Photos with anodyne scenes from the game, should be avoided; those like the one below are recommended to summarize what happened and not necessarily what was seen on TV
It is obvious that the newspaper can’t compete with other news media in speed and attractive imagery, yet still it insists on using the old formulas
After complaints of a partisan political nature, the biggest number of complaints that comes to the ombudsman are about sports coverage in the newspaper, in particular soccer. In general, they are fans upset by what they consider biased attitudes against their favorite team.
Besides, there is a reason that these two topics mobilize the emotions of readers toward the newspaper. It has become almost commonplace to say that the fight between the governing, left-leaning Workers Party (PT) and the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) has become something akin to a sports rivalry.
Unfortunately for the country, as Jos Miguel Wisnik warns in the book referred to on the side, “the sports competition could be so stimulating and interested in soccer (where the game itself is charged with reversing in some way the paralysis of opponents) and so disgraceful in the intellectual life, where they immobilize and sterilize thinking.”
Sports coverage is one of the areas of printed newspapers that suffers the consequences of the new media environment the most. On pay TV, with its channels dedicated 24 hours a day to sports, specialized blogs, and information from the Internet, this demands a new attitude from printed newspapers if it wants to hold the attention, interest and loyalty of readers.
It’s obvious that it can’t compete with other news media in speed and attractive imagery. Still, it continues to insist much of the time on old formulas.
The photographic illustration can’t be limited to reproducing statistically what the fans saw dozens of times in the slow-motion camera movement the day before. It must be capable of summarizing the significance of the game in some scene that the television cameras for some reason could not show live.
As for the stories, they should not in any hypothesis describe only what the reader already saw many hours earlier. It must go behind the scenes with exclusive information, give opinionated evaluations and an original focus to the news.
For 20 years Folha has provided innovative sports coverage by adopting detailed statistics of the games. TV absorbed this rapidly. Now it is not distinctive enough.
Around the world, it is obvious that what to do with sports in newspapers is discussed. The increasingly market-oriented nature of this activity – which even threatens its basic principles – has motivated some newspapers in the world to incorporate sports coverage into economics and business. That could be a solution.
But in Brazil, at least in soccer, what is most interesting is the game itself. For this reason, what is important is to invest in talent and intelligence. Folha already has excellent columnists, who do their part. It needs to think more about how to overcome the difficulties in the news.
While it is not a national newspaper (there is nothing of this sort in Brazil), it has repercussions nationwide. For this reason, it is necessary to contain its natural boosterism and provide more space for what is important in other states.
It must also make an effort to seek the unusual, clarify through inside sources what is happening, and overcome the speed and superficiality of competing media through quality of analysis and information.
This pertains not only to soccer, but to all modalities. A reader who is a fan of Formula One racing demanded coverage less ingenuous and more critical of internal policies of popular racing teams and is right in his complaints. It is difficult, but it must be done.
And, at the same time, there is still a permanent search for possible impartiality.
That is how the Olympic Games in Beijing are going, but a big test for the newspaper is to show readers its continuing loyalty.
Direct hits
Folha finally advanced this week in its coverage of the Alsom case: it identified, located and interviewed one of the main people involved, whose identity is considered a pseudonym by law enforcement officials in Europe, and revealed important documents in investigating the bribery case.
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Everything that the newspaper reported about the meeting Brazil’s president held with 253 presidents of companies and 150 representatives of organizations that deal with human rights concerning labor consisted of jokes and electoral gossip.
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Focus given to the study which showed growth in income by the poorest people in the country five times greater than those of the richest and the reduction of social inequality by 7 0n six years was clearly biased: it highlighted that only that it took eight years for inequality to overcome “primitive” stages.
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Two ugly mistakes: an unfounded accusation of a medical mistake involving the tragic episode of the boy who became a tetraplegic due to a reaction to anesthesia and an unfortunate mistake with numbers which gave foundation to a false assertion that the Itamabuca River is the most polluted in So Paulo state. Both were corrected, but the tragic effects on the doctors in the first case and tourism business at Ubatuba in the second will endure.
To read
“Poisonous Medicine – Soccer and Brazil,” by Jos Miguel Wisnik. Companhia da Letras, 2008 (starting at 31.49 reals, or US $19.70) – besides being probably the most complete analysis ever published about the social and cultural phenomenon of soccer in Brazil, the book offers the reader the pleasure of appreciating one of the most sophisticated books about what matters in this country at the start of the century: pure poetry in prose.
To see
“Boleiros,” by Ugo Giorgetti, with Lima Duarte and Adriano Stuart, 1998 (starting at 22.53 reals, or $14.10) – great comedy, almost existentialist, about the world of soccer
Topics most commented
1. Story about boy who became a tetraplegic
2. Teachers’ strike
3. Sports coverage
What the newspaper did right
Havelange
Good interview on Thursday with the veteran soccer organization leader, who admitted irregularities in World Cups
Joo Gilberto
Excellent critique of the performance by Joo Gilberto in Carnegie Hall marking 50 years of bossa nova
Classifieds
Real estate, automobile, employment and construction sections on Sundays give excellent service to readers
And where it was wrong
Cuban boxers
The newspaper ignored the saga of the Cuban boxer who was deported from Brazil and now is fleeing Cuba
Literary duel
The arts and entertainment supplement gave almost all of its space on Sunday to a totally artificial duel between Machado de Assis and Guimares Rosa
First Emlia
The newspaper was wrong on June 21 by identifying the first actress who performed Emlia de Lobato on TV and, even alerted by a reader, but still did not correct itself
- Translation by John Wright
