02/08/2009
The Internet at the service of journalism
CARLOS EDUARDO LINS DA SILVA
ombudsman@uol.com.br
There are those who find the Internet to be an enemy of journalism; that is a conceptual and strategic error
American newspapers, facing an unprecedented crisis, focus their efforts on creating tools to strengthen their connection to readers and their relevance to society.
The "New York Times" last week received the Knight-Batten prize, which recognizes innovations in journalism, for their new tools able to increase social control over authorities.
One of those is called "Represent." With it, readers in New York are capable of following the activities of their representatives interactively at various levels of government.
The newspaper makes available a type of "facebook" with factual information and stories about every politician, their votes, speeches and allows readers to write commentary and messages.
During the 2008 election, the "Times" put on its site videos of entire speeches and debates of Barack Obama and John McCain, with transcripts to the side, which allowed searches of text for a specific part with the greatest interest by each person, which is not possible for those who are just watching a video.
Something similar is the "document reader," with which the newspaper posts public documents of any size and allows readers to seek passages which interest them most, mark passages, and make commentary in the margins.
The "St. Petersburg Times" has "polifact," which checks the veracity of promises or statements by authorities in the exercise of their mandate and makes the result of the verification available to the audience.
A constant partner of newspapers which take part in these experiments is the website Propublica (http://www.propublica.org), a nonprofit which proclaims itself independent and dedicated to producing "important stories with moral force" resulting from autonomous investigative work. It was established in 2007, with money from the Sandler Foundation, by the bankers Herbert and Marion Sandler, and is run by journalists who left the "Wall Street Journal."
These are some examples of how the Internet can contribute very positively to improve the quality of journalism and the relationship between society and those who govern.
There are those who find the Internet to be an enemy of journalism. It is a conceptual and strategic mistake. The Internet is only a medium, such as radio, TV or paper, in which journalism is practiced.
The crisis in American journalism is with the business model, not the public. Never have the big daily newspapers had so many readers as now, thanks to the Internet. But they still don't manage to find the formula which transforms this reading into revenue.
One of the most lucrative news organizations at the moment in the United States is "Congressional Quarterly" (CA), which is dedicated only to coverage of the activities of Congress in the United States. It was recently sold by the "St. Petersburg Times" to a competitor as a way to save the daily newspaper from its problems.
The success of CQ and its initiatives mentioned above show that an organic link between journalism and following public policies could be a promising model.
WHAT DOES NOT COME AT THE BARROOM TABLE OR COMPUTER
Those who pay for a newspaper expect to receive information that is vigorously verified and obligatorily proved. Rumors, hearsay or invention of facts can be obtained free at a barroom table or computer screen.
News organizations are justified by the structure and material conditions which allow them to produce news that is subjected to fact-checking.
So it is demoralizing when the newspaper publishes as it did in the section "Folha on the Run" on Thursday two photos (of model Gisele Bündchen) saying that one of them was the image "supposedly without alternation" and that the other was modified to hide the model's pregnancy.
Folha did not interview anybody, did not consult any experts, did not do any independent checking to publish these assertions that were not confirmed. It attributed everything to the mysterious "London Fog" brand.
Celebrities are historically treated with neglect, disrespect and even flippancy by journalists, as documented in the classical film by Fellini indicated below, nearing its golden anniversary.
But it shouldn't be this way. Everybody (and the public) deserve to be treated with respect and in an ethical manner. Including Gisele, whose importance is well established in the following recommended article.
TO READ
"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," by Rodrigo Naves, edition No. 2, page 171-174 (quarterly magazine is sold at bookstores for 29.90 reals, or U.S. $16.30)
TO SEE
"La Dolce Vita," by Federico Fellini, with Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg, 1960 (starting at 37.90 reals)
WHO IS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR?**
Letters
from readers 64
from people in the news 13
Centimeters
from readers 393
from people in the news 161
*from July 25 to 31, 2009
TOPICS MOST COMMENTED DURING THE WEEK
1. José Sarney (former president and current Senate leader)
2. Ombudsman column
3. Influenza A
WHAT FOLHA DID RIGHT...
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Returning to the debate about public cultural polities, the supplement carries good material during the week about Brazilian TV and the importance of culture
CHARTERS
The ban on charter buses in São Paulo gets thorough and unbiased coverage
... AND WHERE IT DID BADLY
NAME OF THE FLU
It's been months since the World Health Organization changed the official designation for Influenza A (H1N1); the newspaper dares to use a description that is old and inappropriate, going contrary to newspapers such as "Le Monde" and "El País"
UGLY ACCENT
This obscenity (formed by changing the meaning of a word through use of an accent) in a headline in the Sunday section is one of the ugliest of the year
WORTH REMEMBERING
Cases that need to be looked at again
How is the case about the Brazilian who says she was attacked by neo-Nazis in Switzerland?
-Translation by John Wright
