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''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in
São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
by the Folha da Manhã company. The newspaper is the centerpiece for
Grupo Folha Grupo Folha is the second largest Brazilian media conglomerate, after Grupo Globo. It was founded by Octávio Frias (1912–2007) and led by his son Luiz Frias since 1992. The group publishes , the largest circulation paper in the country, whi ...
, a conglomerate that also controls UOL (Universo Online), the leading Internet portal in Brazil; polling institute
Datafolha Datafolha is Grupo Folha's polling institute, founded in 1983 as the research department of Empresa Folha da Manhã S. A., and later on became a separate company able to serve external clients, from 1990. In 1995, it became a separate business uni ...
; publishing house Publifolha; book imprint Três Estrelas; printing company
Plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...
; and, in a joint-venture with the Globo group, the business daily '' Valor'', among other enterprises. It has gone through several phases and has targeted different audiences, such as urban middle classes, rural landowners, and the civil society, but political independence has always been one of its editorial cornerstones. Ever since 1986, ''Folha'' has had the biggest circulation among the largest Brazilian newspapers – according to data by IVC (Instituto Verificador de Circulação), in January 2010, circulation was 279,000 copies on weekdays and 329,000 on Sundays. In company with and ''
O Globo ''O Globo'' (, ''The Globe'') is a Brazilian newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro. ''O Globo'' is the leading daily newspaper in the country and the most prominent print publication in the Grupo Globo media conglomerate. Founded by journalist Ir ...
'', ''Folha'' is regarded as a
newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...
in Brazil. Among daily newspapers, ''Folha'' has also the news website with the largest number of visitors.


History

''Folha'' was founded on 19 February 1921, by a group of journalists led by Olival Costa and Pedro Cunha, under the name ''Folha da Noite''. It was an evening newspaper, with a project that privileged shorter, clearer articles, focusing more on news than on opinion, and a positioning closer to the themes that affected the daily life of the paulistanos (São Paulo city dwellers), particularly the working classes. The paper was competing against the leading newspaper in the city, which represented rural moneyed interests and took on a conservative, traditional and rigid posture; Folha was always more responsive to societal needs. Business flourished, and the controlling partners decided to buy a building to serve as headquarters, a printing press and then, in 1925, to create a second newspaper, '' Folha da Manhã''. Also in 1925, ''Folha da Manhã'' premiered
Juca Pato Júlio Cernadas Pereira (13 January 1929 – 11 October 2007), commonly known as Juca, was a Portuguese football midfielder and coach. Most of his career was associated with Sporting CP, as both player and manager. Playing career The son of ...
, a cartoon character drawn by Benedito Carneiro Bastos Barreto (1896–1947), better known as Belmonte. Juca Pato was supposed to represent the Average Joe, and served as a vehicle for ironic criticism of political and economic problems, always repeating the tagline "it could have been worse". The two ''Folha'' newspapers criticized mainly the Republican parties that monopolized power back then; the newspapers campaigned for social improvement. The company was involved in founding the Democratic Party, an opposition group. However, in 1929, Olival Costa, by then sole proprietor of the ''Folhas'', mended his fences with the São Paulo Republicans, and broke his links to opposition groups connected to
Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; ; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Due to his long and contr ...
and his Aliança Liberal. In October 1930, when Vargas led a victorious revolution, newspapers that opposed him were attacked by Aliança Liberal supporters. Folha's premises were destroyed, and Costa sold the company to Octaviano Alves de Lima, a businessman whose main activity was coffee production and trade.


