Happy New Year! …

This is the last column of 2004, and I want to bring up some points for reflection. This is not a balance sheet, just another look at problems I have been dealing with since April concerning the relationship between the press and society.

The long crossing

News organizations are ending the year in a better financial situation than they started. They are not out of the desert they have been crossing since 2001, but they can see the horizon. Here are some indicators:

1 – Almost all of them have renegotiated debt, most …

Always on Saturdays…

The three main daily newspapers in Brazil, Folha, “O Estado de So Paulo,” and the Rio daily “O Globo” and two weekly news magazines – “Veja” and “poca” – at the beginning of December received a release from Record Publishing, the biggest in Latin America for non-educational books. Instructions for the press were at the top of a memo in underlined, red capital letters: “Attention: book distributed to press with embargo for Friday, Dec. 10 (publication of stories and reviews is only allowed starting Saturday, Dec. 11).”

Embargo is how journalists designate the …

Corruption and the press…

Is the Brazilian press corrupt? Can it be compared to political forces, economic groups or public authority?

The so-called everyday citizen, the one who is willing to stop in the street to respond to a survey, says it is. Not as corrupt as political parties, the police or legislative bodies. But, like other institutions, the press is subject to corruption.

That is the perception of Brazilians interviewed in a megasurvey in 62 countries, coordinated and analyzed by Transparency International (www.transparency.org). The result was released on Thursday, International Anti-Corruption Day, and had some repercussions …

Is the ombudsman going soft on NPR?…

Perhaps it is time to explain again what an ombudsman does.

After last week’s column, in which I expressed doubts about certain criticisms of NPR, I received this rebuke from Dr. James McGregor:

I would like to ask for a clarification of the balance of your responsibilities to the public versus National Public Radio (NPR) in your role as Ombudsman.

It is my observation of late that your column is becoming something of a public relations space for National Public Radio rather than a forum to address the concerns of listeners. Comments by …

All the news that fits the budget…

There are days when the schizophrenia of the news business just overwhelms me. Those are the days when I have to watch perfectly good newspeople fret over budgets and profit margins.

In recent weeks, some budget decisions have loomed large at The Courant. I would venture that a Nov. 12 news story headlined “Newsday To Eliminate 100 Jobs” didn’t concern too many readers here. But one paragraph in that story sent ripples of angst through The Courant. Specifically: “Hartford Courant Publisher Jack Davis acknowledged that The Courant could also see layoffs as the newspaper prepares …

Let’s play . . . news media Jeopardy!”"…

A while back, I tried out for “Jeopardy!” when it was beating the bushes for contestants in my neck of the woods. I thought I’d be a shoo-in for the game show because I always win at least $10,000 when I play along at home.

Except for the time I tried to wear a lime-green tube top, that was just about the most crashing ego check I ever had.

During the “Jeopardy!” audition, the underpinnings of my pretensions buckled as I answered “Burma City” to the question, “What’s the capital of Burma?” Of course, I …

Voting complaints highlight role of press in democracy…

More than a month after Sen. John Kerry conceded, the most common complaint from readers focuses on questions about the Nov. 2 election.

They essentially ask: Why hasn’t The Oregonian paid more attention to allegations of election irregularities?

The newspaper’s slow response to the questions helped fuel the criticism. But the complaints also highlight the tension between Web and newspaper reports, expose the short attention span of journalists and accentuate the role of the press in a democracy.

The Oregonian finally published last week a NewsFocus on the complaints, its first comprehensive review of the allegations …

The press on board…

The first time I noticed this was when it appeared in a story published in “Estado de So Paulo” on Nov. 3: “In Minas Gerais, the state government cut 2 billion reals (the equivalent of US $735 million) and reduced the deficit.” The story said that through the end of the year, Gov. Acio Neves balanced the budget. According to the newspaper, “the impact of Acio’s administration has already been praised nationwide and become an export product of the Minas government.”

Afterwards, I looked at the weekly news magazine “Veja.” The edition which …

Echoes of 64…

Journalist and novelist Carlos Heitor Cony, a Folha columnist and member of its editorial board, has been the target of criticism since June, when it was announced that he has the right to a special pension and reparations for having been persecuted by the military regime that ruled Brazil from 1964 through 1985.

There is no doubt that Cony was persecuted. His house was invaded and his family threatened in 1964. He was obliged to leave the Rio newspaper “Correio da Manh” in 1965 and was blocked from working at TV Rio. He …

Illegal activity, fairness concerns lay behind tale of heroi…

The intimate photographs and story of the heroin addict were irresistible. They revealed to readers in detail a horror in plain sight, yet beyond their everyday view.

But should The Oregonian have resisted publishing the irresistible package?

The story and photographs in The Sunday Oregonian’s Commentary section about Leasa Sherman raise important journalistic ethics questions: Should a newspaper allow journalists to take photos of illegal activity? Should a newspaper take photographs of life-threatening actions? And does a newspaper have a responsibility to avoid the potential of perpetuating racial stereotypes, even though an individual story is authentic?…