Mensagem is a community journalism local media based at A Brasileira Café in Chiado district, downtown Lisbon (Portugal).
Their mission is to foster civic participation and a sense of belonging among all residents. They have a sense of innovation and reaching out to diverse communities in the city, be it with projects to reach underrepresented groups, such as publishing stories in Creole to connect with Cape Verdean and Guinean communities, or "Narrativas", pop-up newsrooms in underreported areas, or by doing live journalism on a traditional theatre.
It started in 2023. From the beginning Mensagem aimed at telling the small and civic stories of big metropolis like Lisbon – Portugal’s capita. It is working to bringing people together and making them feel part of a community in a big city like Lisboa, especially using the power of journalism and storytelling as a tool to promote knowledge and thus enhance empathy. No story is small enough for us and we go where nobody else goes. We practice a constructive approach to the city, trying to turn our members not civic agents, and not news victims.
