'Newspapers use non-news stories to make Cardozo run away'

247 Columnist Luis Nassif exemplifies how Folha and Veja use the strategy of 'sensationalizing trivial facts' in an attempt to 'make the Minister of Justice, Eduardo Cardozo, run away'. Read:

Newspapers use non-news stories to get Cardozo fired.

Two good examples of how media groups use misinformation among their readers to create a negative agenda.

The first enormous folly was the “Wikileaks scandal,” the discovery, a year later, that Mirian Leitão's profile had been altered by a computer in the Presidential Palace. These were critical alterations, but without a trace of the aggressive changes afforded to journalists outside the global circuit. A mere corporate problem, common to any company with a large computer network, was transformed into a scandal, to the point that an uninformed president issued a public apology – validating the fabricated story.

Now, periodically, this crazy controversy arises: newspapers discovering other alterations using the Palace's IP address, and the Palace scrambling to deny it.

The game now is "how to make the Minister of Justice run away".

The problem

Until now, Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo had been kept completely under control, avoiding any responsibility of his position so as not to expose himself to attacks from the press.

In recent days, he has cautiously emerged from his shell, very carefully, but he has emerged nonetheless. This week he dared to criticize the impartiality of the Federal Police, suggesting that they were sparing the opposition.

The challenge was to create some kind of event to silence him, to make him run away. Apparently, there wasn't one in sight. So the following mixture was put together.

The ways of acting

There are several ways to manipulate information.

One way is through truthful but selective denunciations, whether published or not. Withholding a denunciation is a form of blackmail against the other side.

For example, months ago there was information circulating that Veja magazine would publish one of its fabricated stories against a personal advisor of Dilma Rousseff. Around the same time, the Ministry of Education signed a multi-million dollar contract with Editora Abril. For some reason, the accusation was never published. It may have been a coincidence, especially since the facts presented – according to what circulated at the time – were ridiculous.

Another tactic is to spread decidedly false information.

One of the most common tactics is the sensationalization of trivial facts. In other words, a report is published bringing together true facts that do not relate to any scandal. But the tone of the report – that is, the way the newspaper "reads" the facts to its readers – is scandalous.

X-ray of matter

Yesterday's edition of Folha is a good example for understanding these two tactics: sensationalizing trivial events and using warnings to intimidate authorities.

It is routine for the Minister of Justice – whoever he may be – to meet with lawyers, social movements, judges, and police chiefs.

Reading the headline, one observes a serious suspicion: "Justice Minister had 3 meetings with lawyers for the defendants in Lava Jato." Suspicion because normality doesn't make headlines.

The headline, along with the sum of facts strung together in the report, aims to convey to the reader the perception that Minister José Eduardo Cardozo would be prone to setting up schemes with lawyers from companies involved in the Lava Jato corruption scandal.

The story deserved a front-page mention – in other words, it was considered one of the most important in the edition.

Let's look at the main points of the article:

Information 1

The Minister of Justice had 3 meetings with lawyers representing defendants in the Lava Jato corruption scandal.
Lawyers for construction companies were seeking government assistance to release imprisoned executives.

There is nothing significant about a Minister of Justice meeting with lawyers.

Information 2

Lawyers for the construction companies were seeking some kind of government assistance to release the 11 executives who have been imprisoned for months. However, they received vague responses such as "don't worry, the Supreme Court will eventually release them," according to what Folha heard from one of the lawyers who met with the minister.

In other words, Cardozo disposed of the body.

Information 3

An attorney who attended another meeting said that Cardozo was more assertive. He reports that the minister said the government would use its power to help companies in the STF (Supreme Federal Court), STJ (Superior Court of Justice), and the Attorney General's Office.

The President herself has stated that individuals should be punished after their guilt is proven, but companies need to be spared. In fact, if there is any error in this, it lies in the government's delay in acting. In other words, Cardozo simply made explicit a clear government policy.

Information 4

One of the minister's meetings, with lawyer Sergio Renault, who defends UTC in civil proceedings, took place the day after the Supreme Court's decision, according to "Veja" magazine.

Sérgio Renault was the leading figure in the Ministry of Justice during Márcio Thomas Bastos's tenure. He is part of a group of lawyers with a long history in the party, alongside Cardozo himself. Being received by Cardozo would be a perfectly natural occurrence. To assume that Cardozo has any influence over the Supreme Court is to disregard everything that is known about the relationship between the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court.

The "coincidence" is worth the same as stating that on the day of the Supreme Court's decision, Cardozo went to the restroom and took longer than usual. In other words, none!

Today's O Globo newspaper reports that Cardozo met with lawyers from another construction company. How the newspaper learned this information: it read it in the Minister's public agenda.

Information 5

The magazine reports that Cardoso promised Renault that the situation of those imprisoned in the Lava Jato corruption scandal would "radically change course" because opposition members would also be implicated in the investigation. Folha de S.Paulo was unable to confirm the version published by "Veja".

What Cardozo is saying is that, with the emergence of opposition figures, the media campaign and the Lava Jato investigators' efforts would cool down. In other words, he admits that the investigation is biased and, as is his style, distances himself from any intervention, leaving it in the hands of fate – and the appearance of opposition figures among the suspects.

In other words, it's the same old Cardozo, shirking all responsibility.

Veja's journalistic style manages to transform a statement of inaction into a suspicion of action and – believe it or not! – Folha goes after it to obtain confirmation or not. And finds no confirmation.


Dark times for journalism.