25/05/2008

Mistakes repeated become a lie

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

Captions:

Gil Passarelli/Folha Imagem

Photo 1: Fight among only Mackenzie University students in São Paulo in 1967 (Gil Passarelli, Oct. 26, 1967/Folha Images)

Joe Rosenthal/AP

Photo 2: U.S. Marines hoist the second American flag on Mt. Suribachi, not the first (Joe Rosenthal, Feb. 23, 1945/Associated Press)

John Filo/Arquivo Pessoal

Photo 3: Doctored image of students at Kent State University (John Filo, May 4, 1970)

A photo which became an icon of the Brazilian student movement in 1968 (at top) was recorded as being in October 1967 and did not involve São Paulo University students

It's said that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. So mistakes which are repeated many times can turn into lies. The same goes for photographs.

On May 13, I received a letter from reader Renato Martinelli telling about a mistake that the newspaper has repeated and has caused discomfort for decades.

The photo at the top became an icon of the Brazilian student movement in 1968 for being systematically identified as a portrait of the "Battle of Maria Antonia Street" between students at São Paulo University and Mackenzie University.

The most recent relapse of the mistake occurred May 4 in the Mais! (Sunday arts and entertainment) section.

As the reader told me, the photo from Oct. 27, 1967 records a fight among students only from Mackenzie University and came out on the front page of the next day's edition of Folha.

It shows a group of right-wing youth who tried to destroy a ballot box for the student government election, contested by the New UEE slate (with José Dirceu, who later became chief of staff for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for student president, and Américo Nicolatti, who also became a prominent politician later in life, for vice president) against the Independent University Front (headed by the Brazilian Communist Party) and the Labor Front (led by Popular Action).

Gil Passarelli (1917-1999), one of the best photographers to ever work at this newspaper, won the Esso Photography Prize for this. Even in a book under his authorship, the photo was listed as if it were taken in 1968. Folha's archives corrected the caption in its archives in 2001, but it came out wrong again.

Martinelli wanted to correct the mistake to knock down a historic distortion: the impression that Mackenzie only had conservatives. He and various colleagues fought for democracy (a military dictatorship ruled at that time) in a center-left front, and it is wrong that this is not recognized.

The second photo is another repeated mistake. By Joe Rosenthal (1911-2006), it portrayed the second American flag raised on Mt. Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, not the first. And this gesture did not represent the end of the battle for the island of Iwo Jima, which lasted another 31 days, at a cost of 6,821 American lives.

The other photo, of the confrontation between the National Guard and students at Kent State University, also has a mistake in its history. By John Filo, then a journalism student, on May 4, 1970, it was for decades reproduced in a doctored form (the post which appears behind the girl was removed to improve the composition) until the author, now an editor at CBS News, gave a full accounting and had it restored.

The Alstom matter

On May 6, the daily "Valor Econômico" revealed, with a "Wall Street Journal" report, that the Alstom multinational is being investigated for complaints alleging corruption in its business with the São Paulo state government. I have demanded in my internal critique and in this column that Folha improve its coverage of the topic.

Besides a few mentions in columns, the newspaper also published eight stories about the topic. Some of them do not say that the companies involved (such as the subway system) are state-owned. In none of them did it say that it attempted to contact Gov. José Serra or the state Cabinet officials in charge of the companies.

On May 16, it mentioned that the Workers Party researched the state's Financial Oversight office website, which said there are 139 contracts valued at 7.6 billion reals (US $4.75 billion) between the state government and Alstom. But the newspaper itself did not do any research.

Folha made no editorial comment about the topic, and for except a column by Elio Gaspari (May 11), had no analysis of the political consequences of the topic, something that even the "Wall Street Journal" had already done.

To read

"A Cry of Courage: Memories of the Armed Struggle," by Renato Martinelli. São Paulo. Com-
Arte (starting at 15 reals). Tells about political militancy by the author, showing details of the student movement in São Paulo in the 1960s

"1968 Destined for 2008 - Protest by 100,000," by Evandro Teixeira, Rio: 7 Letras (from 83.30 reals). Starting with a photo of a protest by 100,000 in 1968, the photographer reconstitutes the lives of some participants

To see

"Flags of Our Fathers," by Clint Eastwood, 2006 (starting at 24.90 reals). Excellent film about the story of the battle for Iwo Jima told through the lives of survivors in the photo of the raising of the American flag on the island

"Under Fire," by Roger Spottiswoode, with Nick Nolte, Ed Harris and Gene Hackman, 1983 (starting at 19.90 reals). Film shows the difficulties of working as a photographer in conflict situations, in this case the Sandinista revolution.

To visit

"World Press Photo 2008," at Sesc Pompéia (Rua Clélia 93, phone 11-3871-7700, from Tuesday to Saturday at 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays and holidays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; through June 15. Exposition of the best photojournalism in the world in 2007

Topics most commented during the week

1. Dossier case
2. Spiritual justice
3. Story about police in Rio

What the newspaper did right

Rio police
Account by a reporter who took the training course for Rio police, in the Mais! section, depicts with realism how the department works

Haiti
Story on Monday compares expenditures by Haiti's federal government and investments in public safety in Brazil

And where it was wrong

Kidnaping
Newspaper shows a photo on Friday, with the full name and neighborhood of a boy who was released after being kidnaped, putting the safety of the boy and his mother in jeopardy again

Financial transactions tax
After a headline said that the executive branch would sponsor a return to the financial transaction tax, Folha must report that the initiative would be come from an alliance in Congress

Letters to the Editor
Section once again occupied by people in the news instead of common readers; the newspaper should create another section to give the right of response

Geneva
Lack of a correspondent (on a mission the Mideast) makes newspaper miss important news about diplomacy

-Translation by John Wright