Alejandra Xanic
Co-Founder, Quinto Elemento Lab, Mexico City. Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting with David Barstow for their New York Times exposé of Walmart’s corrupt entry into Mexico.
Summary
I see two interesting things going on. One is solutions journalism—the idea to be more of a service to the public. The other is that we’re now collaborating. In traditional media we’re taught to be competitive and jealous with our tips. But now, because of organizations like the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism or the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Protect (OCCRP) in Romania, and other initiatives around the world, we’re talking about how to help one another become better journalists—how to tackle common problems, conduct transnational investigations or do co-productions. I think that’s a major change. It’s changing the face of journalism. And that’s coming from independent initiatives, from outside [mainstream] media.
