AFPC-USA Names Lucila Pinto a 2023 Scholarship Awardee

Lucila Pinto is an Argentinian journalist and project manager. She is currently completing an M.A. in Science Journalism at Columbia University. She was a contributing writer for La Nación newspaper, where she had a monthly column on AI, technology and science.

Lucila Pinto

She has led the creation of websites, data visualizations, videos and platforms for international development organizations. As a JournalismAI fellow, she co-created Image-2-Text, an open-sourced project that aimed to incorporate Artificial Intelligence to describe and catalog photos and videos in newsrooms from the Global South.

The following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What was the primary reason you chose to pursue your master's studies in the United States as a foreign journalist?

I wanted to take my journalistic career to the international field. I have been working as a journalist in Argentina for more than a decade, and I have done some communications work for international organizations. However, I still needed to have the opportunity to work as a journalist abroad. On the one hand, doing a Master's in the United States will allow me to understand how the North American and the international journalistic markets work and make me a better journalist for those markets. For example, there are slight differences in the conventions written articles follow in my country and the United States, apart from the language. From the careful editing of my professors, I am learning to write for international audiences. And on the other hand, I get to share classrooms and spend time with journalists from everywhere in the world. This is an invaluable experience both as a journalist and a person.

You were recently awarded a scholarship from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States (AFPC-USA). How did you feel about this recognition?

I am very grateful to the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States for trusting me and my work. I feel it is a recognition for the effort I have put into work I have done in the past but, most importantly, an act of encouragement for what I will do in the future.

As a journalist, how do you expect your studies and the support from AFPC-USA to help you advance your career?

The support from AFPC-USA will allow me a more solid position to start the next step of my career after I finish my studies. Being a foreign journalist often means that we need more time to start having bylines or landing the job we want because we still have a lot to learn about how the journalistic professional market works. Columbia Journalism School is overflowing with resources to navigate that world better, many of them specifically developed for international students. The combination of those resources and the support from AFPC-USA are a big help.

Why do you think the work of AFPC-USA is important and what are your thoughts on its impact on the journalism field at large?

AFPC-USA does a great job creating a community of international correspondents working for global media in the United States, which otherwise could feel isolated. International correspondents, because of their different perspectives, add great value to the American journalistic community, and they can benefit from sharing experiences and struggles. Having an organization that creates a community of them and for them facilitates those virtuous exchanges.

What made you decide to become a journalist? How do you hope to make an impact in the journalism field of your country of origin?

My motivations for becoming a journalist remain the same today: I like to dive deep into complex issues, try to understand fields and experiences different from mine and write. Of all the jobs I had, nothing made me as excited as doing precisely that. One of the ways in which I hope to make an impact in journalism in my country of origin is by one day teaching everything I am learning here and have learned through my career at a local journalism school.

What is the state of press freedom in your country of origin, and how do you hope that your work will encourage more people to access independent and credible information?

Today, there is freedom of the press in Argentina. That hasn't always been the case, and it is something that I value immensely. As in many other countries, there is a lot of work to be done to reduce polarization. I hope to contribute to that by producing well-thought and well-researched journalistic pieces.

What do you think is the greatest threat to journalism today?

The lack of a successful model for funding journalism is a significant threat to journalism today, especially in developing countries. Media outlets gravitate between pursuing clicks, even when that hurts editorial standards, and subscription models tailored to narrow audiences. Good journalism that doesn't contribute to polarization needs money to thrive, and this requires finding successful financing models.