25/01/2009
After badly done...
CARLOS EDUARDO LINS DA SILVA
ombudsman@uol.com.br
News of the cuts in the science and technology budget is an example of inefficiency in the way the newspaper reports topics in Congress
A passage in the inaugural address by Barack Obama on Tuesday: "We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its costs.
"We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do."
Science and technological innovation are fundamental, not only for being one of the ways human beings reveal what is best in their nature but also for being a determining factor to accelerate productivity and, with it, the economic and social progress of nations.
On Thursday, Folha published news about Congress cutting 18% from the 2009 budget for the Science and Technology Ministry and the indignant reaction of the sector.
This newspaper has an old and strong tradition of doing a good job covering topics involving science. The priority given to the topic is irrefutable, contrary to that given to education, which is important for science, but seems to lose its importance (incoherence to be resolved).
Scientific journalism is a specialty that has been studied in numerous places. Its importance comes from the relevance of science in society.
When practiced well, this journalistic area disseminates information about surveys in progress or completed, the importance of technological innovations in industry, commerce and services, and clarifies concepts. It educates and democratizes knowledge.
While in general it does good work in scientific journalism, the newspaper tolerates the bad job common to others in this area in what it says about the formation of relevant public policies.
The Mixed Budget Commission in Congress, which decided on the cuts, does not meet in secret. Its rules and agenda are public. Any citizen, including journalists, has access to it.
From September to December, it held numerous sessions. The topic appeared here only after a decision was made. While reporting on the threat of cuts could have alerted entities and individuals to mobilize in an attempt to block them, nothing or almost nothing was published about it.
It is one more example of how ineffective and bureaucratic the newspaper is in dealing with topics in Congress. There is no lack of space or reporters to write insincere remarks and reproduce cynical statements that interest only those who make them.
But there is always space on these pages for inconsequential chatter, petty gossip, trial balloons by members of Congress, and senators seeking positions and power.
The newspaper does not have someone who follows the work of committees systematically, for example, the budget, and verify how this cut is being made against the public interest.
About the blind, young people and newspapers
I received from reader Alisson Azevedo, a court employee in Goiânia (in the central state of Goiás), a message which is transcribed below.
"I want to congratulate Sylvia Colombo and Folha for the brilliant report on Jan. 19 about audio descriptions. The reporter got it right: she heard from a heterogenous group of blind people, went behind the scenes about who conceived and did audio description in Brazil and, even better, did everything with levity and without mushiness.
"For me, blind and a newspaper reader, the report is a paradigm of how the press should treat blind people and blindness.
"By the way, and breaking the rule to treat the topic only by email, I want to tell a story about blind people, young people and newspaper reading.
"I am 27 years old, and since I was a youth I always wanted to read the newspaper. At 7, I dreamed of being a journalist and sought someone to read the police blotter and soap opera summary to me.
"One day, when I was 8 years old, I went to the inauguration of a braille press. The governor of Goiás, Henrique Santilo, promised that in the 'near future' newspapers would be printed daily in braille.
"I was really enthused about this, but my 'older' blind colleagues and teachers dashed my hopes: such a newspaper would be very big, very expensive and that nobody would be able to read it in one day.
"A few years later, my dream became viable with the rise of the Internet and readers on TV, and the willingness of full (and accessible) versions of newspapers on the Web.
"I like to read the same newspaper in virtual space that clairvoyants read on paper.
"I told this story because your column last Sunday returned me to ambiguity about most readers rejecting paper in favor of the Internet and a minority who avidly seek on paper what for years was hidden."
To read
"Scientific Journalism," by Fabíola de Oliveira, Contexto Publishing, 2002 (starting at 17.96 reals, or US $7.80) - Historic account of this journalistic specialty with a guide to polling organizations and scientific announcements
"The Challenges and Evaluation of Ibero-American Scientific Journalism," various authors (available on http://www.scidev.net/uploads/File/pdffiles/jornalismo-cientifico.pdf) - Panorama of the current state of scientific journalism in 13 countries on the subcontinent
To see
"From the Earth to the Moon," mini-series with 12 episodes, 1997 (showing on HBO on pay TV) - Excellent fictional recreation of one of the biggest scientific projects in history, Apollo, with highlights on some episodes (especially 1, 2, and 9) for political difficulties to get approval from Congress for the funding necessary for its success
What Folha did right...
Obama inauguration
Special section on Wednesday brought ample and competent coverage of the event, with good photos, excellent diagrams and adequately tempered tone
Help and dismissal
A story on Thursday provided public service by showing that sectors of the economy which are most helped by the government are those which have the most dismissals
...And where it did badly
Inauguration and Blackberry
The newspaper nearly ignored two curious aspects about Obama's inauguration: the necessity for a second swearing-in due to mistakes in the original one and permission for the president to use his Blackberry
Wyeth and robot
The newspaper was not as far behind reporting the death of the actor who played the robot in the old "Lost in Space" TV series than it was with one of the most important painters of the 20th Century, Andrew Wyeth
-Translation by John Wright
