Nicaragua Journal: Reporting in the Developing World

“It’s about journalism — and telling stories that need to be told.”

KALW reporter Leila Day’s closing argument in a recently-published NPR piece about foreign reporting perfectly captures the essence of our upcoming trip to Nicaragua. Our goal is to share stories with the world that have not yet been shared but need to be.

Before we embark on a mission to report in the developing world, we must do a fair amount of research, so as to not go into the situation blindly. Throughout the discovery process, we might find things that surprise us, confuse us or reassure us.

In our case, “Blood of Brothers” and “Valor From Darkness” are good places to start. Each outlines the overwhelming historical and political events of the people’s 1979 revolution, events that many Nicaraguans still feel the weight of today.

Aside from recognizing that a revolution took place, we should understand the key players behind these events. In Nicaragua, it’s been the reigning Somoza and Chamorro families, the Sandinista rebels and the Contras of the counter-rebellion. While the uproar may have simmered down since the late ’70s, the ideologies behind each of these major players still affects Nicaragua’s current president Daniel Ortega’s administration, not to mention the demeanor of the Nicaraguan people.

Equally important to foreign reporting is developing the understanding that media landscapes outside of the United States vary greatly. This is true in Nicaragua, where many of the institutions are young and fragile and where the notion of a free, independent press is a fairly new concept.

Furthermore, we have to ask ourselves what role the foreign correspondent will play when compared to local media outlets, which may cover many of the same beats from differing angles. Currently, the media in Nicaragua stands divided, very black and white. There is no reporting middle ground. It’s worth considering whether we can and should act as neutral filters in bringing some of the news back home.

In any case, there are a variety of influencing factors that have and will shape Nicaragua’s past, present and future, both in politics and in the media. These themes will likely crop up repeatedly in our storytelling.

Neocolonialism, for instance, has played a large role in the United States’ relationship with Nicaragua in the past and is bound to be on people’s minds still today. Conservativism and liberalism have also obviously been at play in the political sphere, but it’s important to note that “conservative” and “liberal” may have different meanings abroad — another point of research.

We’ll also probably find discrepancies between those over 40 years old, who have lived through the Sandinista revolution, and those under 40, who may not feel as deeply connected to that time, or who, perhaps, don’t know much about it at all.