11/05/2008

Reading about photos and facts

CARLOS EDUARDO LINS DA SILVA
ombudsman@uol.com.br

Lula Marques/Folha Imagem

caption: Photo of presidential chief of staff Dilma Rousseff published on the front page May 8

Perhaps nobody understood more about reading than the great writers. Marcel Proust said that "every reader finds himself."

Jorge Luis Borges emphasized the absolute autonomy of the reader, the certainty that the text does not depend only on who constructed it, but also on who reads it.

There are numerous scientific studies about reception of communication that proves the hypothesis of the romanticists. The same message is understood by different individuals in many distinct ways, at times opposing, within themselves.

This week Folha readers gave a new demonstration that this interpretation of the phenomenon of reading is probably correct. An editorial, "Opposing the opposition," about the testimony of the president's chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, in the Senate on Thursday, elicited opposing reactions.

There were those who saw it as an example that the press, including Folha, is entirely favorable toward the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Others, in larger numbers, believe that it reinforces the nature of opposition to Lula's administration that they see in the newspaper.

Coverage of her remarks and a headline on Friday, with new revelations about the case of the dossier about expenditures by former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, revived the topic that had been dormant.

When the episode of the dossier began, this ombudsman was only a reader. And my reading about it made me think it was a lot of noise about nothing or at least very little.

I maintain this point of view. In my internal critique on Friday, I asserted that indigenous matters and land conflicts in the northern regions "are more relevant for the nation and should occupy a place of honor that is given to the political-partisan intrigues that, in my opinion, don't get anywhere unless it stirs up irrational, immaterial hatred that rages between the governing (left-learning) Workers Party and (centrist) Brazilian Social Democracy Party, especially in São Paulo."

It is obvious that the topic has relative importance. I just don't believe it is such a big deal to merit the river of ink that has already been spilled on the exploration of meandering details about the characters and motivations.

I believe that Folha, dealing with the topic this week, committed journalistic errors, independent of the evaluation of the intrinsic value of the topic. The teaser on Thursday's front page, as I emphasized in my internal critique, editorialized excessively.

There were too many adverbs and adjectives for a news story. If the newspaper wants to point out contradictions by Dilma over time, it could have recounted them with a reproduction of her remarks and dates on which they were made.

The photo on the front page Thursday also provoked diverse readings, many irate. But in this aspect, I don't believe that it was mistaken. The photo showed an emphatic official, irritated and on the offensive.

The image portrayed perhaps the most highlighted moment in her testimony, when she responded to the inappropriate provocation and offensive by Sen. José Agripino Maia.

It was an illustration of the news of the day. On Friday, Dilma was with President Lula in congenial solemnity. In the national edition, Folha published a photo of her smiling and sympathetic. That was an illustration of the news of another day.

Bearing witness against the spirit of impartiality, however, this photo on Friday was substituted in the São Paulo edition for another with Dilma and Lula at a moment of apparent uneasiness.

All reading is possible, as Proust and Borges taught. But it will be difficult to find anyone who reads a gesture of sympathy toward Dilma in this editorial change.

Myanmar in the dark

On Tuesday, probably for the first time in history, Myanmar appeared as the lead story in Folha, due to the weather tragedy in which tens of thousands of its citizens were victims.

It was an excellent opportunity for readers to learn more about this country little known by Brazilians.

Its age-old, rich culture and the fact that a military dictatorship has rigidly controlled the society since 1962 are at least two points of journalistic interest that could be explored.

However, even though education is one of the fundamental values of the editorial project since 1984, the opportunity was almost completely wasted.

The interview with Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, a Brazilian who is one of the world's leading experts on Myanmar, helped improve the newspaper's coverage of this story on Friday.

But the lack of didactic effort was clear in another aspect: while the same natural phenomenon, a cyclone, also occurred in southern Brazil the same week (on a smaller scale), little was explained to the reader about it. What is the difference between a cyclone, typhoon and hurricane? Can cyclones such as the one in Myanmar occur in Brazil? How are cyclones named? Almost all of these questions had insufficient or no answers in the newspaper.

Quotation from reader

"Where the hell is Myanmar?... If we were to depend on only Folha we would know only that it is on the Indian Ocean in Asia. But it would cost nothing to include a little map and tell a little bit about the country's history..."
(A. Pereira Alvim Junior)

Quotations from readers

"The editorial... was worthy of being an editorial in an official Workers Party publication. I have lost hope and am disappointed with this unison press in favor of the government."
(Genaro A.P. Salles)

"On the front page.... we have a photo of Dilma Rousseff which, undoubtedly, was used for the purpose of mocking her."
(Jerson A. Prochnow)

Topics most commented during the week

1. Dossier on Cardoso expenditures
2. Photos of Dilma
3. Isabella story

What the newspaper did right

Indians
A story on Sunday told about an unprecedented study that shows less devastation on indigenous lands than on those occupied by whites

And where it was wrong

Alston/Subway
Timid and narrow coverage of serious suspicions against the São Paulo state government

Gabeira
The newspaper exaggerated in putting on the front page an old request by a member of Congress and the delay in reporting that it had been withdrawn

Little Indian
The death of a 7-year-old Indian girl came out modestly only in the national edition on Wednesday and disappeared from the news after that

To read

"The Last Reader," by Ricardo Piglia (2006, Companhia das Letras) magnificent discussion about how a reader like him reads a story, starting at 28.88 reals (US $17.40)

"The Curtain" by Milan Kundera (2006, Companhia das Letras) notable collection of essays about the nature of the novel and of the reader, starting at 29.65 reals

"Essays about Photography" (1981, Editora Arbor) excellent essays about what is a photograph

To see

"A Special Day" (1977), by Ettore Scola, masterpiece of Italian cinema, which shows diverse readings about the reasons for fascism told by ordinary citizens who lived under the regime, available only for rental.

-Translation by John Wright