The residents of Rocinha, the biggest slum in Rio de Janeiro, have lived since the early morning hours of April 9 through a terrible state of war. The confrontation between the two drug trafficking gangs for territorial dominance of the hilltop resulted in its occupation by the police and the deaths of 12 residents, police and traffickers.
The press moved into Rocinha, and newspapers in Rio as well as So Paulo have carried extensive coverage. Together with the factual news, they offered analytical pieces and stories to support varied focuses, but tried to get explanations from specialists and point out solutions.
Was it good coverage? I believe that in general it was because it managed to closely follow the drama of an invaded community and because once again it prompted debate about the roots of the problems in our cities.
But it was coverage that exposed deficiencies.
The first of them was the evidence that the press also has two kinds of citizens. The viewpoint of newspapers, as much as they try, is focused on the turbulence surrounding neighbors who are middle- and upper-class, more than on the dramas of the slumdwellers. The events involving invasions of slums and deaths are a constant in Rio, but they only merit attention when they occur near posh neighborhoods.
Other proof is the lack of continuity in following the topic seriously. Heavily armed gangs have been committing violence in cities for two decades, and coverage of the causes, social diffusion and security policies is irregular. This gives the sensation of a lack of importance, superficiality and sensationalism. The coverage of violence, its causes and solutions demands that journalists be prepared as well as they are in other areas of journalistic specialties.
The Rocinha situation points to two serious problems for journalists: the risks they run and the lack of sources in the communities dominated or invaded. The two problems are related.
Since of death of journalist Tim Lopez in June 2002 in a Rio slum, when he was doing a story about the use of dances for drug trafficking, journalists in Rio have not gone back into the hillside shantytowns comfortably. Various news organizations, including Folha, have adopted procedures to guarantee safety for their members after conflict and hostility was stirred up toward the press, identified by traffickers as “police informants.” These organizations today have armored cars and bulletproof vests at the disposition of their journalists, and all have adopted rules of not allowing journalists to run any type of risk with the understanding that no news story justifies the loss of life.
Even with all of these safety precautions, reporters and photographers remain vulnerable when situations such as the one in Rocinha explode. On Monday, the threats of traffickers were direct and on Thursday, during the burial of a chief trafficker, journalists were assaulted by residents.
This problem has arisen since the death of Tim Lopes, making it more difficult to hear residents of the slums. Furthermore, the press has become dependent on official sources, such as police and residents’ associations, many of them tied to traffickers.
This is an extremely serious problem, perhaps the most serious of the moment because it deprives the residents of a channel of expression and readers from the information they need most. I reproduce on this page three interviews about these latest questions, the risks of journalists and the difficulty of access to local information.
The allied press
Carlos Costa, a resident of Rocinha, is a psychologist, studies journalism and coordinates the Public Safety and Human Rights program at Viva Rio, a non-government organization.
Ombudsman: Has the press covered the events in Rocinha correctly?
Carlos Costa: Since January, when the tension began, the media have been the principal ally of Rocinha. They prevented the matter from gaining even bigger proportions. The press helped to protect, denounce and pressure authorities. At some moments it lacked details or published truncated information, but in 900f the cases it helped.
Ombudsman: Does the press reinforce or question the stereotypes that exist about slum residents?
Costa: It alternates. Sometimes it reproduces the stereotypes. Here’s an example: Newspapers named all the middle-class and upper-class schools near Rocinha that suspended classes, but they did not make any reference to the various schools without classes inside the slum nor mentioned the number of students.
Ombudsman: Since Tim Lopes (was killed) journalists have been afraid to enter the slums to do their work. Does this fear continue?
Costa: There are many places that they really can’t enter. In Rocinha, ours is the association that usually follows and helps them, and there were never any demands put on us by traffickers. What we have is caution. I use caution in what I say, I don’t talk about things that are none of my business.
Sensationalized coverage
Jalson de Souza e Silva is a university professor. He lived in the Nova Holanda slum between 1989 and 1995 and is one of the founders of Ceasm (Mar Center for Studies and Solidarity Action).
Ombudsman: Has the press covered the events in Rocinha correctly?
Jalson de Souza e Silva: It did not cover them well because it is part of a group of presuppositions. It said that the war is Rocinha’s when it is happening in various slums and has been going on for years. When it happened in Rocinha, it disturbed the lives in well-to-do neighborhoods by causing the commotion. Sometimes it focuses on an important problem, such as stray bullets, and then it drops the topic. The form of coverage is sensationalism; it does not go to the essential depths. Example: Can the body of a person, even a trafficker, be carried by stretcher? In Rocinha, that is considered natural. It has a logic that one life is worth more than another.
Ombudsman: Since Tim Lopes (was killed) journalists have been afraid to enter the slums to do their work. Does this fear continue?
Silva: It depends on the location. It is obvious that it has problems, but it always did. If you are going to do a story about corruption, you also get threats. You can’t enter a slum, and you have not been able to do so for 40 years without some familiarity. You don’t go in there like you do to Ipanema. You can’t try to talk about a slum as if it were Ipanema. The residents will not speak up against trafficking. There is no need. Everybody knows that it is a war. When they get the chance, people express themselves. They speak out more than they did in years past. What they don’t have is the necessary attention by the newspapers.
Seeking sources
Paula Cesarino Costa is the bureau chief for Folha in Rio.
Ombudsman: Do Folha reporters take risks in this coverage?
Paula Cesarino Costa: There is always some risk. There could be a shootout, or traffickers could shoot from the top of the hill. But reporters always wear bulletproof vests and they are trained how to avoid risks. Reporters say there is a hostile climate and distrust toward journalists by residents and police, which makes it much more difficult to obtain information outside of official channels (police and residents’ associations). Journalists generally walk in groups and form convoys to enter Gvea Highway. This makes it difficult to obtain exclusive information and makes coverage uniform. Sometimes information comes from obvious sources, such as when the commander of the 23rd battalion, Jorge Braga, acknowledged that trafficking continues in Rocinha, although in a less ostentatious manner.
Ombudsman: What has Folha done to obtain more reliable information from residents?
Cesarino: This difficulty to obtain information comes from the distrust of residents, that they believe that the journalist will provide information to police or fear that traffickers won’t like them talking to the press. At times like the present, most of them don’t want to talk. One of the ways to try to obtain more reliable information is to seek members of various non-government organizations which are active in slums. Religious groups are also good sources. Generally they have a certain independence, and traffickers don’t usually bother them. Today it is very difficult to speak with traffickers, different from past years. Since the death of Tim Lopes, they have avoided speaking with journalists because they consider them informers.
Translation by John Wright