Defense of rural landowners and opposition to Vargas

Alves de Lima's initial goal, when he took over the newspapers in 1931, was defending the "agricultural interests", meaning rural landowners. But important events elsewhere became the focus for news organizations: the 1932 constitutionalist revolution, when São Paulo tried to recover the power lost to Vargas; the
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
(1939 to 1945), and the Estado Novo (the Vargas dictatorial period that extended from 1937 to 1945). Alves de Lima had no news experience, and so he charged poet
Guilherme de Almeida Guilherme de Andrade e Almeida (July 24, 1890 – July 11, 1969) was a Brazilian lawyer, journalist, film critic, poet, essayist and translator. He helped popularize the Japanese poem style, ''haiku'', in Brazil. Biography He was born in Campin ...
with directing the company, and chose Rubens do Amaral as newsroom head; Amaral led a newsroom staffed by journalists hostile to Vargas. Hermínio Saccheta, a
Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
who was briefly a political prisoner under Estado Novo, became an executive news editor as soon as he left jail. The dictatorial administration put political pressure onto news organs, and in São Paulo it took as its main target the daily
O Estado de S. Paulo ''O Estado de S. Paulo'' (; ), also known as ''Estadão'' (; ), is a daily newspaper published in State of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. It is the third largest newspaper in Brazil, and its format changed from broadsheet to Berliner (format), ...
, a major supporter for the 1932 revolution. The newspaper's director,
Júlio de Mesquita Filho Júlio is a Portuguese masculine given name. The equivalent in Spanish is Julio (given name), Julio. The diminutive form is Julinho (disambiguation), Julinho, as in Júlio César Teixeira known as Julinho, a Brazilian footballer. Notable people w ...
, was arrested three times and forced into exile, and "Estado" was under intervention by the authorities from 1940 to 1945. With its main rival muzzled, ''Folha da Manhã'' took a leading role in voicing opposition to Vargas' dictatorship. This critical stance is one of reasons offered to explain a change in ownership during 1945. According to João Baptista Ramos, brother of João Nabantino Ramos – one of the company's new controlling partners, with Clóvis Queiroga and Alcides Ribeiro Meirelles -, buying the Folhas was a maneuver Getúlio Vargas engineered to get rid of the oppositionist viewpoint Rubens do Amaral, a sworn enemy of "getulismo", gave to the paper's news coverage. Queiroga, on his part, represented Count
Francisco Matarazzo Júnior Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comm ...
, barred from owning press outlets in Brazil because he was born in Italy. Matarazzo financed the purchase of new, modern printing presses and saw the investment as a way to respond to the attacks he suffered from newspapers owned by his business rival
Assis Chateaubriand Francisco de Assis Chateaubriand Bandeira de Melo (pronounced ), also nicknamed Chatô (October 4, 1892 – April 4, 1968), was a Brazilian lawyer, journalist, politician and diplomat. He was founder and director of the prominent media conglomer ...
. One of the weapons he developed for this battle was reducing the sales price of the Folhas in order to suffocate the business of
Diários Associados The Diários Associados, or Associated Dailies, are a union of Brazilian communication media created by Assis Chateaubriand. Diários Associados owned Rede Tupi, the first Brazilian Television Network, television network, through its affiliate, ...
, Chateaubriand's company. However, the ploy backfired. Nabantino Ramos balanced those losses against the Count's initial financing and, some months later, declared that the company's debt to Matarazzo was fully paid and took over editorial control of the papers.


The middle classes' newspaper, and civil activism

Nabantino Ramos, who was an attorney, was very interested in modern managerial techniques, and during the 1940s and 1950s adopted several innovations: competitive examinations for new hires, journalism courses, performance bonuses, fact checking. He wrote a newsroom manual and editorial policy guidelines. In 1949, Ramos started a third newspaper, ''Folha da Tarde'', and sponsored dozens of civic campaigns against corruption and organized crime, for the defense of water sources, infrastructure improvements, city works, and plenty more. However organized as an executive, Ramos lacked business acumen and was not flexible enough to negotiate credit lines and balance budgets. In the early 1960s, the company was suffering due to a rise in the prices of printing paper. The three newspapers were merged under a new title, ''Folha de S.Paulo'', in 1960, but initially the morning, afternoon and evening editions were kept. However, with a worsening financial situation, only the morning edition survived. Things deteriorated further in 1961, after the news staff organized a strike that forced the company to pay higher wages and grant them additional benefits. That meant additional costs for the paper. On 13 August 1962, the company was sold to entrepreneurs Octavio Frias de Oliveira and Carlos Caldeira Filho.


