In order to grow in this digital age when information is at your fingertips, just a click away, we have to innovate and ask ourselves: What can we offer? Why read The Voice of Guanacaste instead of other media? What do we offer that makes us unique?
At The Voice of Guanacaste, we have always been known for being on the cutting edge— we are the only bilingual newspaper in the country, we do quality regional journalism and investigative reporting. We like to break the mold and change paradigms.
We want to continue on this path of innovation and that is why we are pleased to introduce the non-profit organization, The Voice of Guanacaste, with the goal of serving the common good as journalists, under a legal framework that does not seek profit or answer to economic interests but rather the interests of everyone in Guanacaste.
We want to democratize the news and empower communities. Our readers, foundations and even the national government will be the ones who put their trust in us, and the ones who determine the path we take as a communication medium to be able to continue and grow.
What Changed?
- As far as editorial content goes, we hope to be able to do deeper journalistic investigations, which tend to take the most time and resources. And we want our readers to be the ones who help us determine what these news subjects might be.
- We are going to incorporate more technology in the investigative process— for example, database journalism— and in the way we tell printed and electronic stories— infographics and interactive applications, more videos, more audio.
- In the way that you, our readers, can support The Voice of Guanacaste. Besides being able to advertise in the newspaper, we are going to open other channels that can generate income to cover our operating costs. We can now receive donations that are tax deductible for businesses and people in general. All donations will be received legally, be it ¢1000 or $1000.
- We have a new editorial advisory board, made up of renowned people who believe in the importance of rural journalism and the power of information and who have signed on with us in this new process, providing their time and advice. Costa Ricans and foreigners of the highest caliber have come together to mold the new Voice of Guanacaste.
This board is already formed and we are proud to present the members: GianninaSegnini, a Costa Rican journalist won won several international awards for her work in La Nacion and independent investigative reports. Segnini specializes in journalistic and data-based research and currently teaches at the journalism school at Columbia University in New York. Segnini will be a big help in our investigative reporting.
Costa Rican Alexander Jimenez Matarritahas a PhD in philosophy and was the coordinator of the “National Human Development Report” of the United Nations program in Costa Rica. He won awards for his published books and is currently director of the Social Studies and Culture doctorate program at UCR. Jimenez will be our guide when we work on news related to cultural identity.
Mariana Santos, who is Portuguese, went above and beyond her profession as a designer, turning into a journalist when she was working for the English communication medium The Guardian. Santos leads the international nonprofit group ChicasPoderosas (Powerful Girls), whose mission is to eliminate the existing gap between women and technology, and she is the director of the interactive team of Fusion.net (a network of Univision and Disney). Santos will contribute to the visual and interactive aspects between our stories and the reader.
Costa Rican journalist and writer Diego Delfino, widely known as the director of the website 89decibeles.com, also worked as Editor in Chief of Su Casa magazine. His pen will be present in our writings. The talented Roberto Rodriguez, Costa Rican, created the technology company 3VOT, which creates digital applications. His client list includes Univision, Disney and Fusion.com. His vision and knowledge of current technology will be critical in our development.
Steve Mack, an American lawyer and editor, worked for Tico Times for several years. Mack has been living in Costa Rica for several years and is currently director of the NGO Guanacaste Community Fund, which seeks to connect economic recourses with human resources. Mack will help us in our first steps as an NGO. And finally, we have journalist CyntiaBriceño, who worked for La Nacion for nine years and is currently director of communications at Zona de Prensa.
What Hasn’t Changed?
The staff remains the same and we hope to be able to hire more journalists, photographers and designers in the near future— hopefully all from Guanacaste.
We will continue to be a regional hotbed of young talent and we hope to increase agreements with regional universities. Social assistance, marketing, design and journalism students have and will continue to have the doors open to do their theses and internships with us.
We want to implement our current citizen journalism program with more force, in which we train people interested in contributing to the newspaper to do reporting in their communities.
From now on, you can expect and demand from us: more content covering all of the province of Guanacaste, new events to unite communities, greater interaction with our readers, news focused on solutions and not so much on problems and, above all, the presentation of special research projects that will be chosen by you, our voices.
Welcome to the new era of The Voice of Guanacaste. Welcome to the new era of your community.
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