Last week, state teachers of São Paulo in strike [in Portuguese] for over three weeks demonstrated in the Paulista Avenue [in Portuguese], one of the most prestigious streets of São Paulo city, as a way to reinforce their demands. As a result, the military police was sent to stop the demonstrators from getting closer to the Government Palace and the conflict between them started (you can even hear the sound of moral-effect bombs). Despite the violence implied by the police –which was undoubtedly disgusting– one photograph called the attention of bloggers and Twitter users:
Photo by Clayton de Souza/AE
Reactions over the photo above shattered across blogs very rapidly. Twitter users linked to blogs that republished the photo and many of them even uploaded it to different photo sharing services and re-tweeted to their followers. After the initial wave of uploading the same picture countless times, comments such “Photo of the Year” “The Portrait of Solidarity” “A Photography Masterpiece” sprang from the tips of bloggers’ fingers into their blogs as well as in commentary boxes. Everyone was amazed by the fact that a state teacher demonstrating against the Governor helped his foe — the injured police officer in his arms.
Now, wait a minute!
The surprise for every blogger and Twitter user who helped spread this photo on the Internet is that this man is not one of the state teachers in the demonstration site. He is actually a police officer working undercover amidst the protesters [in Portuguese]. Some even say he is part of the Secret Police Force of the São Paulo State and he was working undercover TO SPY the teachers (that’s the reason why he has a beard, as policemen in Brazil cannot have one).
Well… I’m not going to ask whether this is legal or even ethical — of course it isn’t; a piece of a totalitarian state back to our realities — but rather focus on how we should see this as an example of the fragility of bloggers and internet users’ criterion. Although the photograph agency labeled the photo as “Demonstrator holding police officer”, to assume the man was one of the state teachers without a proper research and amplify the erroneous information was a terrible mistake. And, worst of all… it was lazy!
I wonder how is the average internet user going to make sure what s/he is reading and seeing is true, legitimate and based in a deep journalist research? How does this person escape from the pitfalls of laziness that seem to poison bloggers in Brazil? In my country, a blogger is slowly being acknowledge as an opinion builder; there are bloggers with more readers than the most prolific broadsheets in the nation. But it is safe to say that there are some lessons s/he should learn before achieving a successful amount of readers, such as paying attention to what s/he distributes to readers.
The not-professor-but-police-officer case is just one among many others that make us wonder how bloggers need to rethink their strategies and care about the information they help spread, for this is irresponsible and as bad as mass media’s often disservice to the public. In such cases, bloggers should rely on words such as “allegedly” or “supposed”. Words that seem to have been forgotten even by mass media. This would have prevent a lot of turmoil made in the blogs, and for me, in addition to be a matter of criterion, it is also lack of proper judgment.
There are bloggers who bring new information to the discussion, who report on crisis situations or tragical incidents, but relying on mass media information can be one of bloggers worst attitudes. That’s something I wish I could discuss with a special attention later: how bloggers tend to consume mass media information in Brazil although opposing them, at the same rate as they assume a rather conservative position. By doing this they close their eyes to certain pitfalls that I’ll explain in a follow-up of this story.
To sum up this post, I’d like to share a thought from my GV-friend Marta Cooper in a conversation we had earlier today:
“It’s interesting how the internet has made for a lazier reporting culture” by Marta Cooper.
So, will laziness poison Brazilian blogs? To check a photograph/statement/source reliability before publishing is really a difficult job for bloggers? In a time when many of them are considering themselves journalists, some questions should be brought to the discussion. My piece of advice? OK, you can blog whatever you want, but please think before hitting “publish”.
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