Pluralism and leadership

Frias and Caldeira became, respectively,
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
and COO of the company, and started their tenure by seeking to balance the newspaper's financial position. Frias chose scientist José Reis, one of the leading lights in the Brazilian Association for the Advancement of Science ( SBPC), as newsroom head, and also hired
Cláudio Abramo Cláudio Abramo (April 6, 1923, in São Paulo – August 14, 1987, in São Paulo) was a Brazilian journalist and author. Born to Vincenzo Abramo and Iole Scarmagnan (daughter of Italian anarchist Bortolo Scarmagnan), his siblings are Athos Abramo ...
, the journalist credited with the successful updating of rival "O Estado de S. Paulo". Abramo would take Reis' place and form a productive working partnership with Frias that extended for more than 20 years. In 1964, Folha de S.Paulo supported the coup that overthrew President João Goulart, and his replacement by a
military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...
; the military role would be only temporary—or so at least it was thought. After the financial and business hardships were left behind, the new management started to concentrate on industrial modernization and in creating a distribution network that would facilitate the circulation leaps that would follow. The company bought new
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
es and equipment in the United States. In 1968, Folha became the first Latin-American newspaper to adopt the
offset printing Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithography, lithographic process, which ...
system. In 1971, it pioneered a new innovation: lead typesetting was replaced by cold composition. The newspaper's circulation was improving and its share in the advertising market was growing. Late in the 1960s, Frias even formed the nucleus of a national TV network, adding to
TV Excelsior TV Excelsior was a Brazilian television network founded by Mário Wallace Simonsen on July 9, 1960, in São Paulo, São Paulo. Its last broadcast happened on September 30, 1970, when the Brazilian military dictatorship put an abrupt end to i ...
, which led in audience in São Paulo and he acquired in 1967, three other stations in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
,
Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
and
Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...
. However, Caldeira didn't like the TV business and the partners sold their TV companies in 1969. The early 1970s were a turbulent period for Folha. Accused by
guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...
groups of lending vehicles to the military regime repressive apparatus, Folha became a target for guerrilla action. Guerrilla groups intercepted and burned three of Folha's delivery vans, two in September and one in October 1971, and made death threats against the newspaper owner. Octavio Frias de Oliveira responded with a first page editorial entitled "Banditry", and stated that he wouldn't accept the aggressions or threats. That was followed by an article on the news bulletin of
ALN Aln, ALN, or AlN may refer to: Organizations Paramilitary * Ação Libertadora Nacional, a Brazilian Marxist–Leninist guerrilla movement * Armée de Libération Nationale, the armed wing of the nationalist National Liberation Front of Alge ...
, a guerrilla group, in which Frias was classified as an enemy of the organization and Brazil. The bad blood between the newspaper and the left wing groups deepened and reached a climax with the editorial "Political Prisoners?", published in 1972, in which the newspaper challenged the notion that there were people jailed for their political ideas in Brazil. The editorial was also a response to rival "O Estado", for its defense of a special jail regime for political prisoners. The editorial claimed: "It is well known that those criminals, whom the daily stadowrongly qualifies as political prisoners, are just bank robbers, kidnappers, thieves, arsonists and murderers, acting sometimes with more exquisite perversity than those other, lowly common criminals, that the media outlet in question thinks deserving of all promiscuity". The episode has also caused an internal crisis. One week later, the newspaper suspended its editorials. Later that same year, Cláudio Abramo lost his position as newsroom head, and Folha would only claim back a more avowedly political stance, instead of the uncritical "neutrality" adopted when editorials were suspended, late in 1973. More innovative than its competitor, Folha started to gain hold of the middle classes that were growing under the Brazilian "economic miracle", and became the newspaper of choice for young people and women. At the same time, it put effort into news areas that were not well covered in Brazil up to that time, like business news, sports, education and services. Folha supported the concept of a political opening and opened its pages to all opinion trends, and its news coverage adopted a more critical stance. Frias believed in an editorial policy nonpartisan and pluralistic, able to offer the widest range of views about any subject, and he found a skilled collaborator in Cláudio Abramo, the newspaper's editorial director from 1965 to 1973, followed by Ruy Lopes (1972–73) and
Boris Casoy Boris Casoy (born February 13, 1941) is a Brazilian journalist, the son of Russian Jewish immigrant parents. He has spent most of his professional life in TV journalism and is currently a Brazilian TV news anchorman. Career Casoy's journalism car ...
(1974–1976). Abramo took over once again in 1976/77, but then a crisis caused by an attempted military coup against President
Ernesto Geisel Ernesto Beckmann Geisel (, ; 3 August 1907 – 12 September 1996) was a Brazilian Army officer and politician, who served as the 29th president of Brazil from 1974 to 1979, during the Brazilian military dictatorship. Born to German Lutheran ...
led Frias to bring back Casoy. Abramo reformulated the newspaper and led the first of many graphic reforms that would follow, in 1976; he hired columnists such as Janio de Freitas, Paulo Francis, Tarso de Castro,
