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Narco News - July 2, 2005
http://www.narconews.com/Issue38/article1372.html

Scent of a Coup in Latest News on Workers' Party

The Power of the Media and the Political Crisis in Brazil

By Renato Rovai
Fórum Magazine
July 1, 2005

I have been to Venezuela twice recently. Both visits lasted about
fifteen days. The first one was in the week following the coup
attempt. I was there with the photographer Satoru Takaesu. We arrived
with but one contact - Gregorio Salazar, General Secretary of the
National Press Workers' Union. He was our guide. Gentle, helpful and
anti-Chávez, he showed us everything that, in his opinion, would make
the coup attempt justifiable.

Strange as it may seem, a solicitous journalist who truly seemed to
believe in democratic values defended the coup. He denounced some
excesses on the part of the group of Pedro Carmona - the entrepreneur
who closed the Congress, deposed the Supreme Court, ripped apart the
Constitution and lasted only 28 hours as the President, but he
believed that such attitudes were justified because on the opposing
political faction was Chávez.

In all TV programs and in the most widely read newspapers and
magazines in Venezuela, Salazar's words seemed to make sense. The
local media proclaimed in unison its hatred toward Chávez.

The media coverage of the latest episodes that point to a supposed
corruption scheme in the formation of the Brazilian government's
congressional base is very similar to what happened in our neighboring
country. There is an added touch of subtlety: the persecution is not
centered on the figure of the President, as in Venezuela, but in its
political party, the Workers' Party (PT in its Portuguese initials).
There is indeed a problem here that must be investigated, and it is
the function of serious journalism to proceed with this investigation,
through interviews and the collection of documents. These actions of
the press strengthen democracy. This is what the press is expected to
do.

And this is how the press was expected to act during the privatization
of the telephone companies and other utilities in Brazil. At that
time, the scandals did not have to be muffled by the government - the
media took care of it. The late journalist Aloysio Biondi, acting in a
quixotic manner, persistently tried to call the readers' attention to
this, but his articles, published twice per week in the daily Folha de
São Paulo, were never given a visible placement in the newspaper.
Instead, he once confided me that when he was offered a proposal to
write a daily column for the Diário Popular, for slightly higher
compensation, the Folha made a counterproposal of an even better wage
to write one single weekly column for them. He took that as an attempt
to silence his voice, and joined the Diário. His book, The Privatized
Brazil, full of scandalous evidence about corruption in the
privatization process, sold more than 100 thousand copies, but it was
given very little attention in the media. No anti-PSDB (Brazilian
Social Democracy Party, the party of former president Fernando
Cardoso) movement arose because of Biondi's denouncements.

This is what it is all about. The Brazilian media is heralding a
violent campaign against the PT. Should it ever become fully
developed, it will act against all that the party represents - or at
one time more firmly represented. It will not be an attack against
whatever is spoiled in its ranks.

Media editorials and PSDB congressmen suggest that Lula will have to
break up with the PT if he wants to finish his presidential term. This
pressure stems from the accusation that the PT's treasurer paid a
monthly sum of money to all the deputies from PP and PL in exchange
for political support. Curiously, nothing is said about these
deputies. It is the duty of serious journalism to make a thorough
investigation of the supposed "mensalão" scandal (that name referring
to the alleged monthly payments).

It is important to point out that in this campaign against the PT, not
only the party is under attack but also some of the principles it
defends. The movement in favor of privatizations as a way of reducing
governmental corruption is active again. Radio and TV newscasters'
comments, as well as those of economic analysts, follow this trend.

At the same time that it denounces the PT's supposed involvement with
corruption, the media attacks its political credibility. Even though
the media supports the current economic policy, lately it has taken to
voice the opinions of those who criticize the PT for having abandoned
its historical principles and surrendered to capitalist logic. In
Venezuela, the media campaign against Chávez lasted for almost two
years before the attempted coup that Fórum magazine defined as a
combined effort of the armed forces and the media. The image of an
authoritarian and self-aggrandizing Chávez - as presented by Veja
magazine of Brazil in its September 12, 2002 issue ("The fall of the
boastful president") - was carefully built. In the name of freedom of
press, a recent issue of the Veja (with a circulation of more than 1
million copies) presented an article without a single identified
source accusing Marta Suplicy, former mayor of São Paulo, of
corruption. Veja's version of press freedom would never permit a
compliment to Chávez or any other Latin American leftist leader.

We are obviously dealing with a supervised freedom, the limits of
which are set by the owners of the information companies and their
watchdogs, who crack their whips over journalists' backs - as is well
known by anyone who has ever had experiences in these newsrooms. These
same journalists can attest to how these companies, self-proclaimed
paladins of morality, systematically disrespect workers' rights. Or
how they cut commercial deals that grant their clients editorial
space.

Investigating the PT and its leaders strengthens democracy. So does
keeping tabs on the government. The press must have freedom to do that
- to fulfill its duty. But there is a line between investigation,
surveillance and persecution. In our society, citizenship is, in a
certain way, guaranteed by the information we receive, and when the
media deliberately puts aside concern for the reliability of the
information it passes along and responsibility for its opinions, there
is no other name to call it but a persecutory campaign. All it takes
is to follow the editorial line from Veja's last issue, and the stage
will be set for the coup. The rottenness from Veja may contaminate
Brazilian democracy.

It wouldn't be the first time that "freedom of press" takes an active
role in a coup in Brazil - with the difference, this time, that
nothing indicates that the armed forces will be mobilized. Nowadays,
it is desirable that the media act on its own, so as not to disturb
"democracy."

[Renato Rovai, a professor at the 2003 session of the Narco News
School of Authentic Journalism, is the editor of Fórum magazine,
where this article originally appeared in Portuguese.]

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