There is one aspect about Folha’s coverage of the chronically delayed ministerial reform that is discomforting: it is focused almost exclusively on speculation about names of ministers that might be fired by President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva and those who may be appointed.
That is very little. I don’t refer to the amount, but the quality of coverage. It suffers from the vice that disorients political news in general: it gives almost exclusive attention to the interests of the presidential palace and political gamesmanship.
It is obvious that the newspaper must be committed to try to anticipate for its readers the names of future Cabinet ministers. But coverage can’t be limited to informants about pressures on officials who lose support without details that have no importance for the future. It should have as its main focus the interest of readers. In that case, equally as important as predicting names should be the production of a well-done review of how the ministry has worked up to that point and why it was not working well.
When he was in New York on March 3, Lula’s chief of staff, Jos Dirceu, said, according to a story in Folha, that reform “seeks to resolve two matters: improve efficiency in management of the government … and consolidation of the governing coalition.”
It is possible that he was being rhetorical. The government does not appear to be worried about solving its administrative problems. Apparently, as Folha pointed out in an editorial, reform “should not end up being a political operation of a physiological nature with the objective of removing some of the difficulties that the executive branch has faced in Congress.” (“Physiological reform,” Aug. 8).
But the awareness of this reduction, besides being common, should not conform to the news in the newspaper. Folha correctly criticizes the physiological and electoral nature of reform but up to now it has not been able to impose a new dimension to coverage.
It should be demanding answers from the government and should be doing its own review of the two years and three months that the administration has been in power.
The ministers of health, social integration, municipalities, communications and social services will change. These are strategic areas for the country. How was the performance of these ministries? There is the feeling that they don’t work. Is it real? What was done and what was not done?
This was the demand for answers that the government should be revealing on the eve of ministerial reform. It was not done and will be difficult to do. In these hours, newspapers had the opportunity to show how important they are in the work of oversight and investigation.
Concerning reform, there was plenty of time to do first-class stories. The topic entered the public discourse seriously starting in November. With the help of Folha’s archives, I did a survey of the stories published in these five months. They were too few to help readers evaluate the ministries and some names that are the butts of jokes.
I’ll cite some, the most recent. “With Euncio (communications minister) of the PMDB (the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party), the northeastern state of Cear (the minister’s home state) will expand communications” (March 1); “Registration of radio and TV stations embarrasses ministry (March 3); “Under Lula, sanitation goes through worst crisis” (March 6); “Population disbelieves in So Francisco project” (March 13); “Congressman (Ciro Nogueira of the left-learning Progressive Party, cited for minister) gave jobs to relatives.” This was not sufficiently inclusive to be considered a balanced review.
If it is not for lack of time or space, why does Folha not manage to produce distinct coverage? The press, and not only Folha, seems to have only one worry: the competition for a prize to see who can determine the biggest number of new ministers. For this reason it is using many pages for “guesses” and speculation.
Newspapers, according to readers
Eduardo Jnior lives in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state. Motivated by the column last Sunday, in which I tried to analyze some reasons for the continuous decline in circulation of big newspapers (“The future of big media”), he told about his experiences. It could help to understand what has happened at Folha.
He recounted that in 1994 he took the bus every Sunday, sometimes with a small child on his lap, to the New City neighborhood to buy Folha. In 1998, he subscribed to the newspaper. Because of finances, he interrupted his subscription a few months later, but he continued to read the newspaper.
In 2004, he tried to subscribe again, but the newspaper did not deliver to his neighborhood. Instead he chose a local newspaper. This year, he subscribed to UOL (an online service owned by Folha). “I believe that I’m money ahead, since the subscription costs 19.90 reals (about US $7.35 at the current exchange rate), and Folha costs 39.90 reals.”
The advent of the Internet was highlighted by various readers who tried to understand the crisis at newspapers. Jos Maria Gomes Guimares, of Perube, So Paulo state, believes that the era of “newspapers” has ended: “That frenetic search for the scoop no longer is able to happen. You could say that, while television and the Internet travel by airplane and jet, newspapers still travel by horse and buggy.”
Gil Perini, of Goinia, Goias state, also reads Folha by Internet but points out other reasons for the crisis: “The question of credibility might be key … Another problem might be related to the similarity of newspapers. If you read one, you read them all.”
Andres Ueta praises the newspaper (“complete,” “well informed”) but believes that it loses when it becomes “aggressive.” He refers to stories and opinion pieces about controversial topics such as elections, abortion and affirmative action-type policies. “I have been reading for years and am only bothered when they publish articles on a more aggressive topic. I read to obtain information and not to be coerced.”
What gets the attention of Luis Felipe Silverio Lima was the growth of newspapers’ revenues through advertising despite the drop in circulation. “In other words, there is not a direct relationship between circulation and advertising, which would be logical. From that point, I ask: who makes the newspaper survive, the reader who buys it or the advertiser? Another question: for whom is the newspaper written? The newspaper is made to be sold, and whether or not its target public buys it, generates a possible contradiction … Worse, notwithstanding, is when the belief begins that the newspaper is made not only to sell advertising but also to please advertisers.”
“What I feel about journalism is the same as I feel about other activities =- lack of principles, a lack of distinction between an ‘anything for money’ attitude and a professional mission,” writes Aylton Lima, of Santos, So Paulo state.
Jos Amantino Maciel sees various causes for the drop in circulation of newspapers but highlights one: “the news, in general, is disassociated from the daily lives of people. It is done from the viewpoint of the elite, having very little to do with what really affects the pocketbook and quality of life for average workers.”
And what do readers want from a newspaper? “I ask for analytical journalism, not imprisoned to a certain number of lines, such as trends along the lines of the ‘reader does not have time for longer articles.’ Look, whoever has no time to read also has no time to analyze and follows the first trend,” writes Aylton Lima.
Jos Maria Gomes Guimares follows the same line. He believes “that the trend is that newspapers will become more similar to weekly magazines, moving toward more investigation and analysis.”
And there are also those who believe it is possible for a return to the past, such as Jeferson Arajo Pereira: “Let’s suppose that the Internet did not exist. In 2004, without the Internet, I believe that Folha would have sold something close to the 606,000 copies it did in 1995. I remember Sundays with 1 million copies. I got emotional when Folha become one of the biggest newspapers in the world because I have read the newspaper since 1982. Why does Folha not resume offering gifts, encyclopedias or something similar?”
I believe that page has turned.
QUOTATION
“The question of credibility might be key … Another problem might be related to the similarity of newspapers. If you read one, you read them all.”
Translation by John Wright