Glauber Rocha Glauber de Andrade Rocha (; 14 March 1939 – 22 August 1981) was a Brazilian film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the most influential moviemakers of Brazilian cinema and a key figure of Cinema Novo. His films '' Black God, Whi ...
, Flavio Rangel, Alberto Dines,
Mino Carta Demetrio "Mino" Carta (born 6 September 1933) is an Italian-born Brazilian journalist, publisher and writer. Carta helped in the creation of '' Veja'', ''Istoé'' and '' CartaCapital'', three of the four leading newsmagazines currently published ...
, Osvaldo Peralva, Luiz Alberto Bahia and
Fernando Henrique Cardoso Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazi ...
. Folha became one of the main forums for public debate in Brazil. Contrary to some expectations, this editorial posture was preserved and developed by Casoy during his tenure (1977-1984). In 1983/1984, Folha was the main bastion for the
Diretas Já (, ''Direct (Elections) Now'') was a 1984 civil movement in Brazil which demanded direct presidential elections. Participants The movement brought together diverse elements of Brazilian society. Participants came from a broad spectrum of poli ...
movement, an attempt to change the voting system adopted for presidential selection, from a Congressional vote to direct popular voting. In 1984, Otavio Frias Filho became the editorial director, systematizing and developing the newspaper's experiences during the political opening and Diretas Já. A series of documents circulated periodically, defining the newspaper's editorial project as part of the so-called Projeto Folha, implemented in the newsroom under the supervision of Carlos Eduardo Lins da Silva and Caio Túlio Costa. The guidelines for Projeto Folha require critical, nonpartisan and pluralistic news coverage. Those principles also guide the ''Newsroom Manual'', first released in 1984 and updated several times later on. More than a style guide, it serves as a guide to the rules and commitments Folha works under. It was the first publication of its kind to be made available to the general public. The guidelines stipulate that Folha's journalism should be descriptive and accurate, but that themes that cause controversy can admit to more than one viewpoint and require a pluralistic treatment. Folha also became known for its highly diverse selection of columnists. At the same time, checks and balances were instituted through internal controls: the Manual, the daily "Corrections" section adopted in 1991, a rule stating that objections to any article expressed by readers or for people mentioned in the news should be published, and, above all, the
ombudsman An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...
position created in 1989; this position entails job security for its holder, whose aim is to criticize Folha and deal with complaints by readers and people mentioned in the news. From the midpoint of the Brazilian military rule, Folha kept a critical stance towards several succeeding administrations (
Ernesto Geisel Ernesto Beckmann Geisel (, ; 3 August 1907 – 12 September 1996) was a Brazilian Army officer and politician, who served as the 29th president of Brazil from 1974 to 1979, during the Brazilian military dictatorship. Born to German Lutheran ...
,
João Figueiredo João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo (; 15 January 1918 – 24 December 1999) was a Brazilian military officer and dictator who served as the 30th president of Brazil from 1979 to 1985, the last of the Military dictatorship in Brazil, militar ...
,
José Sarney José Sarney de Araújo Costa (; born José Ribamar Ferreira de Araújo Costa; 24 April 1930) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and writer who served as the 31st president of Brazil from 1985 to 1990. He briefly served as the 20th vice presiden ...
,
Fernando Collor Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Collor ...
,
Itamar Franco Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco (; 28 June 19302 July 2011) was a Brazilian politician who served as the 33rd president of Brazil from 29 December 1992 to 1 January 1995. Previously, he was the 21st vice president of Brazil from 1990 until the ...
). Otavio Frias Filho was sued, with three of Folha's reporters, by then President Fernando Collor. Although Folha expressed support for Collor's liberalizing economic views, it was the first publication to appeal for his impeachment, which finally came in 1992. The newspaper's coverage about the administrations of
Fernando Henrique Cardoso Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazi ...
( PSDB) and
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...
( PT) led to accusations of anti-governmental bias in both cases, though the two Presidents belong to rival parties. Beginning with the exposure of a massive fraud on the Norte-Sul railway (1985), and through the Mensalão scandal (2005), Folha kept revealing abuses and misrule. In 1986, Folha became the newspaper with the largest circulation among big Brazilian dailies, and it still leads today. In 1995, one year after reaching the landmark of one million copies for its Sunday edition, the company put into operation its new printing center, seen as the most technologically advanced in Latin-America. The company's circulation and sales record was set in 1994, with the launch of the "Atlas Folha/The New York Times" (1,117,802 copies for the Sunday edition.) Currently, Folha extended its range of communication activities, with newspapers, databanks, a polling institute, a newswire, a real-time news and entertainment service, a printing company for magazines and a delivery company. In 1991, all shares of Empresa Folha da Manhã then belonging to Carlos Caldeira Filho were transferred to Octavio Frias de Oliveira, Folha's publisher until his death in 2007. Folha's executive editors since 1984 have been journalists Matinas Suzuki (1991–1997), Eleonora de Lucena (2001-2010) and Sérgio Dávila (from March 2010).


