The coverage by Folha
de S. Paulo of the 1964 military coup in
Brazil frustrated itself and produced no results. It couldn’t be
any other way. The newspaper is opposed to the idea of having
journalists older than 60 in its newsroom. This way, they don’t
have to remember their performance between 1964 and 1975.
by: Alberto
Dines
64 – Tanks
in Rio
"Last week, every great journalist in the country stopped to remember
what he or she was doing on March 31st, 1964, etc. etc…."—and
the story goes on with a succession of gross but hilarious comments signed
by the gang at Casseta & Planeta ("A ditadura amolecida",
[Dictatorship softened-up], O Globo, 4/4, Segundo Caderno, page 10).
Tragic, funny and true.
If every journalist-hero discovered in the last ten days had been out there
in the streets to defend João Goulart, the history of the country would
have been different.
A whole crowd of younger-than-60
historians and political scientists added to the paranoia of the previous
week in delirium episodes, insignificances and most of all, their own interpreting
of history. No one can be blamed for being young, but it is unforgivable for
a researcher not to research and for a historian not to document history and
search for witnesses instead of surrendering to the comforts of politically
correct common-places.
Some of the "scientific"
evaluations about what happened in late March and early April 1964 disclosed
by the media put into question the ability of our historiographers to do historiography.
Jango was always presented
as a charismatic leader and a student of British labor relations, "a
generous character who prevented a fratricide struggle" etc. It never
occurred to anyone to see him as he really was—a millionaire colonel,
a womanizer, a man unprepared to exercise power and, therefore, unable to
use the opportunity of presiding at the first (and hopefully definitive) parliamentary
experience in Brazil.
Nobody cared to take an
attentive look at Darcy Ribeiro, Jango’s closest advisor. The diligent anthropologist
who directed the SPI (Serviço de Proteção ao Índio)
[Indian Protection Services] during the 1950s later became Minister of Education,
in charge of magnificent projects inspired by Anísio Teixeira, which
would revolutionize our education.
However, when brought
in to be the Chief of Staff, Ribeiro entered a world of derangement and "manda
brasa" [let `em have it]. (On this subject, please see the testimony
of Marco Antônio Tavares Coelho, Herança de um sonho—as
memórias de um comunista, [Legacy of a dream—memories of a
communist], pages 268-269).
At Ease
The only person who remembered
Carlos Lacerda was Celso Furtado in an interview to Estado de S. Paulo
(4/4, page A-9). His portrait, obviously, could not have been favorable
or unbiased, but the emeritus professor of Economics was not asked a single
question about the way in which Jango passed over his Programa Trienal de
Desenvolvimento [Triennial Development Program] in favor of his so-called
reformas de base (basic reforms).
No newspaper and no magazine
asked (or wrote) about two extremely important civilians in those days: lawyer
Jorge Serpa and banker José Luís Magalhães Lins (both
from Rio). Also missing was an evaluation on the role of the Trotskyites.
By the way, there has never been much research on Trotskyism in Brazil.
The glowing editorials
of Correio da Manhã asking for the removal of Jango were written
by Trotskyite Edmundo Moniz. And there was another Trotskyite editorialist
at Jornal do Brasil called Luiz Alberto Bahia, who wrote along the
same lines, albeit much more prudently.
The coverage by Folha
de S. Paulo following the calendar of events beginning on March 13th
frustrated itself and produced no results. It couldn’t be any other way. The
newspaper is opposed to the idea of having journalists older than 60 in its
newsroom. They prefer the "young" style of reporting; this way,
they don’t have to remember their performance between 1964 and 1975.
Among all protagonist
journalists, Carlos Heitor Cony was the most daring and most truthful. One
of the first to position himself openly against the quartelada [military
mutiny] (while his paper, the Correio da Manhã, still supported
it), Cony felt perfectly at ease to issue "politically incorrect"
opinions concerning Jango and the movement that deposed him.
Photo Captions
The evaluation of press
performance made by the press itself bordered the ridicule. Those institutional
ads in Jornal do Brasil about the past, made by a newspaper whose coverage
deserved the Esso Journalism Award in the following year, are a mockery.
Even with all those vice-presidents
in their team, they still forgot to ask the only one who was an eye-witness
to the events, vice-president Wilson Figueiredo (at the time an editorial
writer and political columnist) for what could have been a great record of
that moment in history.
O Globo expertly
avoided the subject in its interview with a researcher and communications
professor (4/4, page 10). The paper abdicated from giving any opinion, even
such a later date. And there are people in their team—in the Marinho
family or even among their retired collaborators (such as editorialist Pedro
Gomes)—who would have been able to offer valuable testimonies, written
or verbal.
The researcher has the
right to pretend to replace Pierre Bourdieu or Serge Halimi (this one the
author of Os novos cães de guarda [The new guard dogs]), but
she does not have the right to complain that no big Brazilian newspaper used
the expression "under censorship" in its pages. She simply forgot
some crucial editions of Jornal do Brasil, as well as the recipes in
Jornal da Tarde, the poetry lines of Camões in Estadão
and the Abril tree in Veja.
On the other hand, O
Globo provided a real show with their survey about the use of futebol
by the dictatorship—a proof of competence and a kind of courage they
should use more frequently.
As far as dignity, though,
no newspaper or journalist can compare with Estado de S. Paulo and
their director, Ruy Mesquita. With its section "Março de 1964—40
anos esta noite" (March 1964—40 years tonight) (20 pages, 3/31),
it gave readers the most solemn and substantial journalistic contribution
in the country about the beginning of the tragedy. With precious testimonies,
lucid analysis and a sober appearance—proper for a historical document—the
great newspaper hit gold.
Ruy Mesquita’s interview
"Os derrotados escreveram a História" (The defeated
wrote history) (page 9) may be discussed and contested in some of its aspects,
but it was an exhibition of loftiness of purpose and moral courage rarely
seen in the Brazilian media scenario, especially in the high spheres of the
press.
By fully accepting the
participation of the Mesquita family in the articulations to remove Goulart,
the director of Estadão rejected pharisaism, falsities and falsifications.
He portrayed what happened with no fear of facing the truth or incurring in
clichés.
The testimony by José
Serra, then president of bellicose UNE (União Nacional dos Estudantes—National
Students Union), is an exemplary piece and its historical significance will
certainly stimulate new research. (I again want to call attention to the neglecting
of photo captions by today’s journalists. The person standing beside Serra
in the meeting with Jango—pages H10-11—is Marcelo Cerqueira, then
a student leader and later a lawyer who defended political prisoners; in the
cocktail party where general Golbery appears—page H7—it would be
nice to have his companions identified).
It was a minimalist remembrance.
Estadão maximized it.
Alberto Dines, the author, is a journalist, founder and researcher at LABJOR—Laboratório
de Estudos Avançados em Jornalismo (Laboratory for Advanced Studies
in Journalism) at UNICAMP (University of Campinas) and editor of the Observatório
da Imprensa. He also writes a column on cultural issues for the Rio
daily Jornal do Brasil. You can reach him by email at obsimp@ig.com.br.
Translated
by Tereza Braga. Braga is a freelance Portuguese translator and interpreter
based in Dallas. She is an accredited member of the American Translators
Association. Contact: terezab@sbcglobal.net.
This article was originally
published in Observatório da Imprensa — www.observatoriodaimprensa.com.br.
