For just a few
By Bernardo Ajzenberg
December 22, 2002
The special section about the administration of outgoing President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on Thursday caused me to think more deeply about expectations we have of journalism and at Folha in particular, before the end of an era and the installation of a new administration in an economic environment with obvious restrictions and unpredictability.
Inflation and unemployment frighten people, as does continued social inequality. There is no sector in the economy that is not, at least, nervous about the change in administrations, high interest rates and the certain vulnerability of public accounts.
This current worrisome landscape and the fact that strong structural economic measures the Real Plan, privatization, and monetary, fiscal and foreign-exchange policy were the visible (and controversial) marks left by Cardosos two terms. This make the choice of that special section to prioritize the economy or matters directly related to it understandable.
In its 18 pages, no fewer than 11 were dedicated to this, while five were occupied by education, health care, politics, violence and scandals tied to the government (leaving a Datafolha survey about an assessment of the government for the front page).
Another four pages were taken up by an interview with the president published that same day, also with emphasis on the economy.
Hierarchy
The impact of surveys, analyses and pure investigation in all that this material represents were notable. Its journalistic value is not in question here.
However, the way that relevance of economic topics is assumed came across editorially whether in the hierarchy of items mentioned or by the absence of mentioning other areas of life in the country seems to show a conscious option dealing with what is necessary to reflect.
Unemployment one of the topics, not by coincidence, most exploited in the electoral campaign was only mentioned on the 12th page of the section and practically died there.
The evolution of the state of the nations industry, of commerce, of small and medium-sized business most of which have been deeply affected, especially in recent years was merely summarized in a small story at the bottom of a page, along with brief references in two other stories.
A summary about the situation of poverty and misery in the country about which, by the way, no explicit pictures were published was put on just one page. Readers did not have the opportunity to understand, for example, why and how the draining of the Real Plan which, in the beginning, made the percentage and number of poor and indigent people decline affected the most needy portion of the population.
Holes
These are examples of a certain imbalance in the priority of topics, even within the theme of economics. Questions of a journalistic nature stimulated by the section about Cardoso, however, go beyond this.
As I pointed out in my internal critique, there was a milieu in which culture, science and technology, environment and ecology, minorities and behavior were simply ignored. They certainly do not comprise the determining nucleus of governmental action. There are a whole lot of interests that make up the real life of thousands of readers other than the economy.
These holes are even more obvious if you compare this section with the one published by the newspaper in October 1998, called Cardosos times, an evaluation of his first term (see box above).
The times are different. Cardoso is now leaving. It would not make sense to simply update the earlier edition. It needs to be pointed out that in practice you didnt see in Folha last week even a shadow of the worries similar to that year. This shows in that case the cultural reverberations of the mentality and behavior generated by the Real Plan and in a wider way, the presence of Cardosos centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) in power.
The seductive and more elaborate tone of the headlines in that section, to give another example, indicates an editorial vision that rises above the dry tone and unappealing headlines such as Cardoso years (see some comparisons in the box).
It ends up offering, in the last example, material inclined to communicate with a very limited number of readers. Its obvious that this represents a serious risk for a newspaper, with its prestige naturally aimed toward an elite portion of the population, that must also provide general information. The danger is precisely to let even more readers go starting with young people even within this small niche.
Restriction
Asked to comment on the topic, the managing editor sent me a note, from which I reproduce the following passage:
Unfortunately, there was not space available to deal with so many important and attractive subjects from an editorial point of view such as culture and behavior, among others cited by the ombudsman.
Due to space restrictions and the vast number of topics and the amount of time covered eight years it was necessary to give priority to certain subjects. On the other hand, there was a risk of dealing with matters in a very superficial way.
The choice of the main topics was guided by two strong lines: the relevance of the topics relationship to the presidency and the Cardoso government, and the size of its impact on the life of the country and its people.
The near omnipresence of the economic debate in the national discussion, the big controversies regarding economic policy, and the number and variety of crises that the country faced in the period greatly influenced the choice of topics.
Besides, as such problems should form part of the list of the most urgent priorities of the new administration, it seemed adequate to offer more information about the discussions that should prevail at the start of the new year and a new presidency.
Options
This, strictly, can and should really be seen from a deep and wide perspective, beyond the section about Cardoso itself. It speaks about how the newspaper will carry out a good part of the coverage about the new administration and the implications of its policies.
If the predominance of economic topics and action by the government in recent years have already been exacerbated in the media, the pressure for this to be accentuated will have to be bigger during the Lula era (referring to left-leaning President-elect Luiz Incio Lula da Silva), which would be expected, at least in theory, to take a more interventionist approach.
Besides this, nothing indicates that the mentioned restriction of space in the newspaper will be mitigated in the coming months. To the contrary. The moment is serious. The economy commands and repeals.
For this reason, its worth making an observation: Was the editorial option restrictive, in my opinion built into such an important section such as the Cardoso years, with a historical nature so obvious, precise or did it symbolize, even without trying, a system of signals about how Folha could behave in the definition of platforms and priorities going forward?
This directly interests readers. It interferes with the relationship that it maintains as your daily newspaper, which, it is worth remembering, is fickle and subject to instabilities: It can always reinforce, but it also could run out of steam at high speed and rupture.
Perhaps there is no answer ready for this question. Still, its unavoidable.
