We are a small news organization, funded in 2020, driven by out mission to produce impactful reporting and in serving our core audience.
IMPACTS: In April 2021, for example, we published a story about how Facebook was being used to sell guns in Brazil, which is illegal, and our reporting led to the platform removing posts and users involved in illegal trading.
Our reporting has been either feature in major news organizations in Brazil or served as reference for them to chase their own reporting.
Nucleo was also the first Brazilian news organization to publish public guidelines about the use of generative artificial intelligence in our newsrooms.
Sérgio Spagnuolo
AWARDS: In 2022, Nucleo won the top prize for Innovation and Experimentation in the Cláudio Weber Abramo Data Journalism Award with the project BotPonto, a bot that scans YouTube videos to assist in the fight against disinformation.
AUDIENCE: Our journalism is for everyone, but our main readers are decision makers, like civil servants, legal experts, NGO professionals, civic tech entrepreneurs, tech workers, scholars, scientists and journalists, as well as people with keen interest in transparency, public policies, Big Tech accountability and analysis of social media data.
REVENUE MODEL. Nucleo pay its bills mostly by providing news and tech products to a very niche, engaged audience. We currently have subscriptions to our website and to specific newsletters, as well as a few tech-based products – like Legislatech, a tool that monitors legislation and public documents in Brazil.
We also partner with other news organizations or NGOs that need our reporting and technical expertise for projects that align with our mission.
Nucleo also applies for project-based grants, reporting grants and institutional funding on a regular basis, some of which may include money from Big Tech, like Google and Meta, for which we adopt strict policies to prevene any sort of interference in our editorial independence. Past institutional funders included the Luminate Group, Instituto Serrapilheira and the International Center for Journalists.
We are actively looking for funding, from people and institutions interested in supporting serious, evidence-based independent journalism in Latin America.
Our basic requirements for receiving any outside money are:
- we have to be able to disclose the funder's name and value invested or donated, and;
- we need maintain complete journalistic and editorial autonomy from any funders, donors or investors.
REACH OUT: [email protected]