In the United States, those who feel offended by what comes out in the press can go to civil court; here, some consider the Penal Code antiquated –why not reform it?
The Supreme Court is deciding whether the Press Law, a fragment of the authoritarian remnants from the military regime in 1964, should be revoked entirely or partially.
There is a consensus about the necessity to eliminate all the mechanisms that inhibit freedom of expression or allow the practice of censorship.
But many sectors, including, curiously, owners and workers, believe that legal regulations should exist for specific conditions. Among them is the right to response.
Brazil is a country which is accustomed to trusting a great deal in the ability to solve problems by amending laws. The more detailed the better.
There are questions of this nature which are so complex that not even an entire newspaper could cover all the possibilities.
The right to response is one of them. The Constitution, in the fifth article, clause V, says that “the right of response, proportional to the offense, is guaranteed, along with damages for material or moral harm to the image.”
But how do you regulate this? How do you define proportionality, prove the offense and quantify the damages?
How do you guarantee the right to respond to a book? Should the publisher put out other books, written by people who feel damaged by the original, with the same print run and the same size?
If 50 people believe that their interests were damaged for diverse reasons by a newspaper report, should the newspaper publish 50 stories in the same space with the same play?
How do you obligate a blog to publish a version by someone who feel affected by the commentary of a blogger or a commentator? And, what if the blog, even if it in Portuguese and about Brazil, is it written in another country?
How do foreign TV or radio stations broadcast in Brazil address the right to respond to Brazilians who prove that one of their stories caused them problems or damage?
Besides Brazil, another country is currently debating the same dilemma: the Philippines. On April 13, the Chamber of Deputies there is taking up a debate on a projected law able to make many Brazilians envious with the level of detail and severity of the punishment that it contains.
Other nations have found other solutions. In the United States in 1974 in the case “Miami Herald vs. Tornillo,” the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision buried attempts to regulate by law the right of response in a decision that said: “The choice of material that comes out in a newspaper… constitutes exercise of editorial control and judgment.
“It still remains to be seen how government regulation in this crucial process could be exercised in accord with guarantees of freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
There, those who feel offended go to civil court. And there is no complaint against this. Here, there are those who consider the Penal Code very rigorous and antiquated.
In that case, why not reform it instead of creating another specific law? Or, who knows, our legislators may show what the American Supreme Court believed was impossible to demonstrate.
Readers drown in numbers again
I have insisted, with frequency and emphasis, in my daily opinion about the editions of the newspaper and in this column that readers should never have enormous figures dumped on them without offering some measure of their significance.
But it happened again last week. The mistake occurred right here while reporting that the Sarkozy administration had helped French newspapers with a 600 million-euro package.
So what? Is that a lot or little? Most readers like me don’t have the foggiest idea how much this is worth and tend to drown in the numbers. There wasn’t even an effort to convert the figures to Brazilian reals (about 1.8 billion).
Learning of a mistake, the first step is to remedy it: the amount represents a lot for French print newspapers, almost half of the annual revenues of those with national circulation.
It is not a check to be cashed all at once. The help will come in the form of more government advertisements, an annual subscription that each French citizen will get as a gift at age 18 and financing a fund to modernize the companies.
The biggest cost for journalism will be, clearly, loss of editorial independence and the even bigger decline in the public’s confidence.
The second conclusion to take from this case is that in journalism it is very easy to make mistakes, even when the journalist is experienced and knows what he should do.
This does not serve as an excuse for those who make mistakes or encourage lenience toward mistakes. To the contrary: it must guide all who know its potential deficiencies and be even more rigorous, attentive, detail-oriented, patient, cautious and precise.
Who are letters to the editor?
Letters:
53 from readers
10 from people in the news
Centimeters:
381 from readers
118 from people in the news
*from March 28 to April 3, 2009
To read
“National Interest” (25 reals, or US $11.25) – quarterly semi-academic magazine carries a debate about the Press Law in issue No. 5, available starting on the 15th
To see
“The People vs. Larry Flynt,” by Milos Forman, with Woody Harrelson and Courtney Love, 1996 (starting at 19.90 reals) – tells the real story about the editor of the erotic magazine “Hustler” and how his defense against censorship efforts helps preserve the concept of freedom of expression in the United States
Topics most commented during the week
1. Operation Castle in the Sand
2. Blue eyes of bankers
3. Press Law
Worth remembering
Cases that need to be looked at again
Did the murder in Paraba state of Manoel Mattos, a witness against death squads, became a federal matter, as the Brazilian Lawyers Association asked on Jan. 26?
What Folha did right…
Satyagraha
On Friday, only Folha reported the decision of a U.S. court to maintain a freeze on the assets of Daniel Dantas
Car tax
Facts confirmed, 26 days later, an exclusive story in the newspaper that a reduction of value-added taxes on cars would be delayed
… And where it did badly
Satyagraha
News about the decision of a regional court against the defense of Daniel Dantas, which sought to annul the case for mistakes in gathering evidence, was delayed and missing the proper play
Housing package
Story on Saturday pushed the envelope by seeming critical of the government with a perfunctory calculation about all the residents of cities not covered by the housing package
Transplant list
News that the doctor accused of manipulating the transplant list for a liver in Rio was absolved came out late and with mistakes
Alfonsn
Coverage of the death of Ral Alfonsn did not do justice to his importance in Argentina’s history and the relationship of his country with Brazil and South America
– Translation by John Wright
