By ALEXANDRE HECKER*
The ideological presentation that each of our major media outlets has made after the November 20 revelations about the coup planning
Newspapers are a very important historical source and are often used as the only systematic instrument for gathering facts and opinions that are established around these facts. However, they are a complex source that must be used with all critical attention, and must be continually compared with all other available sources (private documents, public documents, memoirs, literary sources, etc.).
In general, it is believed that they reflect the opinion of their readership, but, above all, as individual or collective property, they present themselves as the expression of those responsible for their management. The management exercised by the group of those responsible always comes with proposals that aim to achieve objectives specific to sectors of public opinion.
This has happened in all periods since the 17th century, when the first issues began to circulate. It is a privileged instrument that conveys its ideas not only in the commentary articles, but in the quantity and form in which it presents the news data. The organization of the news that appears on its pages is part of the content to be presented and absorbed. And then studied and analyzed because one takes the trouble and knows how to avoid Schopenhauer's provocation: "Reading means thinking with someone else's head, instead of with one's own."
It was with a lump in my throat caused by opening the pages of the newspaper Folha de S. Paul, last week, for the seditious propaganda of the former coup-plotting president of the Republic, and remembering the philosopher's challenge, which I thought appropriate to address the burning issue of the coup d'état from which Brazilian society narrowly escaped.
Considering the general characteristics of the newspapers described above, I tried to compare the ideological presentation that each of our major news outlets, on this day after the revelations, November 20, made of the planning and initial coup attempt prepared by Jair Bolsonaro and several henchmen.
In summary, the presentation was as follows: (i) Estadão: front page headline “PF reports plan to kill Lula, Alckmin and Moraes and stage a coup”; editorial: “Traitors to the country”; (ii) The Globe: cover headline “PF reveals that coup plotters planned to kill Lula, Alckmin and Moraes in 2022”; editorial “Operation against coup plotters contributes to democracy”. (iii) Sheet: cover headline “Military discussed the death of Lula and Moraes at Braga Netto’s house, says PF”; editorial “Serious suspicions require both rigor and balance”.
It is curious, prosodic preferences aside, how the two “more conservative” newspapers stand out in the precise identification of events, while the Sheet prevaricate. Estadão e The Globe they consider the plan denounced by the PF to be true, while the newspaper that “has its tail between its legs with the reader” refers to a discussion, a hypothesis.
The titles of the editorials, then, are explicitly revealing: the “conservatives” put their finger on the wound: “traitors”, says one; “coup plotters”, claims another; while the newspaper of “our hope in democracy” emphasizes balance in the face of the commission of a crime against the country.
Conclusion: two “conservatives” who are not afraid to take a stand in favor of democracy are better than one “progressive” who is a timid and confusing type.
*Alexander Hecker is a retired professor from Unesp. Author of, among other books, Sociable socialism: History of the democratic left in São Paulo (1945-1965) (Ed. Unesp). [https://amzn.to/3QRfs1J]
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