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 here.
On a scale of 1 to 5, in which a lower number indicates sincerity and a higher number means a lot of corruption, those interviewed were asked to evaluate 15 institutions and sectors.
In our case, the results show that Brazilians are very mistrustful and believe that corruption is nearly generalized. On a scale of 1 to 5, political parties (4.5), police (4.4), and the legislative branch (4.2) had the worst averages. These numbers indicate that a very high percentage of people believe that these institutions are affected by corruption.
On another point, among the most respected institutions, the average is also a shame and does not justify any celebration. Religious entities and non-government organizations had an average of 3, and the military had 3.4. Between the two extremes, judged in low esteem, is the Brazilian press, with 3.6.
Brazil’s press is not seen as the worst: Peruvians gave 4.2 (in other words, almost the maximum of being subject to corruption), Venezuelans 4 and Guatemalans, 3.7. After that is Brazil, followed by Costa Rica, South Korea and Mexico.
Altogether, among the 62 nations surveyed, the news media had an average of 3.3 and were right in the middle of the scale.
Why do Brazilians mistrust their news organizations so much? The survey does not say. This is an extremely sensitive question and difficult to deal with precisely because it lacks context.
There is not one Brazilian press, but several. The situation of the big daily newspapers in Rio and So Paulo, of the weekly news magazines and the big broadcasters is different from that experienced by regional press and the press in small towns, where newspapers and radio stations are more vulnerable.
But the lack of confidence today seems to be generalized for two main reasons. First, the lack of transparency. Rarely does the press expose itself and report on its own abilities. Second, its manifest fragility, weakened by this prolonged financial crisis.
The negative opinion found in the Transparency International survey can’t be taken as conclusive because it does not explain the motivations of those who respond to the questionnaire. But is it a warning. Another one.
The press and corruption
What about the Brazilian press, does it cover well the cases of corruption in other institutions? It calls for another survey, this time done by Transparency Brazil in a column based on the file “Appeared in the Newspaper,” a data bank with news published in 66 newspapers and magazines in all states about corruption and the fight against it.
“Appeared in the Newspaper” began to collect stories in January of this year and has a data base of more than 16,000 news stories available on the Internet (www.deunojornal.org.br). It is the most complete collection on the topic.
The survey done for the column separated stories done by the three biggest newspapers, Folha, “O Estado de So Paulo,” and the Rio daily “O Globo.” In the nine-month period (Feb. 15 to Nov. 15), these three newspapers followed 290 different topics (4,334 stories) about corruption, including news about policies to combat the crime. Folha is the newspaper that reserved the most space for this type of coverage. That is part of its tradition. During the period, it followed 195 topics and published 1,787 stories, an average of six to seven stories per day.
But “O Estado” and “O Globo” are very close. “O Estado” followed 177 cases and published 1,395 stories; and “O Globo” 172 and 1,152.
Coverage of the three focused mainly on cases that occur in So Paulo and Rio, those that evolve in the federal sphere and that touch on executive power (presidency and state and municipal governments).
This means that these newspapers badly cover the scandals in other states and municipalities and still give little attention to judicial power.
The absolute champion in terms of interest was the case involving Waldomiro Diniz (a former presidential aide implicated in graft), with 523 stories in the three newspapers, followed distantly by 237 for Vampire Operation (investigation of Health Ministry contracts for the purchase of blood products) and the Banestado case (money-laundering probes).
And from there you notice another failure: journalistic investigations into private companies are rare. An exception was the Kroll case, one of the chapters in the confrontation between Brazil Telecom and Italy Telecom.
INTERVIEW
Most cover corruption badly
Claudio Weber Abramo is the executive director of Transparency Brazil and coordinates the “Appeared in the Newspaper” archive.
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Ombudsman – Many readers complain about an excess of stories containing complaints about corruption. They say that it seems as if the whole world is corrupt. Are they excessive?
Claudio Weber Abramo – I don’t believe that coverage was excessive. In truth, the “Appeared in the Newspaper” survey shows that to be the contrary: most of the 62 daily newspapers followed in Brazil cover corruption very badly, too infrequently and with little consistency. The newspapers that cover the topic regularly – which are Folha, “O Estado,” “O Globo,” members of the Daily Newspaper Association and a few others – react to the importance that the public confers to the topic. In every opinion survey that it did, corruption appears among the top items on the list of worries. Newspapers that cover corruption seldom are mistaken for not meeting the expectations of their public.
Ombudsman – Do newspapers have some influence on inhibiting corruption?
Abramo – Yes, indirectly. In presenting topics to the public and opinion makers, the press stimulates reactions and demands. If the topics were not covered by the press, there would not be such a reaction, and public officials would not be pressured. When newspapers fulfill this role well, they do not do it uniformly. There are states in which local oligarchies dominate everything, from politics to the press. In these cases, the press is not independent and functions to support the interests of these oligarchies. Newspapers with national influence and the weekly news magazines fulfill an important role.
Lus Nassif
Readers of Lus Nassif in the business section were surprised last Sunday. First, his column was about the economy. Second, he announced that starting immediately he would only write about the economy.
Since 1997, the Sunday column shunned dry topics of the week and was transformed into a chronicle of memoirs. A book arose from this experience, “The boy from So Benedito” (Senac Publishing), and a large number of readers became accustomed to his Sunday stories.
The announcement of the change came at the bottom of his own column: “Because of the inadequacy of economic topics in the business section, the Sunday column will stop dealing with topics tied to music, memoirs and history.”
I received dozens of messages lamenting the decision. Some readers suggested that the newspaper transfer the chronicle to another section, such as arts and entertainment or daily news. As I always do, I sent the appeals and suggestions to the newsroom and received from the interim managing editor, Vagiunaldo Marinheiro, the following explanation: “The newspaper believes that columns about music or memoirs by the columnist clash with topics in the business section. At the same time, we believe that Sunday readers were being deprived of Nassif’s columns about economics, which is his great specialty.”
Translation by John Wright
