22/02/2009

Lessons from a collective shipwreck

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

Errors by the media in the Paula Oliveira case are a symptom of a congenital disease in journalism, the affliction about checking information and jumping to conclusions.

The case of Paula Oliveira, a Brazilian who lives in Switzerland and confessed to self-mutilation after accusing neo-Nazis of a supposed attack against her, was a collective shipwreck by the media nationwide.

No one escaped from the debacle. Not even this ombudsman or most of his readers. I did not point out errors about the matter in my daily critique on Feb. 12, when the case exploded.

Many readers complicated matters further with complaints about European xenophobia based on the false accusations. Some even condemned the newspaper for "condescension" by Swiss police when Paula Oliveira's version already clearly had holes.

I recognize my own error. I believe that it is the first indispensable step for those who seriously want to correct themselves and improve.

Mine, as well as those by editors who evaluated the news from the start, are a symptom of the serious congenital disease in journalism which has worsened in frightening proportions along with the impressive scale of the Internet in the world.

The tidal wave of information which smothers the public and drives news organizations to widen their scope to insane competition against others exponentially multiplies the ever-present affliction by journalists to check information and jump to quick, supposedly definitive, conclusions about events.

The quality of journalistic work depends on a fine mixture of speed, doubt, prudence, intuition, culture, and malice. Increasingly, only the first item is taken into account.

The need to make bombastic judgments is a recipe for total disaster, such as when Folha published on its front page in June 2007 an opinion piece by a layman that made premature judgments about responsibility for the crash of the TAM airliner at Congonhas airport in São Paulo.

Before getting its own journalist to Zurich to seek the other side (in this case, the local police), check with doctors and investigate whether the injuries could be caused by the situation described, this newspaper bought a second-hand story (through her father) by an unknown person as if it were irrefutable and allowed commentators to reach harsh conclusions about the authorities, the culture and people of another country.

The fact that the real victim in this episode is not a person, but a nation, make its consequences less dramatic about the aspect of injustice committed. But if they don't take drastic measures to change this standard of behavior, tragedies such as the Base School (unfounded accusations of child molestation) will be repeated.

It was possible to be suspicious about the story from the start. Even a reader, Sylvia Moretzsohn, wrote to the ombudsman on Thursday to say how strange the symmetry of the wounds seemed when Swiss law enforcement officials were suspicious about the alleged crime from the start.

I still have not seen in this newspaper what some readers asked for: a mea-culpa for the haste in which it acted, while there was no shortage on its pages condemning the lack of precaution by Brazilian authorities, equally recriminating, for rebuking, without having all the facts, a friendly country for crimes, which in the end, at least in this time, were not committed.

Humility to admit mistakes and the willingness to speak about it are indispensable when discussing people and institutions.

Two opinions that mobilized many readers

I already referred here to the scope of the ombudsman's work, which does not comprise opinions published by the newspaper in editorials, columns or op-ed pieces.

The ombudsman is tied to technical, factual, provable and verifiable aspects. Opinion is like religion, sports teams and ideological convictions: everyone has his own and none is better than the other.

But maybe because, as Spencer wrote, opinion is determined in the final analysis by feelings, not intellect, it mobilizes many readers to action.

This week, two of them motivated at least 115 messages. Without entering into the merits of the opinions, I will deal with both.

A blog posting on Folha's on-line edition carried a headline with biased and rambling words above a photo in which former São Paulo Mayor Marta Suplicy and presidential chief of staff Dilma Rousseff appeared. It seemed to me an insinuation in bad taste and insulting.

An editorial referring to Brazil's former military regime provoked letters published in Letters to the Editor. A response by the newsroom to two of them on Friday was outside the standards of cordiality which I believe are essential for the newspaper to hold its readers.

Who are letters to the editor?

Letters:
51 from readers
5 from people in the news

Centimeters:
406 from readers
92 from people in the news
4 Newspaper's anniversary

*from Feb. 14 to Feb. 20, 2009

Topics most commented during the week

1. Editorial about former military dictatorship
2. Power Insiders blog
3. Brazilian in Switzerland

To read

"Atonement," by Ian McEwan, translation by Paulo Henriques Britto, Companhia das Letras Publishing, 2001 (starting at 41.30 reals, or US $17.35). One of the best books from the end of the 20th Century shows the tragic consequences of the rush to judgment resulting from a mistaken accusation that sounded plausible.

To see

"Passage to India," by David Lean, with Judy Davis and Peggy Ashcroft, 1984 (Cult Theater at 7:05 p.m. on March 25 and at 3:10 p.m. on March 27, for 19.90 reals). In this beautiful film, a hallucination by a young woman finds a fertile environment in prejudice and does not result in tragedy only because she retracts

What Folha dis right...

Ranking of interest rates
The decision to publish a ranking of interest rates charged by banks is a useful public service

Opera in the cinema
Material on Tuesday about the opening of a cycle of operas shown in movies was well done and helps revive interest for this type of art

... and where it did badly

Lacking proof
The newspaper highlighted in headlines on Friday that the Socialism and Liberty Party accused the government in Rio Grande do Sul state "without proof"; in the past, many accusations without proof were highlighted without this precaution in the headlines

Congressional leadership
On Monday, the newspaper reported that other new members in the congressional leadership are targets of lawsuits; why was this not done before the election to alert the public?

Air bags
News on Thursday about congressional approval to require air bags in automobiles surprised readers, who were not alerted about an imminent decision about the topic

Last instance
There was small and weak repercussions to the Supreme Court decision to allow some people convicted of crimes to await appeal out of jail

Worth remembering
How are they living?

Valdomiro Diniz
Delúbio Soares
Sílvio Pereira

-Translation by John Wright