Who we are
Contracorriente is a digital media outlet that strives for in-depth and investigative journalism in transmedia formats. Legally, we are a Society of Limited Responsibility; Producciones Red Comunica, Investiga y Conecta S. de R.L. whose founders are; Jennifer Alejandra Avila Reyes, Catherine Aurora Calderón Mercado and Héctor Alejandro Maradiaga Cibrian. Currently, the company belongs to Jennifer Alejandra Avila Reyes and Catherine Aurora Calderón Mercado.
The idea for Contracorriente came out of the explosion of the outraged movement in Honduras in 2015. This global movement, which blossomed from social media, also had an impact in the streets of this small Central American country after the looting of the Honduran Social Security Institute by public workers with links to the National party. They directly rerouted funds from public health to the political campaign of then presdent, Juan Orlando Hernández, who illegally tried to get re-elected.
It was at this time that various journalists started to come together in order to talk about the importance of reporting what happens in Honduras and of using new technologies to do so in an innovative and different way to the sort of journalism that the majority of the population was consuming.
A dream started to grow and was consolidated with the support of other regional networks that were having similar conversations about the need for inspiring digital journalism in Honduras. Jennifer Avila, Honduran journalist and documentary maker, and Catherine Calderón, freelance journalist and consultant put out the call and got together in order to start to talk. From there, we started to write articles in our spare time, with our own money. The first step was to exist and consolidate ourselves as a team. The steps that followed were more complicated.
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We want to be media that covers Honduras’ story in a way that is fair to the people and that makes those who use their power to plunder the state and sell the country at the price of the people’s dignity, uncomfortable. We are in a country where the truth is denied and justice is a utopia. We believe that citizens should have access to accurate and current information in order to be able to make decisiones. We think that in Honduras, we need to be aware, not just survive.
visión
To consolidate ourselves as a leading media outlet in the region, based on the depth of information we provide and our capacity to analyse issues with context. We imagine a Honduras where there are active citizens who are involved in the political and social processes that affect their daily lives, and we hope to become their informative allies so they can do that.
Misión
We are a communication platform that believes in in-depth journalism, and producing transmedia content that speaks to the reality of life in Honduras and the region. Innovation and new narratives that are devoted to the truth, are the pillars of how we describe what is happening.
Nuestras Estrategias son:
Describing the causes and consequences of social issues in Honduras and the region, and creating a new generation of journalists to tell Honduras’ story.
And because all this requires resources, we are constantly designing a business model that allows us to be independent and to survive as we work.
Cómo:
We request funds from international organizations and institutions, and through scholarships and projects. We also obtain financial resources by selling communication services; consultations regarding media work, designing campaigns, audiovisual production, fixer services, and English-Spanish translations for various media formats and training workshops on journalism and communication.
Contracorriente operates with a copyleft license or Peer Production, where only non-profit people, cooperatives, or entities can share or re-use the work, but it can’t be used for profit by commercial entities whose aim is to obtain economic benefits from using it, but without any explicitly reciprocity for the common good.
One of the biggest worries we have about doing the type of journalism that we want to in this country, is the risk we face as we traverse the streets of Honduras, where the majority of murders of journalists have not been punished and where institutions are weak and unable to protect the victims – something we definitely don’t want to become.
We want our audience to be able to support the journalism we do, and to accompany us as we swim against the current.
FINANCING PARTNERSHIPS
Strategic Alliances
Contra Corriente Team
JENNIFER ÁVILA
Journalist, co-founder, and editorial director of Contra Corriente. Winner of the LASA Media Award 2020.
CC articles and content
CATHERINE CALDERÓN
Co-founder of Contra Corriente and head of development. She covers topics such as gender, LGBTQI rights, violence, and youth. METIS fellow 2019.
CC articles and content
ABIGAIL MOLINA
A young feminist with eight years of administrative experience. She also has freelance experience working with women’s rights organizations in Honduras, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Alejandra Arita
Psychologist with a masters in human resources. Experience in human resource processes and management for companies, and in charge of human resources for Producciones Red Comunica.
Leonardo Aguilar
Lawyer in training and journalist, having graduated from the National Autonomous University of Honduras, Valle de Sula (UNAM-VS). He has worked in radio, for print media, and as a web and investigative journalist. He has worked with environmental organizations and on investigations into forced displacement as a result of violence linked to drug smuggling.
¬ CC articles and content
actualidad@contracorriente.red
JORGE CABRERA
Photojournalist with 20 years of experience covering international news. “Photo-journalism has been present in my life for the past two decades, and it will continue to be part of every day.”
FERNANDO SILVA
An investigative journalist withContracorriente. Writing about corruption, power structures, and extractivism. Took the investigative journalism course for Latin America from Columbia University and was part of the team that won the Ortega y Gasset prize in 2020 for Best Investigative Reporting.
He used to work as an audiovisual producer in non-profits organizations focused on development and human rights.
VIENNA HERRERA
An investigative journalist in Contracorriente. Right now covering stories about women’s rights, extractivism, environment, and power structures. Part of the Tierra de Resistentes team, finalist for the Gabo prize in 2020.
JORGE PAZ REYES
Thinker, Honduran and New Yorker. Jorge is a student of Political Science and Latin America at Haverford College of Pennsylvania. Within his studies he focuses on the Honduran labor movement, the Banana Strike of ’54 and militarism throughout Latin America. He is dedicated to representing the Central American Diaspora in the United States and fighting for the voice of the Latino community.
Allan Bu
Local journalist in northern Honduras. Reporter of politics, health and economy.
¬ CC articles and content
allanbu@contracorriente.red
Sandra Fiallos Ruiz
Degree in Administrative Informatics, graduated from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma del Valle de Sula (UNAH-VS). Photographer, dissident, art, design and technology lover. Feminist. Creative entrepreneur.
CELESTE MARADIAGA
Journalist and creator of content for social networks. She covers current affairs on gender and sexual and reproductive rights, extractivism, environment and power structures in Contracorriente.
AMILCAR IZAGUIRRE
Born in 1985 in the municipality of Trojes, El Paraíso. He has a degree in Journalism from the National Autonomous University of Honduras in Valle de Sula.
He has worked 15 years as a photojournalist in different topics and written media in Honduras.
FERNANDO DESTEPHEN
Fernando Destephen was born in 1985 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He is a photojournalist and story teller.
NATALI CARDENAS
Administrative assistent with ContraCorriente, nutrition student.
¬ CC articles and content
» contabilidad2@contracorriente.red
DANIEL FONSECA
Journalist and digital content and audiovisual content creator. He believes in the transformative power of stories.
PERSY CABRERA
Persy Cabrera was born in Tegucigalpa in 1997. He graduated with a technical bachelor’s degree in electricity from the Saúl Zelaya Jiménez Technical Institute and studied electrical engineering at the UNAH before going on to study journalism. He is currently a cultural journalist at Contracorriente. He likes movies, series, anime, manga and books. He plays soccer and is a sports enthusiast in general.
CELIA POUSSET
Journalist recently graduated from Sciences Po Rennes School of Journalism (France), I have worked on issues of gender, justice and inequality in Guatemala and El Salvador, I have ventured into the radio documentary in France on migration.
PAMELA ROMERO
Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and auxiliary nurse with a specialty in pediatrics, specialist in gender and sexual and reproductive rights.
