| Ana Carolina Fernandes/Folha Imagem |
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| Ombudsman Mário Magalhães |
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Ombudsman
The reader's representative
The job of the ombudsman - a Sweden word meaning representative of the citizen - was adopted by the press in the United States in the 60's. It landed in Brazil on a Sunday, on September 24, 1989, when Folha, for the first time ever in the history of Latin-American journalism, began to publish a weekly column by its reader's representative.
The ombudsman's duties are to receive, investigate, and attend to readers' complaints; to conduct the internal criticism of the newspaper, and once a week, on Sundays, release a column with critical remarks on the media - in which Folha ought to be one of the preferential targets.
In order to carry out this job independenly, the newspaper introduced a one-year term of office for each ombudsman, extendable for additional two years. This professional cannot be dismissed during his term of office and has an additional six-month term after quitting the job. The Folha de S.Paulo's current ombudsman is Mário Magalhães.
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