17/02/2008
The specter of the Base School
By Mário Magalhães
ombudsman@uol.com.br
Daily news section from Feb. 10:
headline: Youth says that he lied in accusing American couple of pedophilia
photo: Attention: All occupants in the vehicle must show ID to the doorman. Minors are allowed only if they are accompanied by parents or with authorization document
As if the disappearance of a girl on the eve of celebrating her fourth birthday were not enough, journalism around the world swallowed even more last year by announcing that Portuguese police suspected the imminent end of time: the parents of Madeleine McCann were responsible for her "death."
The news shouted from the most serious to the most tawdry pages. In Europe, the badly told story about the disappearance of the English girl during a vacation in southern Portugal, in May 2007, became an obsession.
The absence of tears by the mother was intriguing. "Experts," upon whom the press is dependent, were goaded to decipher the dry eyes. The names, Kate and Gerry, and last name, McCann, became synonymous with barbarism.
Two weeks earlier, the chief of Portugal's Judicial Police recognized: it might have been hasty to identify the parents as suspects. The assertion by Alípio Riberio went almost unnoticed in Brazil.
When it's time to report suspicions, the news was trumpeted. When informing about a pullback, it's hard to hear the whispers.
I recalled the case of Madeleine when reading the report by Simone Iglesias in Folha last Sunday, "Youth says he lied in accusing American couple of pedophilia."
More horror: two couples, an American and a Brazilian, members of the Colina do Sul nudist colony, were arrested in December in Rio Grande do Sul state on suspicion of pedophilia.
Prosecutors accused them of "violent attacks against chastity, corruption of minors, formation of a gang, and production and circulation of images of sex with children and adolescents." The accused maintained their innocence. There has been no trial.
Investigators collected incidents in which young people suffered abuse. One of them, 16 years old, said he was required to assist a sexagenarian masturbate. Afterward, he told police that he lied while being attacked by police.
I am not considering whether or not the accused committed the crimes, or if the McCann couple are victims or perpetrators of tragedy, or if Madeleine is alive. What I know is that it is not the job of journalism to convict. It should confirm information. A trial is a different institution of the democratic state.
This is what was reaffirmed in 1994 when innocent people were jailed due to unfounded accusations of violence against children at the Base School in São Paulo. From the start, journalism was limited to official sources. It gave no voice to information that contradicted the suspicions. A lesson was learned in that dismal coverage, as was found with the excellent story Sunday.
FOLHA DE NEW YORK
Folha Feb. 11 (newspaper headline): Obama carries primaries and comes close to Hillary
New York Times Feb. 11 (newspaper headline): Maine for Obama; Clinton replaces campaign chief.
The election campaign in the United States was marked, last weekend, by the advance of Sen. Barack Obama. He is running against Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president. On Monday, the front page of Folha gave more play to the topic than "The New York Times." It is true that the United States occupies a leading role on the planet, but there is no need to exaggerate.
Look-alikes
Folha, Jan. 26, arts and entertainment section
newspaper headline: Musician Antônio Rago dies at age 91
newspaper story: Guitarist Antônio Rago, the author of more than 400 compositions and among those most responsible for introducing the electric guitar in Brazil, died the night before last in São Paulo at age 91. His body was cremated yesterday at Vila Alpina.
The musician was hospitalized since last November in Iguatemi Hospital. The initial complaint of pulmonary infection worsened in recent days.
Born to Italians in Bela Vista (city center), Rago began to study guitar at age 15. Shortly afterward, he joined the ("regional" style popular musical group) of Armando Neves, known as Armandinho, who played on the radio.
Through the years, his harmonies accompanied names such as Silvio Caldas, Francisco Alves and Aracy de Almeida. When the "regional" style lost popularity, Rago started to play on the radio in Santos.
"Estado de São Paulo", Jan. 30:
newspaper headline: Guitarist Antônio Rago dies
newspaper story: Guitarist Antônio Rago, the author of more than 400 compositions and among of those most responsible for introducing the electric guitar in Brazil, died Thursday in São Paulo. His body was cremated Monday in Vila Alpina. He was hospitalized since November, with a pulmonary infection, which worsened in recent days. Born to Italians in the Bela Vista neighborhood of São Paulo, Rago began to study guitar at age 15. He soon began to play in the "regional" musical group of Armandinho, which played on the radio. Through the years, his melodies accompanied names such as Silvio Caldas, Francisco Alves and Aracy de Almeida.
In essence, the two stories to the side are the same. There are differences in size and format. Folha's was published Jan. 26. The one in "Estado de São Paulo" came out four days later, on Wednesday.
Because its edition was already closed, the arts and entertainment section reported the death of guitarist Antônio Rago in the daily news section.
In1993, the ombudsman at Folha, Marcelo Leite, termed "copying or appropriation of the work of others" as the "worst intellectual offense."
I consulted "Estado" to find out what happened. The newsroom's leadership said: "While brief news items have a certain chance of being similar, the case in question appears to be typical of 'cut and paste.' We are treating it as a lamentable episode against all the ethical standards of quality at 'Estado.' We are seeking to find out who is responsible to take the necessary steps."
Folha has reproduced declarations and opinions from other publications as if they were those of its own journalists - in other words, plagiarism. Ombudsmen deal with such cases.
A hypothesis about the appearance of the text in "Estado" would be a certain liberality in journalism around the world to collect information, without giving credit, on the Internet --the medium which has become the easiest to copy, but also to identify the copying.
But the checking by "Estado" discovered that a person close to the musician sent a note by email about the death. That was the text in Folha but not presented as such. Someone "pasted" it in the newspaper, a practice "Estado," the same as at Folha, condemns: publishing a press release as if it were the work of the newsroom.
Translation by John Wright
