Dr Marcela Pizarro Coloma
Staff details
Position
Lecturer
Department
Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
m.pizarro (@gold.ac.uk)
Links
Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups
Marcela has worked as a journalist at Al Jazeera English and the AP in news and programmes around the world.
Marcela Pizarro Coloma has worked as a journalist in international news and filmmaking for over 20 years. She worked at the Associated Press HQ in London from 2000, covering big global news stories (including 9/11 attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq) and as a video journalists covering news, sports and culture across Latin America. She then went on to work at Al Jazeera English, both on flagship current affairs shows out of London and Washington DC, and then The Listening Post, the channel’s media critique show as a producer and correspondent. Her long form reports, documentaries and animations series cover the politics and histories of news journalism, and much of her work has been dedicated to histories of journalism in the Global South.
She completed her AHRC funded PhD in 2004 at the University of London. Her thesis focused on the work of one of Latin America’s most important cultural theorists, Nelly Richard.
Academic qualifications
- PhD 2004
Teaching and supervision
Marcela supervises research on the geopolitics of international news, the cultural history of media in the Global South, the politics of representation in legacy media as well as scholarship on histories of independent news production around the world.
Research interests
Marcela's main areas of research and practice focus on journalism and theory in the Global South.
She recently wrote and produced Race Historicised: Epistemologies of Colour - a series of short films using animation, showcasing key thinkers in the Black radical tradition for Al Jazeera English.
Featured publications
2025:
Race Historicised: Epistemologies of Colour
A animated series on Al Jazeera dedicated to key thinkers in the Black radical tradition for Al Jazeera English.
2023:
Extractivism and Its Discontents Al Jazeera English's Coverage of Latin America
Book chapter
2022:
Digital dispatches from la Crónica Roja
Why Sensationalism and Crime still matters in the New Latin America
2018:
Media Theorised: Reading against the Grain
Want to understand the media better? Here are five thinkers to help you read against the grain: Roland Barthes, Noam Chomsky, Stuart Hall, Marshall McLuhan, and Edward Said
Publications and research outputs
Book Section
- Extractivism and Its Discontents: Al Jazeera English's Coverage of Latin America Pizarro, Marcela . 2023. Extractivism and Its Discontents: Al Jazeera English's Coverage of Latin America. In: Bruce Mutsvairo; Saba Bebawi and Eddy Borges-Rey, eds. The Routledge Companion to Journalism in the Global South. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 209-219. ISBN 9781032287065
- Dispatches from la Crónica roja: Why sensationalism and crime still matter in the new Latin America media ecology Pizarro, Marcela ; and Lugo-Ocando, Jairo. 2021. Dispatches from la Crónica roja: Why sensationalism and crime still matter in the new Latin America media ecology. In: Martin Conboy and Scott A. Eldridge II, eds. Global Tabloid Culture and Technology. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 167-182. ISBN 9780367336257
Article
- Spurring or Blurring Professional Standards? The Role of Digital Technology in Implementing Journalistic Role Ideals in Contemporary Newsrooms Mothes, CorneliaORCID logo; Mellado, Claudia; Boudana, Sandrine; Himma, Marju; Nolan, David; McIntyre, Karen; Kozman, ClaudiaORCID logo; Hallin, Daniel C.ORCID logo; Amiel, Pauline; Brin, Colette; +26 more...Katherine Chen, Yi-Ning; Davydov, Sergey; De Maio, Mariana; Dingerkus, Filip; El-Ibiary, RashaORCID logo; Frías Vázquez, Maximiliano; Glück, Antje; Garcés-Prettel, Miguel; Luisa Humanes, María; Lecheler, Sophie; Lee, Misook; I-Hsuan Lin, Christi; Márquez-Ramírez, Mireya; Maza-Córdova, JorgeORCID logo; Mazzoni, Marco; Mick, Jacques; Milojevic, Ana; Navarro, CristinaORCID logo; Olivera Pérez, Dasniel; Pizarro, Marcela ; Quinn, Fergal; Sarasqueta, Gonzalo; Skjerdal, Terje; Stępińska, Agnieszka; Szabó, Gabriella; and Van Leuven, Sarah. 2025. Spurring or Blurring Professional Standards? The Role of Digital Technology in Implementing Journalistic Role Ideals in Contemporary Newsrooms. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 102(1), pp. 88-119. ISSN 1077-6990
