Its easy to understand in the box to the side which sequence of editions is closer to readers, at least as regards a concrete problem in their city, in this case, So Paulo.
The news concerns the explosion of a truck on a freeway in the early hours of Saturday, Nov. 8, an event which damaged a bridge, required interdiction, detour of a route, and a traffic bottleneck which was 17 miles long that Saturday.
It foresaw serious problems and delays on a crucial roadway affecting millions of people, including residents of nearby cities, not to mention buses and trucks.
In its Sunday edition, Folha paid little attention, with a picture at the bottom of page A15 (the picture was changed in an edition changed later for one of the lunar eclipse).
On the same day, its main competitor, O Estado de So Paulo, published a story at the top of a page in the local news section. Such attention stayed in the following editions, and at no time did it stop being a headline on some page.
In Folha, the story was not the main story on any page on any day.
On Wednesday, when the main event was that City Hall had finished construction of an alternate traffic lane to handle transit (useful information for readers), the news got just a brief. Only on Thursday, with two beautiful photos taken from up top (one on the front page and another on an inside page), did the newspaper show that it had taken its relevance into account.
Unlike its competitor, Folha is obliged, for technical reasons, to close its daily news section for Sunday by early Saturday morning. Any hot news after that point must go into the main section, which closes at 11:45 p.m., with the total number of pages already determined.
This could partially explain the small space devoted to the accident in Sundays editions. Still, it seems evident to me that it lacked the sensibility to do an eventual makeover of the edition, with an eye on adequate attention to what occurred.
What was most serious, however, was having a continued lack of sensibility over the following four days, while chaos reigned in vehicular transit in the region.
Folha should always be able to say in all sincerity to its readers: We are useful because we select and offer the correct news judgment about information and analyses that you need to know, form opinions and make decisions in the areas of politics, economics, culture and behavior, but also for the services that we offer every day.
As for the last item, at least concerning readers in So Paulo and nearby cities, the newspaper did not seem willing to do it that week. The bridge was broken.
Pain and caution
There is no doubt about the drama in the story about the killing of Liana Friedenbach and Felipe Caff. Last Sunday, I criticized here the lack of dedication by Folha, even before the deaths were revealed and the suspects were jailed.
Thats why it is appropriate here to reflect on the coverage of the media as a whole, including TV.
Despite the confessions announced, there was no trial yet; disparate viewpoints and uncertainties remained concerning the participation of the five suspects, especially the role of a 16-year-old identified only as R.
Discussing the legal age of adulthood, security and the relationship of parents to children, all of this is part of the work of press, besides investigating the facts of the case.
But many things in the facts still need to be clarified. Besides this, there were exaggerations and, I dont refer to Folha, in telling about minor R (even if he is an undesirable, like it or not, he is a minor, and there are laws regarding this), and in the description of cruelties, not all of them (including rape) confirmed by the coroners reporting about Liana.
The media, once again, are spoon-fed by the police. But once, despite the drama and pain, this should go strictly by the book, avoiding commotion by acting with extreme caution.
Dubious headlines
Folhas Stylebook stipulates that headlines should be, at the same time, able to make clear, in few words and in logical order, the object of the news and attract readers, arousing interest. The fact that little space is given to the formulation of headlines on stories should not be an excuse for occasional imprecision.
The item arousing interest is relatively easy. The rest, however, is complicated.
On Sunday, a headline said Requio government employs 26 relatives. It implied that the relatives are those of Paran (state) Gov. Roberto Requio.
But the story showed something else: Nine are his relatives; the others are related to other officials in the state government.
Using the word Paran rather than Requio would have attenuated the problem.
The same thing happened in Lula vetoes benefit for disabled students (Wednesday).
The presidents decision concerned deficiencies registered in private institutions, not in general, as the headline would imply.
In one story and not another, in these cases, there is nothing serious. But its enough to think about the eventual use of such headlines in an electoral campaign of Lulas or Requios adversaries to understand how they err, at least, by imprecision.
One day late
Read the following headlines: Explosions kill at least 20 in Saudi Arabia and Terror kills between 20 and 30 in Riyadh neighborhood. Now these: Attack in Riyadh kills 17; Al Qaeda network suspected and Attack attributed to Al Qaeda kills 17 in Riyadh.
They are all quite similar, except for the question about the number of deaths, right? But there is another difference, an essential one that I need to emphasize here.
The first pair of headlines came out in Sundays editions in O Estado de So Paulo (a teaser on the front page and a headline on an inside page, with a reproduction of a TV image).
The second pair of headlines came out in Folha, but not until Mondays editions, one day after its competitor.
And what did Folha do on Sunday? It had a 12-line story hidden on page A28.
News of the attack was on the air on CNN starting Saturday night. Folhas journalists were on duty at the international news section, and the newsroom tells me that they first learned about the attack around 7:50 p.m. The final closing for Sundays paper was at 11:45 p.m.
Then, what happened?
While the team on duty at Estado showed that they had captured the relevance of the information, giving it immediate and deserved attention, Folha, it seems, was asleep at the wheel.
It treated the topic as something minor (according to information I heard, the front page of the newspaper was not even advised about what had happened) when the least you can say is that the Mideast is going through an explosive period.
That mistake in news judgment (for Sundays paper) led Folha to another mistake (in Mondays edition): treating something as if it happened yesterday when it really was from the day before yesterday. That is nothing for which a daily newspaper can be proud
