Brazilian media becomes a star in bribe scandal

By Terry Wade

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) – Brazil’s aggressive media is
playing a starring role in a worsening bribery scandal,
breaking dozens of stories during the last two months and
triggering high-profile resignations.

But some people fear Brazil’s risk-taking media may lose
credibility if it makes mistakes in reporting on corruption
charges against the center-left government of President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva.

The most high impact stories, like one the news magazine
Veja published, have had photos of loan documents or bank
withdrawals tying the ruling Workers’ Party to a businessman
accused of bribing lawmakers to support bills that Lula has
proposed.

A dozen ministers or ruling party officials have resigned,
including Workers’ Party president Jose Genoino, who left after
the Veja article, and Lula’s powerful chief of staff Jose
Dirceu.

“The media always has a much more vigilant role with a
left-wing government,” said Luiz Gonzaga Motta, a professor of
media at the University of Brasilia. “In this case, the media
was served a dish of corruption by the government and is eating
it up.”

Since Brazil returned to democratic rule in 1985, the press
has assumed an increasingly important role and is credited with
helping both elect and then, several years later, helping push
out President Fernando Collor for embezzlement in 1992.

During this most recent scandal, some stories have relied
mostly on off-the-record sources. Those have rattled financial
markets by raising the specter of more bad news to come and
helped widen the scope of Congressional inquiries into the
alleged scheme. Sometimes these turned out to be wrong.

That has led some, like Alberto Dines, a veteran Brazilian
journalist turned media watchdog, to say local media have a
split personality — criticizing competitors for publishing
unsourced stories and then ignoring the same advice.

“The media turns on the floodlights but hates it when the
floodlights are turned back to shine on it,” he said in a
column this week on the Ultimo Segundo Web site, detailing a
series of what he said were errors in scandal coverage.

A LESSON FOR THE U.S. PRESS?

But reporting errors in Brazil have not generated outcries
like the ones in the United States following recent lapses at
CBS News, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times. As a result,
reporters here may have more leeway when chasing stories. At
the same time, a fractious Congress and president’s office
offer a Pandora’s box of leaks.

“A vibrant press (in Brazil), which might pass on a few
tips to colleagues in North America, is breaking story after
story,” International Herald Tribune columnist Roger Cohen
wrote this month.

“At a time when … there’s a very disciplined
administration here (in the U.S.) and it’s been hard to break
stories I was just impressed by the way they (Brazilian
journalists) were getting some very good material,” Cohen said
in a telephone interview.