9th International Symposium On Online Journalism Multimedia and Interactivity A Brazilian experience: 25,000 politicians and their personal assets Fernando Rodrigues International Nieman Fellow (2007/2008) ( Abraji (Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism) ( Avaya Auditorium - ACES (Applied Engineering & Computational Sciences The University of Texas at Austin April 4, 2008

Contextualizing the world’s asymmetry…

North America: Africa: Europe: Asia: South America: Middle East: Internet users in selected regions of the world: crucial differences

Brazil: 186 million inhabitants Full democracy (since 1985) 42.6 million Internet users (46.3% of S.A.) 100% digital elections. No Freedom of Information law Brazilian background

Growth rate of Brazilians connected to the Internet ( ): 752% But only 22.4% of Brazilians are connected

“Políticos do Brasil” _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (Politicians from Brazil) Mixed objectives: - build up a database mashup - produce good investigative stories. - offer readers a tool they can use. - increase the newspaper’s online ventures. - be more competitive in the online world.

“Políticos do Brasil” Politicians from Brazil: Project began in 2000 (data collecting). Released in 2002 Released in 2002 More than 25,000 politicians listed Free search website - entirely open to the public In 2006, when it was updated for the last time, it received more than 1 million visitors on that single day.

multi-task project _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ multi-task project _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Journalism - source of news stories for the newspaper “Folha de S.Paulo”. Checking individuals records (no FoIA in Brazil neither in major countries in LA) Checking individuals records (no FoIA in Brazil neither in major countries in LA) Particular interest in election files (assets lists of everyone who runs for a public office) Extensive use of CAR (Computer Assisted Reporting… an entrance door to online journalism. Comparison of official data with real life – holding politicians accountable (which generated tens of news stories for a variety of newspapers around the country)

“Políticos” homepage

presidential candidates

Lula – winner in 2006

Lula’s assets in 2006

participatory journalism “Folha” alone could not run the stories on all 25,000 politicians Availability of information online prompted some participatory journalism Readers started to call reporting inconsistencies between politicians’ with records and real life Other newspapers also benefited from using the database to check for information that would not be available otherwise

Results Higher degree of accountability Politicians were scrutinized in a way they had never been before. Several “extra-Folha” stories were generated by competitor news outlets because of the “Politicos” database

One example of a politician being held accountable Former governor of Maranhão State José Reinaldo Tavares ( ) and former vice- governor ( ) His assets retrieved from “Políticos”: In 1998, he had declared R$ 388,921,10 In 2002 – total assets: R$ 549,270,10 % change from 1998 to 2002: 41.2% But… when he was about to leave office…

José Reinaldo’s records:

Governor official assets in 1998 (R$ 388,921,10)

Governor official assets in 2002 (R$ 549,270.10)

In 2002 – total assets: R$ 549,270,10 In 1998, he had declared R$ 388,921,10 % change from 1998 to 2002: 41.2% But… when he was about to leave office… Governor’s summary:

Last year in office (2006) bought a penthouse: R$ 3,000,000.00

… former governor was is currently facing charges of tax evasion Big scandal (May 23 rd, 2007)…

Another example: in Rio, a politician declared just a regular house, but see what “O Globo’s” reporters found...

The “million dollar club” in Rio

Newspapers regularly publish the evolution of the assets of every politician source: “O Globo” source: “O Globo”

Rio’s “Tribuna” published a story this January (2008)

Thank you Políticos do Brasil website ( and Abraji (Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism) ( “Folha de S.Paulo” (