The political crisis triggered by accusations of corruption in the federal government and in Congress, beginning in May with a story in the weekly news magazine “Veja” about the postal service, and expanded at the beginning of June in Folha’s interview with Roberto Jefferson, touched off the biggest torrent of messages that this ombudsman has ever received in 14 months on the job.
In June of last year, I received 750 messages, the biggest amount in the first six months of a year in which there were cases with repercussions such as the bribery scandal involving Waldomiro Diniz, who was close to top officials in the government of President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, and the article (about Lula’s alleged drinking problem) by Larry Rohter in the “New York Times.” Last month, there were 1,082 messages, a 44 0ncrease.
Not all of the messages deal with political coverage, even though this has been the main topic. There was, during the first half, more participation by readers in general. The number of e-mails with criticism (many), suggestions (some) and praise (rare) for the newsroom increased. Besides breaking news, this growth should be attributed to the ease of communication by Internet.
In the first half of last year, 3,477 messages were sent to the ombudsman; in the half that just ended there were 4,943, growth of 42%. An evaluation of the period shows that the increase was continuous, month by month, but in June it beat, for the first time since I took the job, the mark of 1,000 messages.
A reader who seeks out the ombudsman is, in general, dissatisfied with the newspaper. In the case of political coverage, the oldest and most frequent complaints come from readers who believe that the newspaper protects the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), to which former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso belongs, and is on a campaign against the leftist Workers Party (PT). These two parties fight for power nationally and have the state and city of So Paulo as their principal arenas. The e-mails that I receive reflect this increasingly stirred up confrontation.
The complaints by those who believe that the newspaper is “anti-PT” or pro-PSDB” are old and constant. With the end of the campaign for mayor of So Paulo, the complaints have stabilized at 40 to 50 messages per month directed specifically at the national news section. In May, for example, there were 44 critical comments, but in June, they jumped to 177, an average of six per day.
June was the month of the scandal over vote buying, referred to as “allowances.” The reaction to publication, on June 6, of the interview with Congressman Roberto Jefferson lasted all month. For most of these readers, the newspaper was being “sensationalistic,” “partial,” and “manipulative,” it was “pre-judging” those accused by Jefferson and participated in a “coup-mongering campaign.”
Many identified themselves as PT members and said clearly that they did not believe the information that was being published. Others confessed that they were perplexed, that they hoped that everything would be investigated, but they believed Folha had exaggerated by giving credence to Jefferson’s accusations.
The complaints about partiality also touched, with less intensity, on coverage of the So Paulo administration in the daily news section.
Concerning the “allowances,” throughout June I also received messages with suggestions for investigations, which were sent to the newsroom, and 15 commentaries from readers who believe that the newspaper was committed to protecting the Lula administration from complaints about corruption.
Here is an observation. Criticism of the newspaper’s coverage decreased greatly in the beginning of July, probably due to new events that touched the entire PT leadership and further weakened the government.
Outside of politics, the other topics that raised the most complaints or critical commentary from readers were the opening of the new Daslu store, sports stories about the Corinthians-MSI partnership and the accusation of racism which lead to the arrest of Argentine player Sbato, the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of the new pontiff and, as always, coverage of the Middle Eastern conflict.
The comparative analysis of the first halves of last year and this one show a growing participation of readers in the correction of mistakes in the newspaper. In the first six months of last year, they pointed out 249 mistakes; now, there were 459. This growth was due, among other reasons, to the fact that the ombudsman receives complaints about mistakes in Folha by readers of Folha’s on-line service.
Letters to the Editor
The other means of communication with the newspaper is in Letters to the Editor. Apart from what occurred with the ombudsman, the letters decreased from the first half of last year to the first half of this year. Letters to the Editor received 16,065 messages in 2004 and now, 15,440.
The Lula administration is the audience champion (927 letters), followed closely by the “allowances” (920). Far behind are the election of Congressman Severino Cavalcanti for the presidency in the Chamber of Deputies and other topics related to Congress (534), as well as the death of Pope John Paul II (247).
The use of letters is very low, and this year there was a drop related to last year. In the first half of 2004, the newspaper published 9.290f the messages that it received from readers; this year, the number fell to 8.46%.
This is a serious problem and the newspaper should seek a way to increase Letters to the Editor, the main space for reader comments. Besides the low rate of use, a good part of the letters published are signed by press spokespersons, politicians and authorities. The space left for the reflections of readers is increasingly restricted.
EYE ON THE MEDIA
The press and children
Andi (News Agency for the Rights of Children) will release in Braslia this Tuesday the report “Children in the Media,” a critical study about coverage in the Brazilian press about topics linked to children and adolescents throughout 2003 and 2004.
The report follows the topic since 1996. For this new report, there were 115,000 stories published in 54 newspapers and 10 magazines analyzed in 2003; and in 2004, there were 161,000 stories in 60 newspapers and in 10 magazines.
At the end of the project, the result is positive: it highlights “the consistent treatment that the print media, in recent years, begins to offer topics related to the rights of children and adolescents.” I present, as follows, some points from the report.
1 – The press is giving a lot more space to coverage of problems and expectations of people in these age groups. Following 45 newspapers between 1996 and 2004 shows that the amount of stories grew 1,148%.
2 – The police aspect of coverage has been losing influence in the mix of topics dealt with. In 2001, 210f the stories analyzed dealt with violence and criminality; in 2004, this percentage had fallen to 14%. This does not mean that violence has decreased, but that newspapers began to look at children with other perspectives.
Most of the stories about violence (62%) show situations in which children and adolescents are the victims; in 18%, they are agents of violence. The main source continues to be police (44%), rarely the families and studies on the topic. And this coverage most frequently carries negative expressions, such as “street kids.”
3 – Although the highlighted report had a certain “tendency to be strengthened by more pluralistic coverage, offering context,” it is still far from being considered pluralistic and diversified. Four big topics are responsible for more than half of the topics: education, violence, rights and health.
4 – Journalists rarely talk to the principal characters, who are children and adolescents. Only 40f the stories in which they identify sources show the voices of children.
5 – The report analyzes newspapers according to 18 qualitative and quantitative criteria and did a ranking of the best. In 2003, date of the latest survey, Folha was in first place, followed by the Rio daily “O Globo” and the Braslia newspaper “Correio Braziliense.”
For more information, the electronic address of Andi is www.andi.org.br.
Translation by John Wright
