12/07/2009

Ribamar from left to the right

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

The ombudsman can't make value judgments about the contents of opinions published by the newspaper

In 1930, in the northeastern state of Maranhão, two boys named Ribamar were born 333 kilometers and five months apart, but later they both changed their names.

Both enjoyed books and politics and stand out as perhaps the two most famous men from their state in the 20th Century. One belonged to the conservative National Democratic Union in the 1950s and headed the National Renovation Alliance which supported the military dictatorship that governed from the 1960s to the 1980s. The other joined the Brazilian Communist Party and headed the Popular Culture Center, a nucleus of leftist intellectuals in the 1960s.

Former President and current Senate President José Sarney and Ferreira Gullar, through destiny and the vagaries of Brazilian politics, have become at age 79 two of the columnists most attacked by readers in this newspaper. Curiously, many who consider themselves leftists criticize Gullar and spare Sarney.

There are those who demand that the ombudsman take a position about controversial columnists. As I have already explained here, the ombudsman can't make value judgments about the contents of opinions published by the newspaper.

If he did that, he would alienate those who do not agree with his opinion. The obligation of the occupant of this position is to try to fulfill the impossible mission to represent almost 1 million people, who among them have some of the most diverse opinions in the world.

The ombudsman makes an effort to satisfy some specific desires by all readers, not all the desires of some specific readers. In principle, they all want a newspaper with fewer mistakes, better written, more impartial, clearer, more attractive and more useful. These are the objectives of his work.

But he does not have to overlook columns. When they commit factual errors, for example, it is necessary to point them out. I have the impression that Gullar committed one last Sunday.

He said that having more children has become an easy way to raise family income thanks to government support and cited an example of someone who went from having three to having seven children (plus one more in the belly) to increase her benefits. That could be, but it would make a mockery of the law. According to the regulations of the program, there is a limit on benefits for three children (plus two adolescents from 16 to 17 years old who are in school).

Another matter about columnists in which the ombudsman must be vigilant is that the newspaper guarantees pluralism of ideologies and parties in the composition of its team. Sometimes, such as in the current political climate, the vast alliance which supports the president is complicated.

There are many accusations that Folha has a team of columnists that leans to the right. It is difficult now to define what is left or right.

But it must be recognized that names such as Cesar Benjamin, Marina Silva, Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr., Luiz Belluzzo, Fernando Gabeira and Ferreira Gullar, among others, can't be classified as "on the right" even if they occasionally criticize the administration to the left.

And names such as Delfim Netto and Sarney, often seen as "on the right," can't be listed among the left-leaning president's opponents because they undeniably support him.

Many ask Folha to stop running Sarney's column. The ombudsman sends these requests to the management, but he does not make opinions about them.

The oblique nature of credibility

A good survey about the state of journalism, by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, at Oxford University in England, is available on the Internet only in English (see below). "Challenges: Public Trust in the News" is defined as "a constructivist study of the social life of the news." The authors conclude that confidence in news media goes beyond the obvious and fundamental question of veracity of the events it reports.

The public's trust decreases as consumers perceive that they don't share the same expectations as the news organization. Distrust also results from oblique reasons, not simple credibility. This also helps explain why some news organizations, such as the magazine "The New Republic" (whose history is described in the movie recommended below) or the newspaper "The New York Times" do not lose respect nor the readership of an absolute majority of their readers after uncomfortable episodes involving falsification of stories. It's clear that being truthful is vital. But sharing similar visions of the world with the audience also could be.

To read

"Challenges: Public Trust in the News", by Stephen Coleman, Scott Anthony and David E. Morrison, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

To see

"Shattered Glass," by Billy Ray, 2003 (starting at 19.90 reals, or U.S. $10)

What Folha did right...

China
With agility, the newspaper sent its correspondent in Beijing to Urumqi, where he sent good stories about the ethnic conflicts

Music
Excellent story about music in various parts of the newspaper Sunday

...And where it did badly

Consummated fact
Two more important topics (regulation of motorcycle taxis and electoral reform) are decided in Congress and presented to readers as a consummated fact without preparation and previous debate

Satyagraha
For a year, since the matter first broke, presentation of complaints against those accused in the Satyagraha case have gotten wide play, but the fundamental questions remain unanswered

-Translation by John Wright