Tag Archives: Brazil

Reporters Without Borders: Journalist killed in Brazil on World Press Freedom day

Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that a journalist, Valério Nascimento, was shot and killed in Brazil on Tuesday. The day of the shooting was also the day the world shone a light on the dangers and issues facing journalists across the world, for World Press Freedom day.

“Nascimento’s murder, which took place on World Press Freedom Day, is a reminder that Brazil is still a dangerous country for journalists despite recent legislative progress and efforts to combat impunity,” Reporters Without Borders said. “He is the second journalist to have been gunned down this year while a third journalist, a blogger, only just survived a murder attempt.”

A motive of the shooting is not yet known, RSF added, urging investigators of the case to “carefully examine the possibility that he was killed in connection with his work as a journalist”.

See the full report here…

NYTimes.com: Brazilian journalists want goal-line reporting

In soccer-mad Brazil, radio and television reporters stand behind the goals and along the sideline during matches. Technically, they are restricted to interviewing players before matches, at half-time and after the final whistle. But sometimes they get a few comments after goals are scored or when players receive red-card ejections. Once, they were even known to follow Pelé into the shower.

The New York Times looks at the frustrations of the Brazilian journalists covering the World Cup as they are restricted to media areas in the stadia for Brazil’s games and have to watch non-Brazil matches on a television screen in the media centre away from the ground.

There are security and exclusivity issues here, of course, but are Brazilian readers and viewers losing the access and immediacy they have become accustomed to in football journalism?

Full story from the New York Times at this link…

WWF ‘aggressively’ pursuing action to have 9/11 ad removed from websites

Links to what seemed to be an advert for wildlife organisation WWF, with a message and image related to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, were zipping around yesterday, causing much comment and concern on Twitter and on blogs. Was it appropriate to use 9/11 imagery in this way?

Journalism.co.uk emailed WWF UK to find out more: they didn’t know about it. Now, WWF US has released this statement:

“WWF strongly condemns this offensive and tasteless ad and did not authorize its production or publication.  It is our understanding that it was a concept offered by an outside advertising agency seeking our business in Brazil.

“The concept was summarily rejected by WWF and should never have seen the light of day. It is an unauthorized use of our logo and we are aggressively pursuing action to have it removed from websites where it is being currently featured.

“We strongly condemn the messages and the images portrayed in this ad. On behalf of WWF around the world, we can promise you this ad does not in any way reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people of our organization.”

Fox News maintains that outrage is still growing, while Gawker is eating yesterday’s proclamation that it ‘seems unlikely’ to be a hoax.

MediaBistro comments that the ad agency behind this, DDB Brasil, isn’t likely to get hired by its prospective client now, or ever.

All the same, a lot more people now know DDB’s name…

Journalism Daily: Amish media, James Murdoch’s speech and the Bastiat online shortlist

A daily round-up of all the content published on the Journalism.co.uk site. You can also sign up to our e-newsletter and subscribe to the feed for the Journalism Daily here.

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FT.com: Brazil’s ‘tabloid revolution’

The Financial Times reports on a Brazilian appetite for tabloids, bucking the general trend for declining newspaper circulations:

“Super Notícia is at the vanguard of Brazil’s tabloid revolution. Five years ago, the country’s tabloids sold just 400,000 copies day. Today, they sell 1,500,000. São Paulo, the capital, has several, including two free dailies. Sales of Extra, another tabloid, have grown by 17.96 per cent in the past year to 284,892 copies daily.”

Full story at this link…

HuffingtonPost: Brazil’s ‘booming’ newspaper industry

A look at the increase in newspaper sales in Brazil. Huffingtonpost.com reports that Brazilians bought 24 per cent more newspapers in the first three quarters of 2008 than they did in 2006, according to the Instituto Verificador de Circulacao, the Brazilian equivalent of the Audit Bureau of Circulations.