For everyday readers, it does not matter if the crisis is bigger or smaller than in Timbuktu; what matters most is knowing if they will keep their jobs and income.
The main news of the week was the drop in Brazil’s gross domestic product in the third quarter of 2008, which officially placed the country among the victims of the global economic crisis.
On Wednesday, Folha dealt with it as a priority in two ways: it compared the performance of the Brazilian economy in the last quarter of last year with that of 36 other countries and emphasized the fact that the federal government declared that the crisis had a smaller impact here.
It was a mistake. The comparison with other countries could be important for analysts and experts, but it is not fundamental for readers.
For everyday readers, it does not matter if the crisis is bigger or smaller than in Timbuktu. What matters most is knowing if they will keep their jobs and income, if the economic environment of the sector in which they work is healthy or not, and what are prospects for the future.
Even if it felt like giving priority to the question about how the GDP fell more or less, Folha erred, as the main story in the business section made clear.
The newspaper’s front page and local news highlighted the news, insisting on the theory that, with its GDP having one of the biggest declines among the 37 nations listed, Brazil is among the countries most affected by the crisis.
It’s not exactly that way. It was because the country grew more than others over the whole year that the contrast between the fourth and third quarters of 2008 was so intense.
As it said in the fifth paragraph of the story on page B1: “And the fact that Brazil suffered a bigger retraction than the other countries in the last quarter of the year does not mean that the crisis here is bigger.”
Besides this, a teaser on the front page and a headline on the inside, with an obligation to be unbiased, had the unjustifiable tone of an editorial, with assertions such as “the country is among those most affected…. contrary to what the government has been saying” or the performance of the GDP “knocks down the official line that the country would be little affected.”
If the newspaper wants to highlight that the government erred in its analyses, it should objectively publish old statements by government officials and current data.
And it should let readers decide if they if this knocks down the government line, if the government is creating castles in the sand, if it was the situation that changed or if it has an obligation of all leaders to instill optimism in society. Or any other thing that they want to conclude. Readers are intelligent. They don’t need these rhetorical “helping hands.”
Things have gone badly since Saturday, when the headline on the section committed, in my understanding and that of economists consulted, a factual error in asserting: “Industry had its worse results since Collor” (referring to President Fernando Collor de Mello from 1990 to 1992).
What happened was the most negative annual variation of industrial activity in 19 years, not the worst “results,” which signifies how much was produced or sold, which evidently was much more in 2008 than it was in 1989.
Readers don’t want to know about these disputes and their political implications. They want to know what could happen to their material life. This is where economic news should focus.
From aggression against newspapers to recognition of errors
Not long ago, someone who disagreed with the opinions expressed by a newspaper could assemble a mob and destroy the physical installations of a newspaper.
This was called “destroying the newspaper.” This newspaper, when it was “Morning Folha” and “Evening Folha,” was a victim of such aggression in 1930.
On Saturday, March 7, a group of 300 people (according to the newspaper) or at least 450 (according to organizers) staged a protest in front of Folha.
They said they were indignant about an editorial published on Feb. 17 which mentioned the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-85), calling it the “mild dictatorship.”
The act, with a number of participants which showed the power of the promoters to stage the event as well as the importance of the newspaper, was peaceful. Folha reported it Sunday and reprinted the entirety of the manifesto read there.
A short time ago, news organizations never recognized their mistakes. Folha was the first in Brazil to have a fixed section for them.
On Sunday, for the first time in my memory, a newspaper admitted an error in its opinion. It was Folha, in this episode.
This showed an advance in the relationship of the press with society in this country.
By the way, readers registered that an “editor’s note” in response to the letter by Fbio Konder Comparato on Feb. 20 contained a factual error.
It was true: it said that Comparato did not “up to now” show repudiation for leftist dictatorships such as Cuba. On June 1, 2004, Letters to the Editor published a letter from him with criticism of the Cuban regime.
Who are letters to the editor?
Letters:
41 from readers
12 from people in the news
Centimeters:
382 from readers
154 from people in the news
*from March 7 to 13, 2009
To read
“Economic Journalism,” by Suely Caldas, Contexto Publishing, 2003 (starting at 21.24 reals, or US $9.35) – good report on the fundamentals of this speciality, among which is giving priority to the interests of the ordinary citizen, who is the reader
To see
“It’s a Wonderful Life,” by Frank Capra, with James Stewart and Donna Reed, 1946 (starting at 37.90 reals) – a marvelous melodrama about the devastating effects of the failure of a small savings and loan on its owner
Topics most commented during the week
1. Editorial that mentioned former military dictatorship
2. Soccer topics
3. Economic crisis
Worth remembering
Cases that need to be looked at again
Where is the final decision about the case against police accused in the massacre in Carandiru prison in 1992?
What Folha did right…
So Paulo
An increase in critical oversight of the So Paulo city administration, which has been too lax in investigative work about distribution of the milk and snacks at schools
Intelligence
A story on Sunday about changes that the economic crisis caused in the way the intelligence services in the United States work was original and pertinent
House arrest
On Friday, a repercussion of the decision by the Senate committee which restricts cases for house arrest covered all aspects
…And where it did badly
American budget
The newspaper badly covered the debates about the most important budget proposal in the United States in 30 years; it failed to report Obama’s defeat in agricultural subsidies and to tell about “friendly fire” from his own party
Sudan
Brazil’s position regarding the decision by the International Court of Justice to issue an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan did not get much attention, despite its importance
House arrest
Readers were taken by surprise by another decision in Congress about a relevant topic, which was reported only when it was almost decoded
– Translation by John Wright
