In this episode we talk to Catarina Carvalho, founder and editor-in-chief of Mensagem de Lisboa, a newsroom of local journalism that covers the city of Lisbon

The project was launched during the covid-19 pandemic, because a group of journalists felt that, even though the majority of Portuguese outlets is based in Lisbon, the stories that matter to the city were not being told. The news coverage was very institutional-based and left out most of the territory and its people.

So, with the help of a local business group, they started Mensagem de Lisboa, that had, at the time, a team of five full-time journalists and a lot of contributors.

In this interview we talk with Catarina Carvalho the importance of community engagement and how going besides journalism can help with that. We also discuss what it means to be independent.