Folha has been critical and not ingenuous about Obama, and despite some mistakes, such as not highlighting the advance of Marta Suplicy in the Datafolha poll on preferences for mayor on Sunday, has done reasonably well in So Paulo
In the United States
The American presidential election this year is the most interesting since 1960, when John Kennedy became the first Catholic and youngest president elected in the United States in the campaign in which television became the main means of electoral communication in the country.
This campaign has resulted in a formidable attraction by the public toward the Barack Obama phenomenon. Besides being the first black with a real chance of becoming president, he is almost as young as Kennedy was in 1960, has an absolutely original biography and the most enchanting oratorical power since Martin Luther King.
One of the essential rules of journalism is that the more an event contains news, the more deserving of space it will be. Nobody was newer than Obama in the past half century in the United States. It was inevitable that he became the darling of the media.
There is no doubt: the absolute majority of news organizations gave in to the charm of Obama, who was saved from intense scrutiny for many months and exploration of his contradictions and eventual blunders.
But as Goethe wisely articulated in the 18th Century, “after 15 minutes, nobody keeps looking at the rainbow.” In these times, the 15 minutes are much faster. As Obama begins to stop being so new he enters a whirlwind of criticism and essential skepticism of good journalistic performance.
Folha deserves credit since the start of the campaign for being among those which was least susceptible to being enchanted by Obama. In general, it was less ingenuous and more doubtful than the majority of its counterparts around the world.
This week, at Obama’s apogee, the trend continued. Instead of limiting itself to reproducing statements of support for the winner, it showed internal dissidence in the party, in particular the Clinton couple, who up to now controlled it. The enthusiasm of the former president and former first lady for the Democratic candidate is comparable to that of Gov. Jos Serra for the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) in So Paulo.
In the final stretch, the newspaper should hold this firm line of doubt regarding the aspirants to the White House. For readers, what is important is to know what could in fact happen, not what journalists or any other group would like to happen.
Evidently, this is a difficult task for Brazilians in another country. But, fortunately, Folha has staff members experienced in U.S. affairs and can use them for the benefit of the public.
In So Paulo
Last Sunday, the newspaper’s headline about a Datafolha survey of voting intentions for the mayor of So Paulo was “Difference between Alckmin and Kassab cut in half.” But undeniably, the most notable fact was that the difference between Marta Suplicy and Geraldo Alckmin jumped from 4 to 17 percentage points.
I pointed out this mistake in my internal critique and received innumerable messages from readers who agreed with my initial position. Only Monday afternoon did I remember the news from Aug. 16, eight days earlier, with front page attention about Suplicy’s advance over ex-Gov. Alckmin, registered in a survey by the Ibope polling institute.
The proximity of the information about Ibope attenuates, but does not eliminate, the error. It was possible to approach the progress of the former mayor, a member of the left-learning Workers Party (PT), over the PSDB candidate different from the previous news. For example, it could highlight the possibility that she could even win the election in the first round.
It is true that the chances of Gilberto Kassab, instead of Alckmin, are interesting, to the contrary of what common sense indicated, as Suplicy’s adversary in the second-round runoff. But the main news of the week, even so, was the surge of the PT candidate, and it deserved priority.
Despite this and other journalistic errors during the campaign, Folha’s coverage of the municipal campaign in So Paulo has even been marked by relatively few ostensible blunders.
The biggest mistakes occurred in damaging the candidate for reelection, including one especially annoying, corrected on Friday: contrary to what was asserted in the previous day’s newspaper, the electoral court did not prohibit Kassab from using the milk brand in its TV advertising.
It was a serious, unjustifiable mistake in verification which the newspaper at least recognized promptly and highlighted without subterfuge.
It seems natural to me that Kassab would be the biggest target for vigilance and receive more negative stories because he is in power. In the past two weeks, Folha rebalanced the game a little, publishing stories that showed problems with Martha and Alckmin when they held executive positions.
On Friday it had an excellent story pointing out that the two stopped fulfilling promises about investments to increase the subway system and that the current mayor spent less money than announced for the increase.
What the reader expects from the newspaper is this: unbiased, impartial, critical coverage of all the candidates, to check their statements and not make mistakes. And show, as it has been doing, the proposals of all for the city’s specific problems.
To read
“1985: The Vote In So Paulo,” by Bolvar Lamounier, Idesp, 1986 (8.40 reals, or US $5.25, in sites that sell used books) – important collection of articles about social voting blocs in So Paulo
“Slap in the Face, the American Style of Winning Elections,” by Vitor Paolozzi, Objectiva, 1996 (35 reals) – good study of the tactics utilized by the main campaigns for the presidency in the United States since 1992
To see
“Intermission,” by Joo Moreira Salles, 2004 (starting at 48.25 reals) – documentary shows inside information about the presidential campaign of Luiz Incio Lula da Silva in 2002
“The Candidate,” by Michael Ritchie, with Robert Redford, 1972 (starting at 16.90 reals) – excellent story about a candidate who decides to challenge the political system and be faithful only to himself and his ideals in the campaign
What Folha did right
Subway Bidding
Folha Online used a classic journalistic formula tho give information about the results of public bidding before their official release, and the revelation was later confirmed
Sugarcane cutters
Story about sugarcane workers proved, without dressing up with adjectives, the necessity to improve conditions is urgent and unavoidable
And where it was wrong
Subway cave-in
New investigations which contest the version that the accident was caused by a fatality should have gotten more attention than it received
Political reform
Insinuation that the political reform project by the government admitted selling votes in Congress was inappropriate and mistakenly confused corruption with legitimate exchange of political support
Topics most commented during the week
1. Municipal elections in So Paulo
2. Subway bidding
3. Attack on Indians at Raposa/Serra do Sol
– Translation by John Wright
