In early January, the United States’ dramatic capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro felt less like a geopolitical surprise than a signal flare. It was setting the tone for the year ahead: volatility driven by contested power, brittle institutions and economies exposed to political shock waves.
For Latin America, a region already living with chronic instability, the message was unmistakable. Uncertainty is no longer episodic; it is structural. External factors, like the U.S. government’s promise of financial support potentially interfering in Argentina’s elections and its inconsistent acrimonious relations with Colombia, only compound the long history of domestic political volatility in many parts of the region.
For independent media, this moment is especially fraught. Their mandate is to produce the first draft of history while it is still being contested. They must explain, investigate and contextualize events in real time, all while operating under constant and extreme financial pressure. Building this capacity has become an immediate necessity.
The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas’ handbook The Worlds of Journalism: Safety, Professional Autonomy, and Resilience among Journalists in Latin America has brought to light worrying trends across the region’s media landscape. Nearly half of journalists lack full-time contracts and experience demeaning or hateful speech. Over 70% have expressed concern about emotional strain, with Brazil, Peru and El Salvador standing out. Half admit self-censorship as a survival strategy. These figures describe not just a profession under stress, but an information ecosystem stretched to its limits.
As Latin America enters another cycle of contested elections, weakened presidencies, polarized legislatures and strained international relations, the economic consequences will hit independent media first and hardest. When outlets shut down, the result is not neutrality but an information vacuum, quickly filled by propaganda, disinformation or silence. Against this backdrop, business resilience becomes more than a managerial concern; it is a democratic necessity.
MDIF’s media advisors, business experts and program managers have encountered despair as they engage with media companies across the region, but they have also found hope. Some media are managing to buck the trend and strengthen their balance sheets, helping them to weather the storm so they can continue informing their communities about things that matter. Though not a solution to all the challenges facing independent media across the region, they add insight and encouragement as to what is possible.
Brazil: Evolving audio
Brazil’s political drama reached a defining moment late last year when former president Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting a coup after losing the election. The ruling underscored both the fragility and resilience of Brazil’s democratic institutions and the volatility shaping its civic environment.
Against this backdrop, MDIF client Rádio Novelo, an audio journalism company with award-winning shows, faced a decline in funding that had once fueled the podcast boom. Rather than retrench, Novelo diversified strategically. Its weekly podcasts reached more than 7.5 million unique users in 2025, expanding advertising potential. The outlet also launched a membership program and sold intellectual property to television. Angela, adapted from the podcast Praia dos Ossos, debuted on HBO.
Once a pure audio company, Novelo has now moved into audiovisual podcast production through Estúdio Novelo, while MDIF’s business unit, Media Advisory Services, supported a comprehensive commercial strategy review to plot a path to a financially secure future. For Rádio Novelo, resilience has meant evolution, not survivalism.
Peru: Building stable media in an unstable country
Peru’s Congress has once again removed a sitting president, continuing a familiar pattern: six presidents in under six years. Widespread protests, violence, corruption scandals and economic decline have created a hostile environment for journalism. In this context, new general elections will be held on April 12, possibly the most important in the country’s history. With 36 candidates for president and more than 1,800 for the Senate, competition will be fierce.
MDIF client El Búho operates in Arequipa, the country’s second largest city and a region that could be called the national media’s blind spot. Through in-depth investigative reporting, it serves traditionally under-served audiences. With MDIF’s support last year, El Búho infused product thinking into its strategy and strengthened trust with readers. The work helped the team articulate the value of its journalism, design clearer audience-facing offerings and lay the foundations for a reader-revenue strategy.
As a result, El Búho launched a redesigned website that included a payment gateway and the user flow necessary to support a new membership program. The relaunch also improved the overall look and feel of the outlet’s digital presence, renewing the brand 25 years after its founding as a print newspaper.
El Búho also coordinates a network of local media outlets throughout Peru, collaborating on coverage and distribution from all regions of the country. It designed training and skills-building sessions to prepare journalists for the upcoming elections, including guidance on incorporating AI into workflows and a product-thinking workshop led by MDIF.
Still early in this phase of its sustainability journey, El Búho’s resilience lies in aligning editorial mission, audience needs and long-term viability in one of the region’s most unstable political contexts.
Colombia: Connecting communities through conversations
Relations between the United States and Colombia’s government have grown increasingly confrontational, adding external pressure to internal political and economic challenges.
Against this backdrop, Cambio reached EBITDA break-even by the end of 2025, a milestone rooted in innovation, not austerity alone. For more than a year, Cambio has led the market in highly targeted live and virtual events, attracting hundreds of thousands of streaming and in-person attendees. These events function as both brand-building tools and sustainable revenue streams, showing how audience-centric design can buffer political and economic shocks.
Their power lies in enabling Cambio’s community and sponsors to connect with high-level public servants and decision makers through intimate conversations about Colombia’s most pressing issues. With journalistic investigations often sparking these discussions, the events openly explore ideas and public policy solutions that contribute to the country’s development.
However, achieving sustainable operations also required strengthening other revenue sources. With sustained support from MAS, particularly through expert-in-residence Adriana Peña Johansson, Cambio accelerated its commercial revenue. The outlet redesigned its sales team structure, implemented more agile tracking and forecasting, and strengthened its product offering. As a result, sales increased by 30% compared to the previous year.
The hard truth behind resilience.
“It is tempting to frame resilience as innovation alone. But the quieter reality is more sobering,” says Ana Sofietto, MDIF’s Program Director for Latin America. “Independent media across Latin America are operating in profoundly adverse conditions. Many survive not because of dramatic reinvention, but because of sacrifice: executives cutting their own salaries, journalists taking second jobs outside the newsroom, organizations accumulating debt to keep publishing.”
Resilience, in the context of small newsrooms in the continent, is not a buzzword. It is the daily, determined act of keeping public-interest news and information alive when the political ground will not stop shifting.
(With valuable contributions from Patricia Torres-Burd, Managing Director, Media Advisory Services, Luciana Cardoso, Media Business Advisor and Marcela Falquez, Senior Investment Officer for Latin America)
This article is a part of our special 30th anniversary coverage.