04/11/2007

In journalism, death is masculine

By Mário Magalhães
ombudsman@uol.com.br

Trends show a common pitfall in the press: even after death, the inequalities of gender survive

*

Death of Men vs. women in obituaries

x Men X Women

Survey of the press shows difference between sexes

Veja*
Obituaries of personalities
82% (18 registered)
18% (4 registered)

O Globo*
Obituaries of personalities
79% (26 registered)
21% (7 registered)

Chicago Tribune**
Obituaries of personalities
73%
27%

Zero Hora*
67% (294 registered)
30% (146 registered)

Folha**
Number of "deaths"
50% (751 registered)
50% (766 registered)

* In the March-April-May quarter of 2007
**In 2006, through November of that year; there are no absolute numbers available, only the percentage
Sources: ombudsman/2007 and Timothy J. McNulty, public editor of the "Chicago Tribune"
Thanks to: Ricardo Stefanelli and Patricia Oliveira, of "Zero Hora"/RBS

*

With a short profile about Marco Maia, who died in Rio de Janeiro at age 51, Folha on Wednesday launched its fixed obituary section behind schedule.

The 27 lines, well put together and elegant, as a subliminal elegy to the late stylist, contrasted with the uninspired prose to which the newspaper is accustomed, with some notorious exceptions. Through the day before yesterday there had been nine obituaries, only one of them a woman.

In Brazil, more men than women die, according to the IBGE statistics bureau. In 2005, for every 10 females who died, there were 14 males, the equivalent of 58% of the nearly 1 million documented deaths. Violence and traffic accidents, concentrated among the youth, determine the disproportion.

That does not come close to equaling the 89% in Folha, which shows it is still rickety to be used as statistics. The trend, nevertheless, reproduced a common pitfall in the press in Brazil and overseas: even after death, the inequalities of gender survive.

That was more or less what I heard in May from a colleague, Timothy McNulty of the "Chicago Tribune," a newspaper where the ombudsman is called "public editor."

In November 2006, he articulated that since January of that year men corresponded to 73% of those profiled and woman 27%.

That's nothing new. Three decades earlier, academic research revealed that two other prestigious newspapers, "The New York Times" and "Boston Globe," printed four male obituaries for every female one. And photographs appeared 10 times more often with the remembrances about men.

Curious, I wanted to know about the behavior of the Brazilian press, whose disenchantment for obituaries survived over time. Folha took a quick glance at them and abandoned them.

What relates them to American tradition deals exclusively with influential people, recognized socially as important, even if they are not celebrities.

In the weekly news magazine "Veja," the "data" page runs items about people who died during the week. From March to May 2007, women did not surpass 18%. In the same quarter, in the obituary section of the Rio daily "O Globo," they represented 21%.

The daily "Zero Hora" (in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state in southernmost Brazil) shows greater balance, two men for every woman. The change results from an editorial decision: the obituaries deal with not only the famous but also "anonymous" people from the local community.

In that period, Folha had only the deaths section, printing little more than the name of those who died. Among the 1,517 registered in print, the sexes were even at 50%. This space, maintained by the daily news section, today it is the obituary section.

Life and death

Not only after death are they a minority in the world that journalism profiles. On Feb. 16, 2005, the Global Media Monitoring Project followed 12,893 news stories on television, radio and newspapers in 76 countries.

While they comprise 52% of the world population, women were limited to 21% of the people in the stories. As "experts" quoted, they are only 17%. In government, 14%. They surpassed men in only two categories, housewives (75%) and students (51%).

Folha does not differ from this landscape, as ombudsman Marcelo Beraba showed in 2004, citing a study by the Coordination of Opinion and Events: of the 730 op/ed pieces published in the previous 365 days, a mere 63 (9%) carried a female byline.

The archives, responsible for the preparation of biographical profiles, produced and saves 73 stories: 62 (85%) about men and 11 (15%) about women.

The archives are occupied by those who are prominent and who for some reason (age or illness) could die soon. For their relevance, their departures merit extensive reporting and not the reduced space in Folha's obituaries.

For a historical footnote, I questioned if there was a biographical profile ready for Octavio Frias de Oliveira, the publisher of Folha who died at 94 at the end of April. There was not, according to the managing editor: "The obituary was written based on stories in the archives and the profile written by Engel Paschoal ("The Trajectory of Octavio Frias de Oliveira," Publifolha). Various journalists also worked on the story. For this reason, there was no byline."

Instantly in the past

The talented editor of obituaries in Folha is only 23 years old. Willian Vieira studied journalism at Santa Catarina Federal University. In his opinion, "The New York Times" is the "undisputed model for its field." He follows their practices and those of the British magazine "The Economist."

The obituary writer at the "Times," a protagonist in a story by Gay Talese in the 1960s, was more hard-boiled, fiftyish. "Mr. Bad News" was surprised by the death of someone he presumed had died long before.

After this, he composed obituaries with excessive precocity - the archives accumulated 2,000 of them.

In that time, some recall that in the United Stats, free-lancers wrote death notices and only got paid if they were published. It was an incentive to embody vultures and feed on the flesh of the living.

"Women and blacks, it seemed, rarely die," Talese commented in a profile that in Brazil was part of his anthology "Fame and Obscurity" (Companhia das Letras).
At least for women, everything is the same as it was before. Foreign scholars identify it as discrimination in this area. I disagree: obituaries don't discriminate, but they expose discrimination in society. They reflect the masculine hegemony of political, economic, sports and cultural power.

I suppose that any delirious quota to achieve an artificial symmetry that distorts the facts would not fit.

"The Chicago Tribune" compared obituaries from 1998 to 2002. In one year, there was a male editor. In another, a female editor. They were the same.

In some way, obituaries maintain a connection to the sections of old editions - in Folha "50 years ago." They tell more about the power from decades ago than about our time. This will be expressed in the obituaries of the future.

Journalistic types

The managing editor explained the turnaround. "Folha believes that obituaries, when they are well done, are points of attraction for reading."

Obituaries are fascinating due to a paradox: by announcing a death, they tell about a life. They unveil great stories. As Humberto Vasconcelos, one of my first bosses, taught me, people like people.

It is not a morbid or nostalgic sentiment --the search for contemporaries of our youth-- and does not arouse some to follow obituaries. But the best of them is life.

Informative pieces with brush strokes of opinion, obituaries combine reporting and analysis. They are a type of journalism.

Their authors become well-known figures in newsrooms, a target of wisecracks about the occupation, but they are not, ominous. As is known, the one at "The New York Times" was "Mr. Bad News." Colleagues refer to "Good Death" one of the most experienced Brazilians in that area, and he insists that he hates it.

Vieira, the young one at Folha, does not have a nickname yet. He just needs to wait because soon, soon he will get his.

-Translation by John Wright