This is a research in the fields of Community Communication and the Political Economy of Communication. We seek to understand how favelas are represented in local TV news, based on a case study in Rio s news broadcast with the highest audience. Based on this, we researched some initiatives in Social Communication to find out if audiovisual courses can help young slum dwellers create projects that give voice to the communities, and also offer them a profession that contributes to their growth. This work is part of studies on the fields cited above because it deals with all the problems and benefits that the use of new technologies has, in addition to showing new horizons in the audiovisual field. Our objects of study were the local TV news RJTV first edition, from Rede Globo, the online video platform YouTube and four community projects based in Rio de Janeiro. The methodology used started from a bibliographic survey and extended to content analysis and case studies. We also used questionnaires and conducted semi-open interviews. We concluded that the creation of training courses in community audiovisual, such as editing and production, can greatly contribute to the democratization of communication and help in the professional training of young people living in favelas.