We have to dare to create new media; although we have technological innovation as an ally, the most fundamental innovation must occur on a social level.
— La Coperacha members
In 2005, a group of independent journalists collaboratively produced a magazine entitled El Coyote Itinerante (The Traveling Coyote in English). The magazine explored local and regional issues of identity, culture, and community values. Through constant interaction with their communities—particularly in Coyoacán, a village south of Mexico City—the journalists discovered a trend. People throughout the country were working to transform their economic realities through business models such as cooperatives and collectives. Most of these initiatives did not receive media coverage, though, and seemed absent from public knowledge.
What they uncovered led them to form a digital media cooperative, La Coperacha, in 2012. The cooperative reports full time on Mexico’s grassroots democratic economic and social agenda. Its goal is to publicize successful local and regional efforts toward social transformation and gain both media attention and formal recognition for such efforts. The material La Coperacha covers is diverse and interconnected, documenting collective artmaking, free and cooperative technologies, efforts to defend land from unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, and the political and environmental impact of these topics and others. The cooperative’s website features written articles, video, audio, and other media.
As a cooperative, La Coperacha is democratically governed by its journalists, whose cohesion and discipline leads to solidarity and trust within the group. The cooperative model allows them to work in an environment governed by values like democracy and participation, which closely mirrors the values that guide the content the group produces. A core team of regular journalists executes daily administrative tasks like project management and finances, in addition to their own reporting, while contributors occasionally supply additional content.
La Coperacha is working to expand reporting in isolated areas of Mexico that receive little to no media coverage.
La Coperacha receives funding from a few different sources. Other media and communication co-op projects provide some financial support while advertisements from social enterprises in La Coperacha’s publication provide additional revenue. The group also draws funds from awards and collaborations with local governments or organizations to cover certain issues. As with any media organization, though, financial sustainability is one of the greatest challenges and La Coperacha is always seeking new opportunities for funding partnerships.
La Coperacha is prolific. The worker-owners have produced over 2,500 pieces of journalism, 185 radio episodes on public radio, and five radio series. They have won the National Prize for Journalism twice—first in 2011, before officially organizing as a cooperative, and again in 2018 for the radio series Manantiales en Resistencia, which documented local and regional efforts to challenge problematic policies of the National Water Commission.
Manantiales en Resistencia is a prime example of the stories La Coperacha creates. The series uplifts the stories of Zapotec, Cucapás, and Totocanas communities in Guanajuato and Tecámac who fight for the right to water and its sustainable management. La Coperacha’s reporting makes space for stories that profit-driven media companies won’t or don’t normally cover. They both practice and write stories about democratic innovation, popularizing collective processes and community sovereignty through both their organization and their journalism.
La Coperacha also provides accessible resources about collectives and cooperatives throughout Mexico, from artisans to coffee co-ops to medical groups. Their efforts to disseminate this information began long before the media group organized into a cooperative. In 2007, La Coperacha had a webpage offering information about local cooperatives for conscious consumers and “cooperation among cooperatives.” With the formation of the G50 Network of Cooperatives, La Coperacha created an official digital directory of Mexico’s co-ops.
The organizations that make up the G50 network are an important part of La Coperacha’s mission. Groups must apply for certification as a G50, but once they are approved, they receive recognition and a profile with their mission, services, and contact information on La Coperacha’s website.
La Coperacha is working to expand reporting in isolated areas of Mexico that receive little to no media coverage. This commitment to inclusion and focus on community-based solutions defines La Coperacha as it continues to publicize efforts for social and environmental justice, cooperatives, and the solidarity economy.
