hispanic population. Social media is huge in Latin American countries like Brazil and Argentina, and disinformation, “fake news” and misinformation stories are constantly cropping up – from the anti-vaccine narratives peddled in Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic by rightwing then president Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters to online efforts by some of Mexico’s powerful drug cartels to present themselves as social benefactors and deployment by some governments of “digital troops” to promote propaganda and harass critics.
Ideological opponents like Cuba and the US fight “information wars” across the Florida Straits. There is hardly an election anywhere in the region that is not somehow “contaminated” with false narratives and “fake news”, leading to a boom in fact-checking websites. And let’s not forget too that China, Russia and Iran are all increasingly pushing their respective narratives through state-run Spanish language services all targeting Latin American audiences.
What’s the most interesting story you have worked on?
I’m going to have to confess to a personal fascination here, stemming from my past years of working as a correspondent in Havana, for the online information war involving Cuba and the US. Up to only a few years ago, Cuba’s ruling Communist Party was able to exercise an almost complete monopoly over media and information (enshrined, it should be said, in the Cuban constitution, which still does not permit non-state-owned media).
However, the advent of mobile phones on the island and increasing access to the Internet and social media for Cuban citizens have eroded the government’s past power to control information and political narrative. Cubans can now find anti-government and dissident news sources and see, post and interact with criticism of the authorities on social media.
This has left the Cuban state media – which seeks only to report and promote pro-government news –with a serious credibility crisis and scrambling to keep up with news and activity on social media that show a much less flattering picture of reality on the island.
This information battleground was vividly revealed by a wave of antigovernment protests that rippled across the island on 11 July 2021, and was given visibility and momentum by reporting and videos on social media. For its part, Cuba’s government alleges a “media war” is being waged against its one-party communist system by and from the US (especially by Cuban exiles in Florida) and using US-based social media platforms. Havana has been countering by clamping down on internal dissidents and protesters, deploying pro-government “digital troops” and hashtags to promote the government’s positions, and passing laws that seem aimed to restrict antigovernment social media activity. The battle is continuing.
What are the challenges in coordinating our Latin American coverage?
Covering the large area that is Latin America and the Caribbean with a small team certainly poses challenges. We are constantly having to make “triage” coverage decisions on a dayto-day basis – deciding which stories or requests we are going to dedicate effort and resources to. Such decisions inevitably pull attention away from other developments that we will need to keep an eye on or delve into at some stage, unless they “blow up” in the meantime! Of course these are challenges faced by all Monitoring teams, whether they cover just one country or a region. Search tools and use of technology and AI can help, to complement the human mind and eye that seeks to make sense of our frenzied kinetic world.
What have you learned while working at BBC Monitoring?
Trying to unscramble that is of course the key part of BBC Monitoring’s work. So I’ve found that while exercising basic journalistic skills like writing and editing, you are also developing other skills of observation, analysis and prediction that are key to a whole range of potential professional career choices. As I say, there is never a dull day in Latin America – or in BBC Monitoring! There is never a dull day in Latin America – or in BBC Monitoring!
That there is so much more to the “news” that you see daily on TV, in news sites and newspapers, and on social media. Behind the breaking news items in themselves is a whole seething universe of political and economic interests, disinformation, competition for attention and influence and geopolitical rivalry, all being played out in the constantly shifting world of media and social media.
