13/09/2009

Prospero and the unpredictability of the weather

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

Nobody has control over storms, but warning of their consequences is possible and necessary

The deluge in São Paulo on Tuesday found many people unprepared. Readers complained about the weather forecast published in Folha that day, while it said vaguely that there was the possibility of "torrential rainfall" in the region, while it asserted the day before that it would be a day with radiant sunshine.

According to the most recent survey about what readers most often read in the newspaper, the weather section has the extremely high rate of 84%. The reasons are obvious. Satisfaction, however, is not so high.

I interviewed Gustavo Escobar, of the Weather Forecasting and Climate Study Center at the National Institute for Space Research, which supplies the forecasts published by Folha.

He explained that the tropical or subtropical climate, which covers most of Brazil, is the hardest to forecast and that technological limitations in the country, such as the small number of radar units available to the institute, prevent better precision in predicting the intensity of severe climactic events, such as the exact amount of rain or the wind velocity.

It's obvious that nobody has control over storms as Prospero did on his island in the Shakespeare play indicated at the end of this text. But it is possible and necessary to be prepared for the consequences, even when they are unexpected, like the one this week.

I already commented here on Dec. 14, 2008, when part of Santa Catarina state was submerged by rain, how this newspaper failed in the practice of preventive journalism, which anticipates events and, that way, helps to minimize the effects.

That's what reader Eduardo Moura demands: "I would like to ask why only after the flooding this week did Folha wake up to the projects along the highways and the resulting waterproofing?"

The newspaper didn't do too badly in discussing this specific topic on Wednesday and Friday. And on Tuesday, as it had been doing for several days, it reported that City Hall cut 20% of the money destined for street cleaning; the accumulation of trash without a doubt aggravated the effects of the floods. On Thursday, it showed that only 7% of the funds devoted this year to flood-prone areas was utilized. On Friday, it said the city has not mapped high-risk areas since 2003.

Except for the matter of trash, all of this work appeared too late to attenuate Tuesday's problems. It is hoped that they motivate the newsroom to be more vigilant for the inevitable summer rains and begin to make tough demands from municipal authorities since they have already had a warning that threatened the worst effects.
In the movie recommended below, a weather reporter is obligated to relive the same day indefinitely, a notable allusion to daily journalism. Nobody wants to go through the dramas of Tuesday again. But maybe this is punishment sent by the gods to those who deserve it.

TO READ

"The Tempest," By William Shakespeare, translated by Beatriz Viégas-Faria, L&PM Publishing, 2002 (starting at 9.50 reals, or U.S. $5.25, or available for reading and download in a version without the translator's name at www.dominiopublico.gov.br).

TO SEE

"Groundhog Day," by Harold Ramis, with Bill Murray (starting at 17.91 reals and free, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Folha Cycle of Cinema and Journalism at the Unibanco Space on 1475 Augusta Street in São Paulo)

JOURNALISTS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

Folha executives circulated an announcement in the newsroom which said that journalists on blogs, social networks and twitter should follow the same principles of the editorial project and, accordingly, not take partisan positions or reveal contents of columns or exclusive stories.

Few big news organizations have already regulated the topic, one of many ethical dilemmas that the new technologies have imposed. The announcement leaves open numerous possible doubts. It seems difficult for me to contest the newspaper's executives, who pay their journalists to check information in a certain area, to require exclusivity in what they find. Similarly, I think it is correct to demand that the topics they cover in their jobs apply the same standards to other publications (including personal) that are required by the newspaper itself.

If, for example, a journalist who deals with politics writes on his blog opinions passionately for or against a party or public personality, how will the reader believe in his impartiality for what he reports in Folha?

But how do you exert control over what he says about topics that he does not deal with at the newspaper without interfering with his freedom of expression?

WHAT FOLHA DID RIGHT...

A story on Monday reveals that 85% of the projects in which votes are missed end up being abandoned

... AND WHERE IT DID BADLY

Congress
On Thursday, after not dealing with the topic for many days, the newspaper reports that the Chamber of Deputies approved late at night the creation of 7,000 new city council positions in the country; the progress of projects in Congress remains forgotten in the story

PAC
Stories on Tuesday and Wednesday allow the interpretation that the government is responsible for illegal actions and delays in projects rather than contractors working on them

TOPICS MOST COMMENTED DURING THE WEEK

1. São Paulo rains
2. Purchase of French fighter jets
3. PAC development program

WHO IS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR?
Letters
from readers 50
from people in the news 11

Centimeters
from readers 389
from people in the news 137
*from Sept. 5 to 11, 2009

WORTH REMEMBERING
Cases that need to be looked at again

Is the crisis over at the federal tax office? Did the meeting take place between Dilma Roussef, the president's chief of staff, and the former head of the tax office, or not?

Translation by John Wright