2016 Photo Contest, Daily Life, 3rd prize

Citizen Journalism in Brazil’s Favelas

Photographer

Sebastián Liste

The New York Times Magazine

08 February, 2015

Papo Reto is alerted via WhatsApp to the police shooting of a mototaxi driver, Diego da Costa Algavez. Immediately, they share the information over various social media, in order to alert the local population that streets in the area might be dangerous. Then they change course and head to the scene of the shooting.

Police shootings in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (urban shantytowns) are so common that they are seldom reported. According to Amnesty International, around 2,000 people are killed every year by Brazilian police, often in a manner that resembles a planned execution. In Complexo do Alemão, one of the largest Rio favelas, residents, frustrated by the lack of traditional media coverage, have formed Papo Reto (’straight talk’), a collective of activists who collate and distribute images and reports through social media.

About the photographer

Sebastián Liste

Sebastián Liste is a documentary photographer and sociologist devoted to documenting the profound cultural changes and contemporary issues in Latin America and the Mediterranean ...

Technical information

Shutter Speed
1/50
Focal length
18.0 mm
F-Stop
4.0
ISO
400

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