Monitor ISSUE 30
As this is the summer edition of Monitor, we feature Editorial Lead Pascal Fletcher, based in Miami, in the USA’s “sunshine state” of Florida.
After a very full and active three decades in what I’d call “front-line” journalism (mostly with Reuters), which took me to many parts of Latin America and Africa, I was looking for something new and an opportunity to work for BBC Monitoring presented itself in 2016. I was interested, because in my past travels I had heard of Monitoring and knew something of its history. I initially started part-time and soon realised that the work of BBC Monitoring added a fascinating fresh dimension to “straight” journalism: the overlay of observing and analysing news events through the prism of the media and social media, with all that this entails in terms of disinformation, geopolitical power plays and political and economic influences at work. So if you can imagine a job that combines day-to-day journalism with the work of strategic security analysis, open source intelligence and media consultancy all wrapped up into one, then this is it. One thing led to another and I found myself heading up the BBC Monitoring team covering Latin America, which is based in Miami.
Pascal Fletcher with some members of our Miami team past and present: from left to right: Daniela Traldi, Pascal Fletcher, Blaire Toedte, Rose Delaney, Rachelle Krygier
What does a typical day look like?
There is never a dull moment in Latin America, where so many global themes play out on a daily basis – climate change, environmental problems and weather emergencies, migration, insurgency, violent organised crime and drug-trafficking, and not least, geopolitical rivalry, as the United States faces challenges in its traditional Western Hemisphere “backyard” from China, Russia and Iran. “Constant watch” is a daily task for any BBC Monitoring team, looking across a vast landscape of media sources and social media to detect breaking news and angles that might have been missed or neglected by traditional international
PRESS SECRETARY OF THE PRESIDENCY OF EL SALVADOR / HANDOUT/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES
What brought you to BBC Monitoring?
BBCM
Living the story: Pascal Fletcher
news sources, as well as trends and developments in national and regional media cover, or “nuggets” of information of potential interest to our customers. As well as filing spot-news alerts and reports, we also work on more in-depth Insight pieces that seek to join-the-dots on any trends observed and “nuggets” found, providing context and analysis. On any given day too, we might be fielding requests from other BBC units requesting two-way radio and TV interviews, and help with translation, material and analysis to produce online stories, programmes and podcasts. We also work on media guides. So every day is a full plate.
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Social media is huge in Latin American countries
The arrival of inmates belonging to the MS-13 and 18 gangs to a vast new prison in El Salvador’s Tecoluca MONITORING.BBC.CO.UK