Technology and innovation

In 1967, Folha adopted full-color offset presses, becoming the first large-circulation publication to do so in Brazil. In 1971, the newspaper replaced lead
typesetting Typesetting is the composition of text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or '' glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other ...
with the first cold composition system in Brazil. In 1983, when its first computer terminals were installed, it became the first computerized newsroom in South America. In 1984, Folha launched its first newsroom manual; those books would in time become valuable reference works for students and journalists. The manual was updated in new editions launched in 1987, 1992 and 2001. In 1989, Folha became the first Brazilian media vehicle to appoint an ombudsman, charged with receiving, evaluating and forwarding complaints by the readers, and to present critical comments both about Folha and other media vehicles. Nine journalists have occupied this position since then: Caio Túlio Costa, Mario Vitor Santos, Junia Nogueira de Sá, Marcelo Leite, Renata Lo Prete, Bernardo Ajzenberg, Marcelo Beraba, Mário Magalhães and Carlos Eduardo Lins da Silva. In February 2010, Suzana Singer was appointed to the position. In 1995, when the Folha Printing and Technology Center started operations in Tamboré (near São Paulo), this modern printing plant built at a cost of US$120 million allowed Folha to circulate with most of its pages in full color.


Sections, desks and supplements

In the first half of 2012, Folha carried the following sections and supplements: ''Daily sections/supplements'' *A. Front Page, Opinion (comprehending the former Trends/Debates and Reader Panel sections), Panel, Power and World. *B. Market (including the Open Market column) *C. City, Health, Science, Folha Corrida *D. Sports *E. Ilustrada (entertainment), including the Mônica Bergamo column; and Acontece (daily guide). ''Weekly sections/supplements'' *Monday: Folhateen, Tec *Tuesday: Equilíbrio (welfare, lifestyle) *Wednesday: Tourism *Thursday: Food *Friday: Folha Guide (São Paulo only) *Saturday: Folhinha (children) *Sunday: Ilustríssima (culture), sãopaulo magazine (São Paulo only), Vehicles, Construction, Property, Jobs, Business Monthly magazine: Serafina (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília only)


Recent circulation history


Foreign correspondents

In early 2012, Folha had
correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
s, either full-time or research fellows, in the following cities: *
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
(
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
) *
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
(
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
) *
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
(
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
) *
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
(
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
) *
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
(
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
) *
Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
(
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
) *
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
(
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
)


Controversies


"Ditabranda"

