Discussion about the future of newspapers can’t leave out the importance they have (still) in the scrutiny and oversight of public administrations, principally in countries with fragile institutions and subject to assault by private groups, such as those in Latin America.
Tilac (Transparency International for Latin America and the Caribbean), an entity created to combat corruption in the region, and the Press and Society Institute, of Peru, offer an annual prize for the best journalistic work on the topic.
The big winner for 2004 was a series of stories published by the newspaper “La Nacin” of Costa Rica. The first of them came out April 24 last year and revealed that the president of CCSS (the Costa Rican Social Security Fund) had gotten a house valued at US$735,000 from the Fischel Corp., a representative in that country for the Finnish company Instrumentarium Medko Medical. In exchange, the official had worked for the approval of a line of credit for the purchase of medical equipment that benefitted the Finnish company.
While developing its reports, the newspaper discovered another case that involved Alcatel, the French telecommunications company. During five months of stories, “La Nacin” looked into crimes and irregularities that involved three former presidents of Costa Rica.
The Finnish case led to the arrest of 13 people, including pubic officials, executives of Fischel and a former president, Rafael ngel Caldern, accused of having received US$520,000 from the Finnish company.
The Alcatel case affected former presidents Miguel ngel Rodrguez (his wife had received a check for US$58,000 from the French company) and Jos Mara Figueres (accused of having received US$900,000). Figueres had to resign his position as executive director of the World Economic Forum, headquartered in Davos, Switzerland. Rodrguez, elected secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS) on June 7, resigned four months later and was arrested when he arrived in San Jos, the capital of that country, on Oct. 16.
The first edition of the prize, for work published in 2002, involved a series of stories about another key figure. The winner was a Nicaraguan newspaper, “La Prensa,” which investigated Arnoldo Alemn Lacayo, the then-president of that country, accused of diverting public resources and money laundering. Alemn was arrested.
In 2003, the Ecuadoran newspaper “El Comercio” published evidence of corruption against a judge on the Supreme Court and against magistrates on various other tribunals in that country and was the winner.
This year, 125 works by newspapers, magazines and TV stations in 19 countries were entered. Mexico, Colombia and Brazil were the countries with the most entries (23, 22 and 20, respectively). Brazil took two second places: a series by the Rio daily “O Globo” about illicit enrichment by state legislators, and a story by “Fantstico,” a news program on the Globo TV network, about irregularities in a program which provides funds for low-income families.
Whenever the crisis in the press is discussed, critics point out the lack of well-done investigative stories, which is true. It is still very common to publish badly done accusations which lack proof. The result of empty accusations is the loss of credibility.
The analysis of the work submitted for this third edition of the Transparency/Ipys Prize, in which I participated as a judge, demonstrates that, while there is effort to improve techniques of investigative journalism, it is still insufficient.
Weakened by corrupt, negligent or incompetent governments, and harassed by private economic groups, Latin American countries need, more than ever, an independent press, attentive and well prepared, something that is rarely found.
Foreign policy
Do Brazilian newspapers cover foreign policy well? The impression I have, gathered from daily reading, is that a common problem in this area is repeated: we have few experienced specialists. Coverage is irregular, lacking in continuity and superficial.
When the agenda requires, as occurred this week with the meeting of the Arab-Latin Summit, there is obvious effort in the coverage. Newspapers displaced experts from other areas, made space, and sought the help of experts at universities and other research institutes. When the event ended, the news disappeared.
Folha had extensive, balanced coverage of the summit. Concern over diversity of opinions and analyses was evident in Thursday’s edition, when it published two stories highly critical of the administration of President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva’s foreign policy (the editorial “Summit of the Arabias” and the column “Willingness of strength,” by Demtrio Magnoli), two others favorable to the administration’s initiative (“Big goal,” by Eliane Cantanhde, and “A step forward,” by Janio de Freitas) and two neutral ones (“A surprise is a surprise,” by Clvis Rossi, and “Summit ends with political losses and gains,” by Igor Gielow).
At times, the newspaper fell into the trap of easy, inconsequential news (such as the expected return of President Nstor Kirchner to Argentina), but it did a good job publishing exclusive interviews with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and with the president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, editing the text of the final document of the meeting and dealing with the issue of terrorism and repercussions with Israel and the Jewish community.
I asked the newspaper for information about foreign policy coverage. I will reproduce the answer I received from Managing Editor Vinicius Torres Freire.
“Foreign policy is one of the topics in which the newspaper is well served in terms of good reporters, with more attention given to business, now a central part of diplomatic activities.
“Clvis Rossi, the most experienced and one of the most highly awarded journalists at the newspaper, covers economic diplomacy. Eliane Cantanhde follows the Foreign Ministry, though not as a beat reporter, and this country’s relations with Latin America. Claudia Dianni, a former foreign correspondent Buenos Aires, covers the Foreign Ministry, with emphasis on trade.
“Cntia Cardoso, a former correspondent in New York, covers economic diplomacy, especially issues tied to the WTO and trade agreements with Europe and the United States. Leila Suwwan in Braslia knows Arab policy well.
“The newspaper also relies on work by reporters experienced in international coverage, such as Claudia Trevisan, a former correspondent in Buenos Aires and Beijing, Mrcio Senne and Igor Gielow. Coverage of the Foreign Ministry is not systematic in the sense of being divided into beats. Given the amount of resources available and the progressive change in the orientation of coverage (more investigation, less ‘it happened yesterday’) it is difficult though not foolhardy, to put reporters on specialized beats.”
The emphasis that Lula’s administration tries to give Brazil in international relations requires, in my opinion, systematic coverage of foreign policy. This is the only way that the newspaper will not be dependent on official versions or precipitous interpretations. The problem is, once again, what the managing editor calls “amount of resources available.”
Translated by John Wright
