Lack of investigation
By Bernardo Ajzenberg
December 14, 2003
Besides having an extraordinarily explosive potential for politics, a return to the so-called Santo Andr case (involving the kidnap and assassination of Celso Daniel, mayor of that city outside So Paulo) poses an important question for journalism.
It harkens back to the case of P.C. Farias, campaign treasurer and close aide to former President Fernando Collor de Mello (who resigned under threat of removal in 1992).
As you remember, P.C. was found dead in a house in 1996. The official conclusion: He was murdered by his girlfriend, who then committed suicide. And thats how it remained.
Between March and May 1999, after months of journalistic investigation, Folha published a series of stories, with documents and photos that had not been published previously, that knocked down the official version and forced a reopening of investigations by authorities.
It was the result of a deliberate and patient effort by the newspaper, the opposite of the consensus formed about P.C.s death. Going back to Santo Andr …
From the time of Daniels killing in January 2002 through April of that year, the topic was in the news almost every day.
Businessman Srgio Gomes da Silva now considered a defendant, accused of having masterminded the kidnaping and murder of the mayor in a complaint by prosecutors received from the Justice Ministry was massacred immediately by the media without proof, typical in such cases, with rare exceptions.
Interest in the crime cooled off at the end of the police investigation which concluded it should be treated as a common crime when authorities filed a complaint against six members of a gang whose members came from a slum.
The other side of the case, meanwhile, gained visibility. It was a supposed bribery scheme in the Santo Andr city government which, besides enriching people illicitly (Silva among them), it siphoned off money for Workers Party (PT) campaigns.
In July 2002, however, after the Supreme Court rejected a complaint by authorities against Jos Dirceu, head of the PT at the time, interest in this matter declined, at least by the press. It returned only briefly months later, a little after the presidential election, when prosecutors denounced Silva, along with five other people, in the case of the alleged bribes. Once Luiz Incio Lula da Silva (of the PT) was elected president, it all pretty much disappeared.
Impetus
A journalist is not police, prosecutor, inspector or judge. The example in the case of P.C. Farias makes it clear, meanwhile, that with its own means and within its own limits of activities, the press should clear the way to elucidate questions that, if they are not exposed necessarily in their own form, stay in the heads of many people.
Thus, it was precisely this investigative impetus that was missing in the Santo Andr case.
Had Folha reproduced here the investment of time and people it had applied in the example of P.C., the newspaper and its readers at least would not have been taken by surprise, as occurred with the new complaint by prosecutors.
The resurgence of the case about Daniels assassination was reported on Nov. 26 in the Rio daily O Globo and O Estado de So Paulo. Both reported that Silva was interrogated by prosecutors the previous day, the first time he was considered a suspect of participating directly in the crime.
On succeeding days, new information appeared in newspapers and magazines, but there was nothing in Folha. The surprise seemed to have been followed by lethargy; the newspaper only returned to the case on Dec. 2.
Since then, besides reporting new facts and interviewing people involved, it has been fighting with competitors for an advantage in reporting details investigated by prosecutors. That is something similar to what occurred with Operation Anaconda (whose prehistory, its worth pointing out, is exemplary investigative reporting by Folha, also in 1999, about signs of illicit enrichment by appellate judges in So Paulo).
This is indispensable and clearly demands a lot of work, but still seems less than what should be desired of journalism whose intentions consist not of following others, but acting independently and parallel to official institutions (such as the Federal Police or prosecutors).
The field of these investigations, I believe, could generate a real difference between newspapers. Individual competence is not at stake here. Investigating cases of official corruption is a slow, complex, difficult task. Folha put some of its best and most experienced reporters on the Anaconda and Santo Andr cases.
Another problem here involves relapsing: When an event is under the spotlight, the press investigates it completely, with no holds barred. Then afterward, it quietly abandons the follow-up. Thats what happened in the Santo Andr case, which continued to build momentum but was forgotten in the shade.
Gomes da Silva may be innocent or guilty. A bribery scheme linked to the PT may or may not exist. Thats up to the Justice Ministry to decide.
But one thing is certain: The press will be backpedaling if it continues only to follow, without driving from its own initiative the investigative tools at its disposal.
That is the major challenge that the about-face in the Santo Andr case shows: After the work of prosecutors, prodded by the Daniel family, it is turned back over to journalism.
Weird photograph
Last Sunday, under the headline Lower car taxes help Lulas political base Folha published an article with the inside scoop about the governments decision to postpone the accord in which it agreed to lower by three percentage points the taxes charged on small and mid-size cars.
The story also summarized the situation in the automotive industry and the reasons for worry by the sector. Up to that point, it was OK.
What was curious was the photo used to illustrate it: a lot with used cars, most of them visibly dented. The caption said storage area filled with cars and sales declined 6.8 0.000000rom 2002.
Readers complained. One of them, good-humored, asked: Could it be that the decline refers to the sale of dented cars? Is the full storage area in a junkyard a sign of a crisis in the sector? Could it be that a big number of crashed cars indicates chaotic traffic and, for this reason, people are not buying new cars? Or could it be that simply the photo archive at Folha is lacking? Or maybe, simply, the person responsible did not examine the photo?
The editor of the business section explained that the photo was for another story, which reported that lending agencies and banks have recovered about 100,000 cars from buyers who financed their purchases but did not make their payments. The cars were placed in storage areas with other damaged property.
This story did not run for lack of space and, by mistake, the photo was not changed, the editor explained. This neglect gave a chance for another reader to reflect pertinently: If Folha is lazy and lacks quality in such obvious details, it makes me question the quality of a story and journalistic facts whose quality and veracity I cant