On 17 February 2009, in an editorial criticizing the
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
administration in
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
, Folha defined the earlier
Brazilian military dictatorship The military dictatorship in Brazil (), occasionally referred to as the Fifth Brazilian Republic, was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government, against presi ...
as a " ditabranda" (meaning "soft dictatorship") as follows: "However, if the ditabrandas – such as the one Brazil had from 1964 to 1985 – started with an institutional breakdown then later on either preserved or created controlled forms of political expression and access to Justice, the new Latin American authoritarianism, pioneered by Peru's Fujimori, goes the opposite way. A leader democratically elected works from within to undermine the institutions, the checks and balances, step by step". There was an immediate and strong reaction to the use of "ditabranda", a word coined in Spain during the 1930s when General Damaso Berenguer replaced General Primo de Rivera and governed through decrees, revoking some of the decisions adopted by the preceding dictator. That period is commonly referred to as "Berenguer's dictablanda" (and the word was used later on, in different contexts, in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, Mexico,
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
and
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
). Folha published 21 letters about the editorial, 18 of which criticized the word choice. Among them were letters by Maria Victoria Benevides and
Fábio Konder Comparato Fábio Konder Comparato (born October 6, 1936) is a Brazilian lawyer, jurist and writer. He is a retired full professor of Commercial Law and Philosophy of Law at University of São Paulo. He holds a doctor's degree from University of Paris and a ...
, both of them professors at the
University of São Paulo The Universidade de São Paulo (, USP) is a public research university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and the largest public university in Brazil. The university was founded on 25 January 1934, regrouping already existing schools in ...
. In his letter, Comparato wrote that "the editorialist and the executive editor that approved the text should be sentenced to public penance, getting down on their knees on a public square to beg forgiveness to the Brazilian public." The newspaper answered by defining the professors' indignation as "cynical and untrue", and claiming that both of them were well-respected figures and did not express similar disdain regarding left-wing dictatorships such as Cuba's. "Editorial note: Folha respects the opinion of readers who disagree with the expression used to qualify Brazilian military rule in our recent editorial, and is printing some of their complaints above. As regards Professors Comparato and Benevides, well-known figures that up until today expressed no repudiation to left-wing dictatorships such as Cuba's, their 'indignation' is clearly cynical and untrue". The use of the word "ditabranda" led to Folha being the target of criticism on Internet discussion boards and other media vehicles, particularly those closer to left-wing thinking, such as the magazines Fórum, Caros Amigos (that ran a cover story about the case) and Carta Capital. On 7 March, there was a protest in front of Folha's headquarters, in Central São Paulo, against the use of the word "ditabranda" and to express solidarity to Maria Victoria Benevides e Fábio Konder Comparato, who did not take part in the act. The protest gathered around 300 people and was organized by the Movimento dos Sem Mídia, an activist group created by blogger Eduardo Guimarães. Most of the participants were relatives of people victimized by the Brazilian dictatorship and union activists connected to labor organization CUT. On the same day, Otavio Frias Filho, Folha's editorial director, stated: "Using the word 'ditabranda' in our February 17 editorial was a mistake. It is a frivolous term, inappropriate to such grave matters. All dictatorships are equally abominable. However, from a historical standpoint, it is still a fact that the Brazilian dictatorship, however brutal, was less repressive than similar regimes in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, or than the left-wing Cuban dictatorship. The note we printed to accompany the letters by Professors Comparato and Benevides, on February 20, was a sharp-worded response to a sharp-worded rebuke: the claim that those responsible for the editorial should apologize 'on their knees'. In order to impeach the democratic credentials of others, those so-called democrats should first show their rejection, and with the same venom, of the methods adopted by left-wing dictatorships towards which they are partial". The note led the professors to request, by way of their lawyers, the right to publish additional considerations, labeled as "right to response": "To take more than two weeks to recognize a grave editorial misstep (labeling the Brazilian military regime as a "ditabranda"), and to shift the blame for the incident onto the tenor of our criticism does not seem a behavior compatible with the ethics of journalism. We have always claimed, with no need of righteous lessons from no one else, that the victims of arbitrary regimes, both here and elsewhere, deserve the same protection and respect, no matter our ideological biases or personal preferences". The professors' response was printed accompanied by a new editorial note: "Folha's treatment of the situation created by the use of the word 'ditabranda' in an editorial dated February 17, with the printing of several critical messages and our acknowledgement that the word was used frivolously, is an example of editorial fairness. The episode was supposedly closed, but Professors Comparato e Benevides are intent on extracting the maximum gain from it. Their opinions were always depicted faithfully by the newspaper, through several articles, with no need of lawyer intervention. The 'response' above was printed based on Act 5,250/67, a decree adopted by the military regime, so that the victims of regimes so cautiously described as 'arbitrary' and conveniently located 'elsewhere' can benefit from this shamefaced solidarity". The protests were taken advantage of by
Rede Record Record (stylized in uppercase; ), formerly known as Rede Record and RecordTV, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It is currently the second largest commercial TV station in Brazil, and the 28th largest in the 2012 world ranking. In ...
, a TV network controlled by bishop
Edir Macedo Edir Macedo (born February 18, 1945) is a Brazilian evangelical bishop, writer, billionaire businessman, and the founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG). He is the owner and chairman of the third-largest television network in ...
, owner of the
Universal Church of the Kingdom of God The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG; ; , IURD) is an international Evangelical Neo-charismatic movement, Neo-charismatic Christian denomination with its headquarters at the Temple of Solomon (UCKG), Temple of Solomon in São Paulo, B ...
, as an excuse to air several attacks on Folha, as part of the "Domingo Espetacular" TV show. Record had already attacked Folha for news reports that pointed at the church's business activities and irregularities. For 13 minutes, Record aired testimonials by victims of the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985), and criticized repeatedly the use of the word "ditabranda". The TV show also stated that "Folha da Tarde", a currently discontinued newspaper then ran by Grupo Folha, was supportive of the governmental repression of left-wing guerrillas, in the early 1970s.


