06/05/2007

Your excellency, the reader

By MÁRIO MAGALHÃES
ombudsman@uol.com.br

Folha sometimes seems to forget who reads it; it would be good to revive the profession of faith by Octavio Frias: the newspaper is made for "Your excellency, the reader"

Those who follow the prestigious daily newspapers, quality news broadcasts, good on-line news services and radio dedicated to journalism are already accustomed to seeing an effort made to assure getting comment from those who are criticized and accused. It is called "the other side."

The publications transparently identified the company that paid for the trips as "special reports" for which they did not pay.

In the newsrooms which protect ethics, not allowing a staff member to work part time at the newspaper and part of the time at another institution is the object of journalistic attention. It is an unacceptable conflict of interest.

If there is a mistake, correct the information. The op-ed pages, contrary to the shoddy platforms of unitary thinking, confront antagonistic convictions. Until a few decades ago, it was not that way. Numerous values and procedures that today are so highly esteemed as part of Brazilian journalism were introduced or stimulated by Folha, starting in the mid-1970s.

On Sunday the guide and guarantor of those changes, Publisher Octavio Frias de Oliveira, died. Looking to the future, the newspaper's biggest challenge is to renovate a symbolic contract that at times will allow it to use the slogan "obligation to the reader."

Folha started the era badly without "Mr. Frias," as he was known as publisher. In the days following his death, well-known personalities dominated the Letters to the Editor, which did not make an exception for letters from commoners, who caused the success resulting from the hard journalistic work.

Space was saved for condolences from "VIPs." Messages from "anonymous" people were not contemplated, at least through Friday. "Your excellency, the reader" - an expression coined and cultivated by Frias - was excluded from a space that should be theirs.

Focus on the reader was an essential transformation at Folha three decades ago. The newspaper can't decree the truth, but it can serve as a pluralistic tribune for readers to make a judgment.

Project Folha, announced in 1984, radicalized the orientation. Making a list of mistakes in information, Portuguese and style creates healthy control over quality, similar to companies with branches outside journalism.

In 1989, Folha was a pioneer in this country by creating the position of ombudsman. Perhaps there is no national newspaper that corrects and criticizes itself (less than necessary) so much.
Journalists and favoritism

Some journalists who cover activities in Congress get favors from the leadership in the form of an extensive health insurance plan. There were 1,874 medical visits in 2006, all of them paid by taxpayers.

The secret about the benefit, which has lasted for 15 years, was revealed in April by reporter Ranier Bragon. As I wrote in my daily critique, "the story harkens to the best tradition in Project Folha to also shine a light on favoritism for journalists and conflicts of interest in journalism."

Congress promised to end the favoritism. It asserted medical privacy as a reason for not revealing the users.

Columnist Janio de Freitas observed: "It was not a request related to the reasons for medical visits, which could justify privacy. The request only involved those served, even in possible justifiable emergency assistance."

To hide the identities, Congress allowed suspicion to be cast on more than 500 credentialed journalists. One reader asked if Folha was hiding the names because some of its staff must be included on the list.

I asked the newsroom about the list, and the Brasília bureau responded: "As for the report about the stories published, the leadership refused to release the names of those served under the allegation of medical privacy."

Here is another challenge: to find and publish that list.

Killer without a name

Folha readers who received Thursday's edition about the escape of the killer of students Liana Friedenbach and Felipe Caffé did not find the name or even the nickname of the criminal. Today, he is 20 but was 16 at the time of the crime.

On Friday, coverage of the recapture of the inmate left out his identity. This was isolated behavior. The newspaper was swimming against the current - the standard was, aside from naming the fugitive, to show his image.

Folha justified it this way: "The ECA (law concerning children and adolescents) prevents revealing the name of youth who commit crimes when they were under age 18 and are in the custody of the state."

I consulted Law 8069 of 1990 (ECA). The only paragraph in article 143 says: "Any news about the event may not identify the child or adolescent, show a photograph, refer to the name, nickname, family, parents, address and even, initials."

"O Estado de São Paulo" said that theYouth Court understands that the killer "is under the protection of the Statute of Children and Adolescents until they are 21."

The staff of the daily news section reminded the ombudsman that "a statement by Folha 's executive editor in February 2006 reinforced the necessity to comply with the statute."

I think Folha was right.

Translation by John Wright