05/10/2008

Welcome to democratic normalcy

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

The election already began to become routine, which helps to understand the relative indifference about what happened in the campaign for the first round this year

Between 1911 and 1926, São Paulo residents chose their mayors through elections with reduced legitimacy. They recovered this right in 1953, but only for two years because the military regime returned to imposing appointed administrators.

In 1985, the longest period of uninterrupted direct elections for mayor began. That is already 23 years. It began to become a routine, which helps to understand the relative indifference about what happened in the campaign for the first round this year.

The ombudsman at any given time always suffered intense pressure from readers in past municipal elections. This time, not so much.

Perhaps this is a welcome to democratic normalcy. Maybe that is because polling made it clear that there will be a second round and that one of the finalists will be former Mayor Marta Suplicy. Perhaps it is because Folha is providing reasonably balanced coverage.

By my count, the newspaper published 12 negative stories about incumbent Gilberto Kassab, six about Marta Suplicy and three about former Gov. Geraldo Alckmin. There were many negative stories about all three.

I believe the concentration of criticism toward the current and former mayor is natural because those who have held the job leave a lot of weak spots open to accusations.

Some of these stories against Kassab and Marta were unjust or exaggerated. Little things, almost irrelevant, such as unpaid taxes or deactivated companies that were not registered were treated as scandals against Marta, the candidate from the left-leaning Workers Party (PT).

The mayor was also a victim of this type of moralist delirium, such as the case of clippings by City Hall about campaign news coverage. Alckmin was spared the most.

Folha, unfortunately, as is it accustomed, abused journalism by using accusations, attacks and gossip that did not amount to anything, did not clarify anything to anyone and made the news boring and irrelevant.

But there were some very good moments, such as a series of stories with proposals by the six main candidates for specific public policies, and mainly, the problems raised in the excellent section highlighting a series of in-depth surveys about São Paulo, the newspaper's high point.

Checking incorrect facts declared by candidates in debates or ads was another positive contribution of this coverage.

There was also no lack of clichés, such as intolerable photos of candidates eating meals, but there were good photographic moments, such as the front page Wednesday in which facial expressions of the three main candidates perfectly summarized their standing in the polls.

The newspaper gave little space to the City Council elections and sometimes got lost in foolishness such as which mayoral candidate the celebrity council members such as actor Dan Stulbach would support, as if this could orient the decisions of readers.

Fortunately, Folha Online overcame this deficiency somewhat by putting on its site the profiles of all City Council aspirants.

Coverage of the campaign in other states was meager and weak. Only Friday, a longer and more analytical story appeared. Unfortunately it could not stop recognition that Folha is not a national newspaper; it is a São Paulo daily newspaper with nationwide repercussions.

"And if children ask? How do I respond?"

One of Folha's positive advantages with the institution of the ombudsman is that it receives many story suggestions for the newsroom from readers.

Surprisingly, sometimes there is resistance to accepting them. On Sept. 23, I received from José Antonio Pessoa de Mello Oliveira excellent ideas about questions to which the newspaper did not respond or handled poorly about the American economic crisis.

They are apparently simple questions but difficult to answer. Such as: "What happens to homeowners who can't pay their mortgages? Do they leave their homes? Where do they live? I did not hear anything about the legions of homeless in the United States. And what about the lost homes? Are they empty? Will they be offered on the market? What effect does the massive number of homes for sale have on the housing market? Certainly prices have imploded. Or is this not happening? Do citizens not pay, stay in the house and the government pays the cost? Also I didn't manage to find out if the American government wants to buy 'rotten' mortgages with resources from the budget or if it simply will run the presses to print dollars."

I sent these questions to the business editors the same day. I also have not seen in the newspaper what the reader was seeking, and I believe it would be useful if all of these responses were grouped together in one story, or, if preferred, in one graphic.

Through Friday, while the newspaper has four journalists in the United States, readers continued to lack answers to these questions.

I sought explanations from the editors. They told me that "some of the answers were given during this coverage and we did not manage to respond to two of them: where people who are evicted are living and what is happing to the seized homes."

They should try again and publish together the answers they said they have already given. Finally, as reader José Antonio asks: "And if the children ask me? What do I answer?"

To read

"Erundina, the Woman Who Came With the Rain," by José Nêumanne, Época e Tempo Publishing, 1989 (11 reals, or U.S. $5.50) - a great story tells about the life of Luiza Erundina, highlighting the campaign for mayor of São Paulo she won in 1988

To see

"Jânio 24 Quadros," by Luiz Alberto Pereira, 1981 (on sites which buy and sell books at an undetermined price) - intelligent and critical documentary about the political life of former President Jânio Quadros, highlighting his historic first campaign for mayor of São Paulo, which he won in 1953

What Folha did right...

Air Force fighter jets
On Thursday, a story with certainty and clarity told the inside story about the government's decision to choose three final candidates for the tender to buy new fighter jets for the Air Force

Simpson at the exchange
On Tuesday, a photo on the front page showing a Homer Simpson doll in a panic at the Chicago Exchange gave in indispensable touch of humor to the gloomy environment of the financial crisis

Rafael Correa
An exclusive interview with the president of Ecuador helped clarify things for readers amid the crisis with a Brazilian company and constitutional referendum in that country

...and where it was wrong

Sarah Palin
On Wednesday, based on comments by three political columnists, a headline on the page suggested that the vice presidential candidate in the United States, Sarah Palin, could be replaced on John McCain's ticket, a highly improbable hypothesis.

Secretaries
The newspaper highlighted the gifts offered by companies to secretaries at the presidential palace and the firm, rapid reaction by the government, which ordered them returned, but it failed to ask why such a step is taken so rarely concerning those higher up in the administrative hierarchy

Topics most commented during the week

1. Municipal elections
2. São Paulo police strike
3. Sports topics

-Translation by John Wright