Interruptor

At the start of 2020, broadcast journalist Rute Correia quit her job as a music journalist, learned to code, and launched Interruptor, aiming to link her passion for journalism, culture, and technology.

Interruptor (in English: the light switch) intends to reflect the new approaches and understandings Correia wanted the public to have about culture, which, she thinks, "are made easier by connecting data journalism, programming, and the more traditional journalism genres". According to her, no other media platform in Portugal practises and develops journalism pieces as Interruptor does.

"The cultural area was one of the hardest hit by the journalism crisis in Portugal. Most journalists who got fired were never replaced, and that disinvestment can be felt in an apparent inability of cultural journalism to think outside the box in Portugal. There's little besides day-to-day journalism about culture, no structural or long-term thinking. There's some room to tell longer stories, but I feel that the structural aspect of those stories is usually missing," its founder says.

For example, Interruptor has published one in-depth investigation about sexism on Portuguese Hip-Hop. Using data journalism and programming, Interruptor was able to investigate the lyrics of some 1,100 Hip-Hop songs from more than 40 artists, to scrutinise sexism in the messages conveyed through music. The article also included interviews and stories from female rappers about domestic violence and discrimination.

"Interruptor is switching the light on new narratives by connecting ideas that haven't been connected before," Correia says.

In June 2021, Interruptor received a $33,000 grant from Grant for the Web "to boost open, fair, and inclusive standards and innovation in web monetisation". It is also a member of the European Data Journalism Network.