1. Brazilian Media
Fiction in the news
or
The facts are just a detail
March 9th, 2010
Jimes Milanez

2. Citizen Kane was an amateur
Something you should know about the
brazilian mass media
And some suggestions on how to avoid
its traps

3. Presentation Headlines

All but news

Not so fun facts about the brazilian media

Appetizers – just some random examples

Case study – Satiagraha Operation

Conclusion

Diversifying your readings
Questions in the end, please!

4. All but news

Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst: a bloody
battle for market share in 19th Century NYC

Citizen Kane – the pursuit of power

The Fourth Power: from sensationalism to
systematic political bias

War propaganda and Joseph Goebbels
“A lie, repeated enough times, becomes true”

Wild capitalism and media concentration widely
on private hands

Will the Yellow Press survive as long as
journalism itself?

5. Brazil: some not so fun facts

Huge concentration on the hands of just a few
families, like Marinho, Civita, Mesquita, Frias

Many mainstream vehicles have grown by
supporting the military regime with a dual role

Strong political influence – many politicians have
their own TVs, radios and newspapers

A veiled manipulation, hidden under the supposed
self-claimed “neutrality”

The Waves on the Lake theory

The brazilian media: a political party?

6. Appetizer #1 – April 2009
Folha publishes a false DOPS card of Dilma
Rousseff on its frontpage

7. Appetizer #2 – February 2009
Folha states in editorial that in Brazil we had just a
“ditabranda” rather than a true dictatorship

8. Appetizer #3 – March 2007
Globo and Folha give
totally different
headlines for the same
stuff – the ministerial
reform

9. Appetizer #4 – September 2008
In the beginning of the
crisis Veja affirms
that it has been
“avoided” by the
american government
(rather than being
guilty for it)
Brazil is just “lucky”

10. Appetizer #5 – May 2006
Veja publishes a false
list of bank accounts
of brazilian authorities
located in tax havens
The list was given to the
magazine by Daniel
Dantas

11. Appetizer #6 – July 2009
Veja publishes a very
laudatory interview with
Arruda, the governor of
Brasília
Some weeks earlier,
Arruda had subscribed
Abril magazines for
schools in DF

12. Appetizer #7 – May 2009
Based in false accusations
of O Globo and Veja, the
“CPI” of Petrobras
takes place in the
Congress
Later, Petrobras starts its
own blog to withstand
distortions and faces
rough resistance and
criticism in the media

13. Appetizer #8 – March 2007
Besides his contacts at Veja and other vehicles,
Daniel Dantas purchases the magazine IstoÉ

14. Case Study – Satiagraha Operation

The darkest of all recent manipulations

With rare exceptions, Dantas was considered by
the media a brilliant entrepreneur – the flaws in his
businesses were widely ignored

After the capture of the “bankster” Dantas, the
media deviated the focus to secondary points:
handcuffs, interceptions, “spectacularization”

Gilmar Mendes, president of the Supreme Court,
who gave Dantas two Habeas Corpus in 48h,
received wide access for his statements in the press
and TVs – mainly to undermine Satiagraha

15. Case Study – Satiagraha Operation

The media tried to hide the past of Dantas, back to
the privatization of Telebrás and all his political
and business connections

Desperate attempts to invalidate the operation: the
supposed ABIN-PF illegal cooperation, the
“interception” of calls at the Supreme Court

The crimes themselves aren’t in the focus anymore

Constant attacks against the Federal Police, Public
Ministry and 1st Instance Justice

Persecution against the delegate and the judge

Dantas is free... His peers too

16. Two repugnant Veja covers

17. Conclusion

Diversify your readings by different viewpoints – don´t be
afraid of changing your opinion

The internet enables quick and easy comparison of
versions. Use it! Join discussions

Don’t promptly trust what you read, listen or watch.
Check it! Mainly if you don’t follow the news everyday

The Media tries more and more to use emotion rather than
rationality. Be careful! Avoid passionate discussions, it’s
not a win-lose game

We definitely need a wide discussion in the society about
the role of the communication means. Confecom,
boycotted by the mass media, was just a timid kick-off.

18. Conclusion
And the main one...
We need more media, more information, more
opinions, not less.
Concentration is the core of the problem.

19. Diversifying your readings
Do you know / follow these vehicles?

Carta Capital

BBC Brazil

Valor Econômico

Terra Magazine

Blog of the journalist Luis Nassif

Observatório da Imprensa

20. “Sometimes, the only thing that is true in a
newspaper is its date”
Luis Fernando Veríssimo

21. Questions?
Thank you!