Dilma Rousseff's criminal file

On 5 April 2009, ''Folha'' ran an article about a supposed plan by
guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...
group Vanguarda Armada Revolucionária Palmares to kidnap Antonio Delfim Netto, who was the Finance minister during the military rule, in the early 1970s, and alongside printed a criminal file about
Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the only woman to have held the ...
, who was already the Brazilian President. The authenticity of the police record was contested. On 25 April of the same year, the newspaper stated in a report that it was impossible to guarantee that Rousseff's police record was authentic: 'Folha was twice mistaken on its 5 April issue, when reproducing a supposed police record that tracked Minister Rousseff's (chief of staff to the President) participation in plotting or carrying out armed actions against the military dictatorship (1964-1985)". "The first mistake was claiming in a first page article that the police record was part of the 'Dops archive'. Actually, Folha received it as part of an e-mail message. The second mistake was to consider as authentic a police record that cannot be verified, or disproven, with the information currently available". Ombudsman Carlos Eduardo Lins da Silva wrote about the case stating, in his Folha column, that "after the Minister contested the authenticity of the police record, the newspaper admitted to not having verified its accuracy. I found insufficient the justifications offered to explain this error, and suggested that an independent panel should be empowered to find out what happened and recommend new procedures to avoid any repetition. However, the newsroom officials decided that there was no need for further inquiry". The police record is available on the Website of the radical Ternuma group and is not included in the São Paulo State Archives, that hold all files pertaining to the former Department for Social and Political Order.


Rape accusation against Lula

On 27 November 2010, ''Folha'' published an article by former
Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...
member César Benjamin accusing president
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...
of having told Benjamin, during a meeting for Lula's 1994 presidential campaign, that Lula had attempted to
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
another inmate while he was being held as a political prisoner in São Paulo. According to filmmaker Sílvio Tendler, who was at the meeting, Lula's account was merely a joke. Advertiser Paulo de Tarso Santos, also present at the meeting, stated that he does not remember such talk ever taking place. The accusation was also denied by José Maria de Almeida, who had been incarcerated alongside Lula in 1980. He declared to "have reasons to attack Lula. His government is a tragedy for the working class. But what was written never happened". The allegedly raped inmate later declared to '' Veja'' that he would not speak to the press, and that "whoever made the accusation should prove it". ''Folha'' was criticized by media analysts, notably Alberto Dines, for publishing the article without checking its factuality first.


