We couldn't have chosen a better moment to launch Brasil Post. A rare combination of factors promises to make 2014 one of the most important year in our country's recent history. As if the obvious coincidence between the presidential elections and the World Cup wasn't enough, there are other ingredients that bring the promise of some big news. The main one, undoubtedly, is the atmosphere of popular dissatisfaction triggered by the large street protests of last year.
We can't forget the trial of the heads of the main political forces in the country by the Supreme Federal Court, the so-called "Mensalão scandal" (mensalão is a Portuguese neologism referring to the large monthly payments made by the ruling PT at Congress level and its opponent PSDB in the state of Minas Gerais). Not to mention the recent problems in our economy and the critical bottlenecks of our transport infrastructure.
Will we win this World Cup? Will the sentenced politicians remain in prison, and if so, for how long? Will other public men involved in corruption be sentenced, too? What about the energy of popular mobilizations? Could it be channeled in a positive way, to help us build a fairer, more sustainable society?
This is the backdrop for the launch of Brasil Post today: a local version of the international online newspaper The Huffington Post, already present in nine countries. And this couldn't happen at a better time, not only because this is going to be a unique year, but also because of the type of journalism Brasil Post does.
No medium dialogues better with social media than The Huffington Post does: monitoring what is going on in the networks to feed its news, sharing its contents though the main platforms, and participating actively in the conversations generated by the networks. In a country that loves social media like Brazil, this is a huge advantage.
Considering the crucial role social networks have been playing in the mobilization and organization of movements such as the street protest or the recent "rolezinhos" (flashmobs) of groups of teenagers in shopping malls of large Brazilian cities, this hyper connected kind of journalism will put Brasil Post in a leading position compared to local news websites.
Another marked characteristic of Huffington Post's journalism is the way it treats other news websites through its "news aggregation". On Brasil Post, the readers won't find only the news produced by our writers, but also links to other Brazilian websites and portals, whenever they publish exclusive or relevant news. Therefore, very often our homepage's headline will redirect our readers immediately to websites such as Folha, Estadão, O Globo, Veja, Terra, G1, Exame or UOL, among other online information sources.
Bloggers are one of Huffington Post's pillars. Here, just like other countries' editions did before us, we are building a network of collaborators including internationally renowned personalities and common people who, with their opinions, will help us to stimulate relevant debates about varied themes.
In addition, we have the possibility to translate content for free from all the other Huffington Post international editions: the U.S., Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Maghreb or Japan. Last, but not least, we are part of Grupo Abril, so our editorial partnerships allow us to exchange contents with the company's websites and publications, such as Placar, Cláudia, Exame, Planeta Sustentável, Veja, Mde Mulher, Quatro Rodas, Superinteressante, Casa.com, Nova, Capricho, Info and Contigo, just to mention a few.
All this content together will form a fantastic technological platform, and with the know-how we have been building since 2005, when The Huffington Post was launched in the U.S., I am sure that our Brasil Post will soon have an outstanding position in Brazilians' daily lives. Your opinion and participation will be crucial to achieve that. And the space and attention we give to our readers' comments have no parallel in our country, with a team 100% dedicated to moderating readers' debates in our platform.
Shall we talk?
This blog post was translated from the original Portuguese.