The numbers that I selected and placed in the box to the side reveal a little about what Folha did in 2004 and the main concerns of its readers. It is not a complete portrait of the newspaper’s efforts, only flashes.
There is information to complete them: the main topics chosen by the newspaper in the daily coverage and the articles that it published; the errors it committed and corrected; and the complaints and contributions of readers.
The newspaper’s interest
Folha published between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30 about 81,000 stories in its So Paulo edition. The journalistic stories (articles, interviews and briefs) total approximately 57,000. The difference consists of opinion columns, notes, op-ed pieces, letters to the editor and front pages.
The newspaper’s archives made a survey of the main topics covered by Folha during the period. The results contain no big surprises for those who follow the newspaper, but they allow some reflection. Three themes could be considered permanent: soccer, the city of So Paulo and the government of President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, each one representing approximately 100f the journalistic material published.
A focus on political topics shows that, besides the federal government, the newspaper devoted a lot of space this year to municipal elections (2,297 news stories in which they were the main topic). The party followed most closely was Lula’s left-leaning Workers Party (PT), with 1,497, followed distantly by the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), with 739.
After Lula, the person that the newspaper followed most was Marta Suplicy (1,092), the mayor of So Paulo until the day before yesterday who was beaten for reelection. For comparison, her principal adversaries in So Paulo, Jos Serra, the new mayor, with 753, and state Gov. Geraldo Alckmin, with 239, merited a lot less attention.
So Paulo and Rio
There is another relevant aspect that the survey of archives exposed: outside of Braslia (federal administration), the main interest of the newspaper is concentrated in two states – So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The topics in other states are not covered with regularity, and some Northeastern states are practically ignored.
Examples: during the period, combining the So Paulo and national editions, 921 stories about the state of So Paulo and 472 about the state of Rio were published. After that come Paran (154), Minas Gerais (141) and Rio Grande do Sul (129). Rondnia (97) and Roraima (81) still get good coverage because of conflicts involving indigenous peoples and political scandals. But Rio Grande do Norte (11), Paraba (8) and Sergipe (8) were not covered.
Some curiosities: the soccer teams followed most closely, without the December numbers from the Brazilian Championship, are So Paulo (741), Corinthians (712), Palmeiras (663) and Santos (621); Illustrada, the arts and entertainment section, published more stories about new books (432) than CDs (350) or movies (296); in the world news section, terrorism was the topic that got the most attention (1,146); and some issues, such as deforestation (43) or racism (56), were hardly even covered by the newspaper.
Another indicator of editorial interest by the newspaper involves which pieces are published on page A3 (op-ed). According to the responsible department, 721 op-ed pieces were published this year. Almost 25 0iscussed Lula’s administration or the PT: 103 (14%) against and 71 (10%) favorable. There was also an imbalance in the discussion about economic policy: 54 contrary pieces (7%) and 22 favorable (3%). And the most frequent op-ed writer, a critic of the PT administration, Jorge Bornhausen, president of the conservative Liberal Front Party (PFL), had 15 pieces published.
Mistakes committed
Throughout 2004, the newspaper recognized and corrected 1,130 mistakes of information in the “Corrections” section (page A3). In 2003, 1,125 corrections were published.
Folha is certainly not the newspaper that commits the most mistakes, but it is the one that recognizes them publicly the most, which is commendable. This year, besides the corrections published on page A3, the newspaper on two occasions did stories which recognized that it committed important mistakes on its front page: on June 18 (“Data about child slavery were wrong”) and Sept. 21 (“Folha published incorrect data about advertising”).
The newspaper’s problem is the time that it takes to make a correction, an average of eight days. In some sections, such as the business section, the average for the year was 10 days between publication of an error and its correction.
The interests of readers
And readers, are they satisfied with Folha? Those who write to the ombudsman rarely are. A little more than half (2,987) of the messages received this year (5,881) contained criticism of the newspaper, mainly regarding the coverage of municipal elections in So Paulo (330).
Few wrote or called to praise (227), which is normal because the ombudsman is a channel for the defense of readers who feel wronged or frustrated. Still, 665 sent suggestions and 407 pointed out mistakes that had the objective of improving the newspaper.
The other channel for the participation of readers is the Letters to the Editor section. This year, it received 31,455 letters and only had the space to publish 2,885, fewer than 10%. There are a lot of complaints by readers. They believe, and the ombudsman agrees, that Folha should provide more space for their commentary and opinions. It is a way to bring the newspaper closer to those who sustain it.
Translation by John Wright