- The societal context of professional practice: Examining the impact of politics and economics on journalistic role performance across 37 countries Mellado, ClaudiaORCID logo; Hallin, Daniel C.ORCID logo; Blanchett, Nicole; Márquez-Ramírez, Mireya; Jackson, Daniel; Stępińska, Agnieszka; Skjerdal, TerjeORCID logo; Himma, MarjuORCID logo; McIntyre, KarenORCID logo; Hagen, Lutz M.; +26 more...Amiel, Pauline; Abuali, Yasser; Fahmy, NagwaORCID logo; Boudana, Sandrine; Chen, Yi-Ning Katherine; Davidov, Sergey; De Maio, Mariana; Frías Vázquez, Maximiliano; Garcés, Miguel; Humanes, María Luisa; Herczeg, PetraORCID logo; Lee, Misook; Lin, Christi I-Hsuan; Melki, Jad; Mick, Jacques; Mincigrucci, Roberto; Ninković Slavnić, Danka; Nolan, DavidORCID logo; Olivera, Dasniel; Olmedo, Samantha; Pizarro, Marcela ; Quinn, Fergal; Szabó, Gabriella; Van Leuven, Sarah; Viveros Aguilar, Diana; and Wyss, Vinzenz. 2024. The societal context of professional practice: Examining the impact of politics and economics on journalistic role performance across 37 countries. Journalism, 25(11), pp. 2237-2263. ISSN 1464-8849
- Does News Platform Matter? Comparing Online Journalistic Role Performance to Newspaper, Radio, and Television Mellado, ClaudiaORCID logo; Blanchett, NicoleORCID logo; Stępińska, AgnieszkaORCID logo; Mothes, CorneliaORCID logo; Lecheler, SophieORCID logo; Blanco-Herrero, DavidORCID logo; Chen, Yi-Ning Katherine; A. Cohen, Akiba; Davydov, Sergey; De Maio, Mariana; +26 more...Dingerkus, Filip; Elhamy, Hassam; Garcés-Prettel, Miguel; Gousset, Cyriac; C. Hallin, Daniel; Humanes, María Luisa; Himma-Kadakas, Marju; Kozman, ClaudiaORCID logo; Lee, Misook; Lin, Christi I-Hsuan; Márquez-Ramírez, MireyaORCID logo; Maza-Córdova, Jorge; McGuinness, Kieran; McIntyre, KarenORCID logo; Mick, Jacques; Milojevic, Ana; Navarro, CristinaORCID logo; Olivera, DasnielORCID logo; Pizarro, Marcela ; Sarasqueta, Gonzalo; Silke, Henry; Skjerdal, TerjeORCID logo; Stanziano, AnnaORCID logo; Szabó, Gabriella; VanLeuven, SarahORCID logo; and Zhao, Xin. 2024. Does News Platform Matter? Comparing Online Journalistic Role Performance to Newspaper, Radio, and Television. Digital Journalism, 12(3), pp. 376-399. ISSN 2167-0811
Film/Video
- Aime Cesaire: The Poetics of Negritude Pizarro, Marcela ; Diallo, Midiaou; and Pirak, Pierangelo. 2025. Aime Cesaire: The Poetics of Negritude.
- Sylvia Wynter: Beyond man Pizarro, Marcela ; and Sottile, Stefania. 2025. Sylvia Wynter: Beyond man.
- W.E.B. Du Bois: The Power Of Double Consciousness Pizarro, Marcela ; Zouzouo, Williams; and Pirak, Pierangelo. 2024. W.E.B. Du Bois: The Power Of Double Consciousness.
Professional projects
Documentaries and broadcast on media politics and culture include:
Why we still need to talk about Chile’s El Mercurio and the CIA (Al Jazeera English, 2019)
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-listening-post/2019/9/14/why-we-still-need-to-talk-about-chiles-el-mercurio-and-the-cia
Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent: Revisited (Al Jazeera English)
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-listening-post/2018/12/22/noam-chomskys-manufacturing-consent-revisited
History through Cuban eyes: El Noticiero Icaic (Al Jazeera English, 2017)
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-listening-post/2017/12/30/history-through-cuban-eyes-noticiero-icaic
Radio La Colifata: Argentina's 'loony radio' (2017, Al Jazeera English)
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-listening-post/2018/1/5/radio-la-colifata-argentinas-loony-radio
