An Ever-Healthy Skepticism

05/22/2017 - 12h07

"It's difficult to compete", members of the cast from the series "House of Cards", an American production with fictional behind-the-scenes political operators, joked on a social network, commenting on what has happened in Brazil this week.

The plea bargain testimony of brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista, heads of the J&F group companies, owners of JBS and of the Friboi brand has devastated Brazilian politics. There were even cinematic elements to make it more spectacular.

The plea bargainers from the J&F group provided details of an enchanted world of illegal campaign contributions to 1.829 candidates (congressmen, senators and governors) from 28 political parties, totaling R$600 million (US$ 195 million), in exchange for various favors in return. They placed the President of the Republic in the basement of a palace in secret meetings in the misty hours of the night.

The judicial agreement was an already done deal. The Folha's Letters Column published on Tuesday (the 16th) that Joesley had decided to go ahead with negotiations for a plea-bargain cooperation after feeling threatened by imprisonment by the Federal Police.

The next day, "O Globo" (The Globe) dropped the bomb: it published that Joesley had recorded conversations with President Michel Temer (PMDB-SP Party) and Senator Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG Party).

As reported by columnist Lauro Jardim, Temer had given approval for the businessman to continue providing monthly funds used as hush money for ex-president of the Congress Eduardo Cunha and black-market money exchange operator Lucio Bolonha Funaro.

Jardim said that he had been informed that the plea bargain testimony would involve Temer and Aécio and that there would be a controlled operation - the name given to the type of operation where a suspect agrees to gather evidence, with the direct supervision and support of the police, in exchange for benefits, like a shorter prison sentence or elimination of the sentence altogether.
The news, published by the Rio de Janeiro newspaper at 19:30 on Wednesday (the 17th) set the fire under this paper's Editors.

Folha took 33 minutes to get the story up, attributing the original information to the "Globo" but pointing out that it had been able to confirm it.

The Federal Supreme Court (STF) ordered arrests, apprehensions, removed two congressmen from office, and opened an investigation against the President of the Republic. The operation seems to have been the most technically sophisticated up until now. With the cooperation of the plea bargainers, the police were able to film the receipt of money, composed of denominated and marked bills, in suitcases with electronic locating devices.

Based on the information provided by the "Globo" columnist, journalists, political commentators and social networks started condemning Temer and demanding his resignation. Isolated, the President complained that he was having to defend himself without even having heard the recoding itself.

None of the newspapers explained, that, initially, they hadn't actually had access to the audio recordings or their transcripts. All reporting was based on information coming from the plea bargainers or the prosecutors, parties with a vested interest in the proceedings. There was a lack of transparency in this regard.

When the STF authorized the release of the plea bargain testimony and supporting material, a minor controversy erupted.

Folha was the paper that changed its tone most drastically. On Thursday afternoon, it declared in a headline on the site that the transcript of the audio recording of the conversation between Temer and Joesley was "inconclusive" in what was said regarding the alleged support of the President for the hush-money for Eduardo Cunha. The recording has several sections that are inaudible.

With the release of the audio recording, the phrase "You have to keep up with this, you know?" spoken by Temer, seems to be in response to "I'm tight with Eduardo", and not directly to the payment of bribes to keep the ex-congressman from testifying.

Only on Friday did the newspaper get the results of an analysis, done by an examiner, that revealed "clear evidence of manipulation and cuts" in the audio recording. The Federal General Prosecutor (PGR) had already admitted in an official document that the audio recording had been analyzed in "a preliminary manner".

If the newspaper had been in too much of a hurry to embrace the shaky version of the story that it took in, perhaps it was also too emphatic in subsequently declaring the recording to be inconclusive.

Even with the doubt surrounding this section, the content of the audio recording represents a grave and compromising conversation from the head of the Executive branch.

Many readers reacted with indignation to the change in the *Folha*'s position. Vinicius Mota, Editor-in-Chief, believes that the journalistic understanding and evaluation evolved.

"On Wednesday, the public hadn't had access to the complete audio recording, although Folha had confirmed the existence of plea-bargain testimony.

On Thursday, after being able to evaluate all of the material, the newspaper understood that there was no incontrovertible proof in the recording, that President Michel Temer had given his support for hush-money for Eduardo Cunha.

This is the Federal Prosecutor General's interpretation, and is denied by the President's defense", he declared.

The overwhelming quantity of documents and amount of information - in the form of audio & video recordings and reports - makes life risky and dangerous for the press. A lot has to be cleared up.

The case demands technique and discernment. The *Folha*'s healthy exercise of doubt opened up a new flank in the investigation.

The lesson to be taken from the episode is the necessity for the newspaper to remain independent, skeptical and constantly questioning of the facts and their sources. This could even bother some readers in the first analysis, but it reconfirms its fundamental commitment to credibility.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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