GLOBO and EXTRA receive 2025 Human Rights Journalism Award trophies

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The O GLOBO newspaper won in the Multimedia category, with Crime Map, an interactive tool for tracking thefts in Rio, with data on crime by neighborhood. Launched in June and accessible via computer, mobile phones and tablets, the platform presents information on mobile phone thefts, thefts by passers-by, vehicle thefts and collective thefts in 147 districts of the capital.

— This recognition is the result of an effort by a team that worked very hard not only to produce the data, but also to interpret it and show how it reflects what people experience on the streets. It’s not just numbers. There are people suffering and being victims of these crimes in different places, and we’re trying to translate that dynamic and tell them. So it’s super important for us to receive this award, because it’s a job in which we think about the population, the citizen. And this award crowns this effort undertaken with the reader in mind — says Rafael Galdo, editor-in-chief of Rio at GLOBO.

In addition to Galdo, Rafael Soares, Felipe Grinberg, Anna Bustamante, Danilo Perelló, João Vitor Costa, Felipe Gelani, Giampaolo Morgado Braga, Mário Martinho, Vinícius Machado, Carlos Sá, Hudson Lessa and Thaissa Muniz signed the project.

— It is very gratifying to see this work, the fruit of the efforts of a team of more than ten people, be recognized. Our goal was to nuance the debate on public security and, using data on crime in neighborhoods, to understand hyperlocal criminal dynamics, which most affect the routine of the population — explains special journalist Rafael Soares.

EXTRA won in the Print category, with the series “Bonde dos Fantasmas”, from EXTRA. The reports, signed by Roberta de Souza, reveal a Military Police Internal Affairs document that names five police officers, a former agent and two other men as members of a group specializing in robbing drug outlets. The book even managed to connect two different investigations and, after publication, five police officers were fired and a suspect was arrested. In September, the series received an honorable mention at the 14th AMAERJ Patrícia Acioli Human Rights Awards.

— I was very honored to have my work recognized by such an important award focused on justice and human rights. In addition to being a great incentive to continue, it was symbolic to see an article on police corruption being highlighted in this edition, which had the theme “the past that does not pass” – underlines journalist Roberta de Souza.

For four days, articles published in EXTRA detailed the unfolding of the group’s attacks on drug sales outlets in São Gonçalo and Itaboraí. Based on the document from the Prime Minister of Internal Affairs, revealed by the newspaper, the report shows that the group was involved in at least six attacks during the year 2024.

Criminals even used state weapons to attack smoke shops, stealing money, drugs and weapons. Two men died as a result of the criminal group’s actions. Extra also revealed video of an attack by the group in Buraco Quente, in São Gonçalo. An active-duty military police officer was identified in the footage. The corporal appeared armed in the video, arresting drug traffickers, alongside an accomplice. They ordered the traffickers to lie on the ground and threatened: “You will both die!” After taking the equipment from the smoking room, the thieves released the drug sellers and fled.

The report also highlights an unusual situation that appeared in the internal document of the Prime Minister’s Department of Home Affairs. On two occasions, a corporal and a sergeant, suspected of having participated in this operation, were allegedly shot dead in shootouts with drug traffickers, but both claimed to have been victims of attempted robberies. After the first report, on January 21, 2025, the military police removed the five police officers investigated from the streets: three sergeants and two corporals. Investigations continue to this day.

In total, the Human Rights Journalism Award this year received 285 applications from across the country and Uruguay.