Futuro Media Launches Futuro+: A Bold New Chapter for Independent Journalism
April 7, 2025 /
Futuro Media Launches Futuro+: A Bold New Chapter for Independent Journalism
April 7, 2025 (New York, NY) — Pulitzer Prize-winning Futuro Media marks a new chapter in its fifteen-year history with the launch of its subscription program Futuro+ on April 7, 2025. This is a transformative moment for the organization, reflecting its evolution from a platform with a singular flagship property, Latino USA, to a community of diverse, passionate journalists working on shows that shape the future of independent journalism and original storytelling.
In a time when financial and political pressures threaten independent journalism, Futuro+ is a decisive move toward safeguarding the ability to tell stories that matter. With an increasingly fraught media environment, where consolidation and disinformation threaten diverse voices, our integrity and independent reporting are at risk—and that’s why defending it is more crucial than ever.
Futuro+ offers subscribers an immersive experience of Latino USA and new podcasts, including ad-free listening, extended interviews, behind-the-scenes bonus episodes, early access to new series and seasons, and exclusive members-only events. This initiative strengthens Futuro’s mission to create journalism that is rigorous, authentic, and deeply connected to the communities we serve. The Futurista subscription tier is available at $6.99 a month and the Campeón tier, with additional benefits, is $9.99 a month or $100 per year.
Starting April 7, Futuro+ members will get early access to Suave: Season 2. Subscribers can binge the entire season at once, before the show releases weekly starting April 15—a can’t-miss opportunity to dive into the next series of our Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast before anyone else.
This membership program represents an investment in the next chapter of Futuro Media’s evolution, shifting the conversation about what it means to create journalism that puts communities first.
“When I was a little girl, I watched the evening news broadcasts every night with my family,” says Maria Hinojosa, founder of Futuro Media. “I was hungry for stories that brought the world into our living room and taught me about how other people were living. But even though we watched nightly, we never saw stories about people like us.”
Founded in 2010 by Hinojosa, Futuro Media has redefined storytelling by championing journalism with heart—one that embraces authenticity, empathy, and radical transparency. From her early days at Barnard College, where she hosted a Latin American politics and music show, to becoming the first Latina journalist on NPR’s editorial team, Hinojosa has paved the way for journalism with conscience and courage. Rejecting the “faux objectivity” of traditional newsrooms, Futuro Media remains committed to relentless, community-centered reporting that acknowledges who we are, where we come from, and the power of journalism to drive change.
Fifteen years in, Futuro Media remains a storytelling powerhouse. It delivers groundbreaking reporting through the Peabody Award-winning public radio program Latino USA, produces acclaimed series like Anything for Selena, La Brega, and Suave through Futuro Studios, and fearlessly holds power to account with Emmy-nominee and IRE-award-winning Futuro Investigates.
“A membership program is healthy for an organization, because it means we’re accountable first and foremost to our listeners,” says Marlon Bishop, Co-CEO and executive director of Futuro Media. “We believe Futuro+ will empower us to bring audiences the most creative audio documentary and urgent audio journalism.”
“Launching Futuro+ means strengthening our editorial independence and connecting even more with an audience eager to understand our complex reality deeper and better beyond the headlines,” says Peniley Ramírez, Co-CEO and executive director of Futuro Media.
Futuro+ is the next step in a journey with a commitment to fearless, community-driven journalism, and a sustainable future for independent media.
For more information, visit futuromediagroup.org/joinplus.
***
About Futuro Media
Futuro Media is an independent, non-profit news media organization and podcast studio founded in 2010 by Pulitzer Prize winner Maria Hinojosa. Based in Harlem, NYC, Futuro Media produces the Peabody Award-winning Latino USA, the longest-running public radio Latino news and cultural program, which celebrated 30 years on the air in 2023, Futuro Studios, focused on original podcasts and programming including Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast Suave, and acclaimed podcasts La Brega, Anything for Selena, and The Sum of Us, In The Thick, a podcast about politics, unfiltered, and our IRE and Murrow award-winning Futuro Investigates, our investigative journalism arm that produced the USA v. García Luna podcast, the After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas Politics documentary. Futuro Media’s 2024 collective audience reach was over 10M.
About Latino USA
Anchored by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa since 1993, Latino USA is a weekly, nationally syndicated Peabody Award-winning public radio program and podcast distributed by PRX, produced by Futuro Media, airing on 386 public radio stations across the US and Canada and earning over 500K weekly listens. Celebrating 30 years on air in 2023, Latino USA explores the lived experiences of Latinos and Latinas in the U.S. The show blends investigative journalism, compelling personal narratives, and thought-provoking conversations, centering diverse voices and perspectives. Committed to elevating the voices of Latinos and Latinas through authentic storytelling and groundbreaking journalism, Latino USA continues to inform, engage, and inspire audiences nationwide.
About Suave
Suave is a podcast series about the criminal justice system that sentences juveniles to life in prison —particularly young men of color— and what happens when decades later they’re suddenly granted one more chance at freedom. Season 1 tells the story follows David Luis ‘Suave’ Gonzalez from boy to man, and explores incarceration, redemption, and the often unusual relationship between a journalist, Maria Hinojosa and a source, Suave himself. In season 2, we follow his story about life after incarceration—and the search for the true meaning of freedom. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting in 2022 with 1.9M downloads and 4.9 star Apple podcast rating.
***
Press Contact:
Luis Luna
Marketing Manager
Futuro Media