2010 World Cup ad

On 29 June 2010, Folha mistakenly published an ad by Extra Hipermercados (owned by Grupo Pão de Açúcar, one of the sponsors of the
Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team (), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' ("Canary Squad", after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Brazilian Football Co ...
), which read: ''"A ''I qembu le sizwe'' sai do Mundial. Não do coração da gente"'' (''The ''I qembu le sizwe'' leaves the
Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...
. But not our hearts''). The ad suggested Brazil was out of the World Cup, when it had actually defeated
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
3-0 and advanced to the next stage. According to Folha, there was a mistake during the selection of the material to be published.


2010 elections

In September 2010, Folha ombudsman Suzana Singer strongly criticized the paper's election coverage. According to her, Folha was "digging recklessly through the life and work" of presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff (PT), and reporting about it in a biased way. She also commented the reactions of readers on Twitter, where the hash tag #DilmaFactsByFolha – that held jokes about and criticism of Folha by users of the microblogging service – reached the top of the list among the 26 most commented topics. A survey by the Institute for Social and Political Studies, Rio de Janeiro State University, however, found out that among the mainstream media vehicles, Folha presented the most critical coverage about both main contenders, and that its coverage of candidate José Serra (PSDB) was even more critical than its posture towards Rousseff. The survey, carried out in September and October 2010, shows that, in contrasting positive, negative and neutral reports, Folha held a positive balance of three percent. In the 2006 presidential election, Folha also had "the more balanced and less biased" coverage among daily newspapers, and was the vehicle that expressed more diversified opinions, according to Doxa (the Public Opinion and Political Communication Lab, IUPERJ). Those surveys notwithstanding, Folha was criticized for its "false impartiality" by website Falha de S. Paulo, created to spoof the newspaper for its supposedly biased coverage that favored
José Serra José Serra Chirico (; born 19 March 1942) is a Brazilian politician who has served as a Congressman, Senator, Minister of Planning, Minister of Health, Mayor of São Paulo, Governor of São Paulo state, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Brazil) ...
and opposed the Lula administration. Folha went to court appealing for closure of the Website, claiming that its usage of a logo identical to the newspaper's, with the change of just one letter in the name, was not only confusing readers but also represented a trademark violation. The legal issue was to determine whether free speech should get higher protection than the rights of property. On 30 September 2010, a judge in São Paulo granted an injunction that blocked Website Falha de S. Paulo. "Independent media" bloggers and the website owners saw the injunction was a form of censorship.Censura a blog que satirizava a Folha gera reação na web
/ref> However, the judge in charge of the case claimed that his decision was not due to "the satirical aspect, which our current laws would allow, but to the use of a brand extremely similar to the plaintiff's (Folha)", thus accepting the newspaper's argument. The case was highlighted in the website of the American technology magazine ''
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
''. It was also commented by
Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...
, founder of
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...
, during an interview to ''Folha''s main competitor, , on 23 December 2010.Vasconcelos, Izabela
"Fundador do WikiLeaks defende liberação do blog Falha de S. Paulo"
Comunique-se. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
"The blog is not intended to be the newspaper and I think it must be released", he said. The case was also highlighted by Andrew Downie in a ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' blog. According to him, ''Folha'''s response to Falha is "in keeping with its reputation as somewhat humorless", adding that the case has cost a damage "to its reputation as one of the progressive forces in Brazilian journalism".


See also

*
Grupo Folha Grupo Folha is the second largest Brazilian media conglomerate, after Grupo Globo. It was founded by Octávio Frias (1912–2007) and led by his son Luiz Frias since 1992. The group publishes , the largest circulation paper in the country, whi ...


Notes

1 According to the ad itself, "I qembu le sizwe" means "selection" in the African language Zulu. The Brazilian team is widely known in Brazil simply as "Seleção" (''Selection'').


References


External links

*
''Folha Online''
English version of the online newspaper
''Folha Online''

Mobile phone version

''Folha de S.Paulo'' (printed version)

English translations of Folha articles available at nonprofit WorldMeets.US


Annotated corpus of Portuguese language based on texts from the newspaper. {{DEFAULTSORT:Folha De S. Paulo 1921 establishments in Brazil Grupo Folha Daily newspapers published in Brazil Newspapers published in Brazil Mass media in São Paulo Portuguese-language newspapers Newspapers established in 1921