Bala Perdida: A Letter from Olaria

Leitor relata a vida na linha de fogo no Rio: The O Globo newspaper of Rio de Janeiro rolls out its much-touted “I, Reporter” feature with a letter from a resident of Olaria, accompanied by a couple of nice photos that will probably go into the poor guy’s insurance claim.

Except for the photos — and what is the difference between running “user-created content” and the age-old practice of buying photos from freelancers? — the difference between this revolution in “citizen journalism” and running a letter on the letters page, or opening up the op-ed page to the public, simply escapes me.

The letter is anonymous — the photo caption identifes the photographer as “O Globo reader J.N.” — for reasons we might easily guess at. But O Globo does not observe the standard practice of explaining why anonymity was granted.

Why not? Because we are dealing with a “citizen reporter” rather than a “source”? We saw the Associated Press floating that rationale last year, but the distinction is a specious one. Epistemologically speaking.

RIO – Sou morador de um prédio com 80 apartamentos em Olaria, Zona Norte do Rio. Ao redor, existem mais nove prédios, além de uma comunidade de pessoas mais carentes, porém tão sensíveis quanto todos nós. Estamos simplesmente chocados com a falta de profissionalismo apresentado por nossa polícia.

I live in an apartment building with 80 units in Olaria, in the Northern Zone of Rio de Janeiro. Around it are nine other buildings, as well as a community of people who are more underprivileged, but just as sensitive as any of us. We are simply shocked by the lack of professionalism demonstrated by our police.

Só no meu prédio, dois apartamentos foram atingidos, incluindo o meu. Tudo foi causado por uma incursão, sem propósito, de cinco policiais num “caveirão”, às 3h deste domingo. Em apenas dois minutos, ouvimos uma saraivada de mais de 50 tiros e uma bala entrou no meu quarto, passando perto do lugar onde minha esposa dormia. Foi a segunda vez que meu apartamento foi atingido.

In my building alone, two apartments were hit [by stray bullets], including mine. It was all caused by a pointless incursion by five police in a “big skull” [armored vehicle] at three a.m. this Sunday. In just two minutes, we heard a [Keith Moon drum-solo] of more than 50 shots, and a bullet entered my bedroom, passing close to where my wife was sleeping. It was the second time that my apartment has been hit.

The Governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro pledged during his campaign to put an end to the use of the caveirão in police patrolling.

See Cabral: The Caveirão is History.

Globo’s Fantástico, however, recently did a gung-ho ride-along with the caveirão. I am going to subtitle that for you when I get a chance.

Não sou contra a ação da polícia, mas ela deve ser feita com objetivos. Neste caso, o “caveirão” chegou, os tiros foram disparados e logo depois os policiais voltaram para o quartel. Para quê então tantos tiros sem se importar com as pessoas de bem que residem nas proximidades?

I am not against the police operation, but it must have objectives. In this case, the “big skull” arrived, the shots were fired and then the police immediately returned to their barracks. Why so many gunshots, without a thought for the law-abiding citizens who live in the area?

Wordy dialogue box from Globo Web site: It is not possible to copy text from this Web site. Which is, true to form, simply not true. In Firefox, press Control-U and copy from the page’s source code. Or simply revert to medieval book production techniques: retype the text, if you want to waste keystrokes. Click to zoom.

Top comment in the thread at the moment:

Olha só paPatrícia, o disque denúncia existe faz muito tempo, mas ninguem liga pra denunciar ninguem, ninguem diz onde estão escondendo armas, deixam fazer um baita muro de barricada na rua e depois dizem que não são comprometidos com esses marginais.. Haa vai acreditar em Papai Noel né???

Look here, Patricia, the anonymous hotline has existed for quite a while now, but no one calls up to denounce anyone, no one says where they are hiding the weapons, they let them build a big old barricade wall in the street and then later they say there are not mixed up with these scum. Ha! I bet you believe in Santa Claus, too.

See also “No One Dead is Innocent”: Virgina Tech and Catumbi.

Actually, I have seen several reported cases of hotline tips leading to the making of cases against drug traffickers — some of whom were also cops.

The Organizações Capivara Globo, which, like the Grupo Abril, has a history of not granting equal time to the targets of its smear campaigns, slaps a fancy name on this J-School Orientation 101-level practice — “citizen journalism” — and wants us to ooh! and aah” over how enlightened and world-class its journalism is.

Please. I can [...] myself [...] just fine.

The Neil Cavuto of TV Record Rio: The Colonel is a personal friend of mine! Anyone who questions the integrity of the police is a Communist! See NMM(-TV)SNBCNNBS: TV Record on the Incident at Vila Joazina.