Whose Hands Launched the Attack on Lula's Caravan?

04/02/2018 - 11h07

Gunshots, eggs, stones and whips have livened up recent political reporting. Last week, the Lula through Brazil Caravan traveled throughout the South of the country and was confronted by protests that went beyond acceptable limits. The armed attack against the former president's entourage involving gunshots took place on the same day that Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin said that he had been receiving threats. And in the same environment, even more flagrant was the assassination two weeks ago of Rio Councilwoman Marielele Franco (PSOL Party).

These are all terrifying signs of the predominant political tension. In moments like these, I stick to my role as a journalist.

Folha has provided wide coverage of the current PT Party (Workers' Party ) Caravan since it got under way, in August of 2017.

At the time, some readers complained that the newspaper was giving excessive space to an early start to a campaign that would be illegal; images of the caravan, correctly from my point of view, were plastered on the front page of the newspaper.

In January, the PT Party determined that the first Caravan of 2008 would go through three southern states and end up in Curitiba, where the so-called Car Wash operation is centered.

This phase was troubled from the beginning. Cars and busses which were part of the entourage were repeatedly pelted by eggs, stones and other objects. Sheet metal was dented; windows, broken. Bulldozers blocked access to cities, nails were strewn on the ground to cause flat tires. A student was struck by a whip in the city of Bagé. Finally, gunshots.

Folha readers were provided with reporting of these facts and the coverage was rich in images (including video segments). The yells of "Lula, you thief, your place is in prison" and "Live on Sergio Moro" were recorded. But in general, the names, thoughts, motivations and explanations of those involved weren't recorded.

At three different moments Folha managed to give faces to the protesters mobilized against the Lulista Caravan but didn't follow up with profiles of their convictions. It interviewed a rural laborer, a human resources analyst and a businessman, all of whom basically repeated details of the actions they led out in.

These were weak attempts at understanding the protestors and the organizations behind these voters.

Folha did end up publishing that Federal Congressman Pepe Vargas (PT-RS Party) met with Rio Grande do Sul's Public Security Secretary, Cezar Schirmer (MDB Party, to show copies of messages from and interviews with oppositionists, who supposedly were fomenting violence. But the newspaper apparently wasn't sufficiently interested in this information to follow up on it.

On social networks, young people from the Brazilian Liberty Movement (MBL) celebrated the attacks against the PT Party and claimed to be among the organizers of the network of actions against Lula. Folha only cited them in the last action scheduled for the 28th in Curitiba.

On the other hand, and with the same lack of depth, readers were informed that members of the Workers Party and left-wing movements, among them the MST (Workers Without Land Movement) were providing support and security for Lula and his entourage. Who were they? What were they doing? Who was paying them?

The Editor of the Power & Politics section, Fábio Zanini, said that it wasn't logistically possible to provide greater coverage at the time of the action, since this requires time to prepare. He explained that this coverage is currently being produced and will be published in the next few days.

Some readers felt that the media gave much more prominence to the attack against José Serra's Presidential campaign in 2010, investing in their own technical inspections, for example.

In the *Folha*'s case, the attack against Serra was reported on the front page with a photo followed by a caption entitled "Headache". The Lula attack was given the newspaper's headline, demonstrating the proper dimensioning of both of the facts at their respective times.

What is irksome about the *Folha*'s coverage is the frequent reference to the unidentified individual. Whose hands threw the eggs, stones and other objects? Who used bulldozers to block the way? Who threw nails on the ground? Who paid, who participated, who organized them?

Little has been told about who the protagonists of these actions were and, primarily, what they were thinking and how they organized themselves. There was a real lack of providing any depth or richness regarding the people behind the hands. This is not a simple detail or a whim, identifying the protagonists of the political scene is one of the basic functions of the press.

The newspaper has been aptly rigid in defending that investigations need to be carried out to identify the perpetrators of these recent crimes. It has argued that those responsible for killing Marielle, threatening Fachin and firing on Lula's Caravan need to be found and punished.

However, in all three examples, it hasn't launched its own journalistic investigations with the appropriate effort and space. Due to apathy, disorganization or lack of resources, its readers have been left wanting.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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