(IPYS/IFEX) – On 21 June 2005, Cícero Belmar, executive director of “Jornal do Commercio” newspaper in Pernambuco State, was fired after authorising the publication of a report on slave labour in the state. The story described a Ministry of Labour operation in June that set free some 1,200 agriculture workers on a farm in Mato […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 21 June 2005, Cícero Belmar, executive director of “Jornal do Commercio” newspaper in Pernambuco State, was fired after authorising the publication of a report on slave labour in the state.
The story described a Ministry of Labour operation in June that set free some 1,200 agriculture workers on a farm in Mato Grosso State. The property is owned by Eduardo Queiroz Monteiro, who also owns “Folha de Pernambuco” newspaper (a competitor of “Jornal do Commercio”) and Radio Folha.
According to Belmar, the story clearly stated that reporters tried to reach Monteiro for comment on several occasions, but to no avail.
Belmar said the report was the reason for his dismissal, which was ordered by João Carlos Paes Mendonça, the owner of “Jornal do Commercio”. The article allegedly “shook up” relations between Mendonça and Monteiro, who are reportedly friends.
The Pernambuco State Journalists’ Union and the National Journalists’ Federation have both spoken out against Belmar’s dismissal.
Ivanildo Sampaio, the paper’s news editor, assumed responsibility for Belmar’s firing in a communiqué. “By authorising a story with so many accusations against a businessman without giving him to the right to defend himself (. . .) [Belmar] broke one of our newsroom’s basic rules, exposing the paper to severe criticism,” Sampaio wrote.
He added, “There was never any censorship of the story. No subject is taboo for the ‘Jornal do Commercio’ as long as it is investigated responsibly.”
This alert was prepared by IPYS with information provided by the Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association (Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo, ABRAJI).
