The long crossing …

During a week in which all of Brazil’s newspapers gave prominent play to the results of data that show a decline in unemployment, recovery of incomes and strong optimism by business owners about the direction of the Brazilian economy, Folha da Manh, the company which publishes Folha, did the opposite and executed the biggest cut in employees since the crisis began more than two years ago, due to the explosion of 290 million reals (US $95 million at the current exchange rate) in debt.

Folha did not even report its own dismissals.

It’s …

Editorial cartoon on abuse scandal angers Catholics…

When the Rev. Wayne A. Forbes recently criticized an editorial cartoon showing a Catholic leader telling abuse victims, “Beat it — we’re bankrupt” outside “Saint Paedophilia’s Catholic Church,” his sermon drew a standing ovation.

“I think when you attack people’s religious faith and there’s no reality to it, then it really hurts,” Forbes, the pastor of the Church of St. John Fisher in Southwest Portland, later said in an interview.

As a Catholic, I flinched when I saw the editorial cartoon.

But as a journalist, I respected the fearless expression of one perspective on the abuse …

What our readers would have done…

Two Sundays ago, I asked readers to imagine being the editor responsible for coverage of news events that raised ethics questions. A dozen or so sent in responses. Less than the thousands that I had hoped for, but the quality of the answers more than made up for the lack of quantity.

Today we’ll look at readers’ sensibilities compared with those of the news staff. The fictional scenarios presented here are based on events that were reported in the news media, though not necessarily in The Courant.

The Murder

Scenario 1: Your reporter has been …

Faster corrections …

Folha is the newspaper that probably publishes the most corrections in Brazil. In the first half of this year alone, there were 551, which gives it an average of three recognized factual errors per day. But the time it takes to put out these corrections is way too long and in some cases, slight.

A survey by the newspaper’s archives of the So Paulo edition, at my request, showed that, on average, a mistake takes almost nine days to be recognized by the newsroom and fixed in the corrections section, on page A3.…

Positives of newspapers are too often overlooked…

I love newspapers and newspeople.

That may not be readily apparent, since this column is the designated source of criticism in the Times-Union. Yes, I love newspapers so much that I want them to uphold the highest standards.

That’s one reason that I place newspapers on a pedestal. Few other news media sources broadcast their corrections, let alone give critics regular space.

So I would like to touch on some of the positives of newspapers. We hear the negatives all too often. Newspapers report negatives to a fault, even when it relates to them.

The …

It wasn’t journalism that killed lawyer…

Journalists wield an instrument no less dangerous — or less demanding of caution — than a pistol.

Nelson Faerber Jr. wrote a note intended for the Naples Daily News this past week, complaining of its failure to exercise that caution. He referred to “an irresponsible press” that “causes the families of the accused to suffer so much hurt and humiliation — all in the name of selling newspapers and advertisement.”

Faerber was found the next morning under a swing set in a North Naples park, dead of a single gunshot wound to the head.

It …

Illuminating injustice…

Public service journalism can be defined as aggressive, independent reporting that provides information that the public otherwise would never get. Its mission is to shine a light on public officials and institutions, to uncover wrongs and injustices and to make sure that officials perform their jobs in the public interest.

The Washington Post’s reporting on the Watergate scandal, which uncovered the Nixon administration’s illegal activity during and after the 1972 presidential election, is the ultimate example of public service journalism. In more local terms, The Sun’s reporting in 1998 and 1999 on Maryland state Sen. …

Stepping right on the banana peel…

Some readers who believe the Star-Telegram splatters the paper with left-wing bias got an edition dripping with proof last Monday. Or so they felt.

What they actually received was proof of momentary blind spots in our editing process, the subjective nature of our work and an example of the perils of newspapering in this age of media-bashing.

It all began at the top of Monday’s Page One, where we promoted Life & Arts’ light-hearted comparison of Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards, the presumptive Democratic candidate for vice president.

Some readers found …

Storytelling provides variety to articles…

“I find that The Virginian-Pilot articles are often written in a cumbersome style better suited to a magazine and not a newspaper.

So said Chip Rose of Virginia Beach in a recent e-mail that went on to say: I was taught that newspaper articles should use the very first paragraph, a very brief synopsis of the entire article, followed by the complete story and background for those who were interested in reading the whole thing.

Unfortunately, The Pilot articles often start with deep background, which requires the frustrated reader to dig for the gist of the …

Political coverage poses a challenge for the press…

Two political parties. Two fund-raisers. Same day. Same location — but only one gets news coverage in a presidential election year. This combination led to some complaints about Journal coverage — and lack of coverage — of two political events that happened on the same day.

Local political fund-raisers were held recently by the two major parties on the same day and in the same hotel, but the Journal wrote only one story.

”Bush leadership praised at GOP fund-raiser” read the headline on the June 28 story. It ran across the top of the local …