It is plainly obvious the media don’t give the same space for Petrobras to refute these claims.

They just proved it today on the Petrobras blog: even when the media decides to publish their counter argument, they do so selectively cutting parts of it.

Petrobras is catching the media in their lies. Now everybody can see how they get the original information to distort into something else.

That’s why they are so scared about it.

I’m very pleased with your thoughts about this subject. As a journalist yourself, you understand what can be done with information and how traditional media might deal with this.

I do agree when you say that in a free society Petrobras is likely to act as their managers and press staff please in order to defend their reputation worldwide.

The reason why this caused great commotion throughout blogs and the mainstream media is because Petrobras’ attitude was not expected by journalists and newspapers.

As for the ethics controversy, well… it really is something to be well discussed before we say it matters or not in Journalism and in the relations between private companies/government and the media.

I am also really glad to know that in your workplace people see social media and internet advantages to spread information in a fast way as something good. :)

Cheers! ;)

But a newspaper rises and falls on the kind of information they deliver to the public. Quite often they are dependent on the information they can obtain and unearth. Nowadays, though, I’ve noticed a huge tendency to rely on press releases for information – for instance, new products, poll results, press conferences, etc. – and our newspaper often takes these press releases and treats them as news. So if a company like Petrobras decides to preempt a newspaper’s ability to deliver the news by delivering the news themselves, I can understand the newspaper’s frustration and anger in response.

On the other hand, Petrobras has every right to deliver whatever information to the public they choose. They don’t need to rely on newspapers to get the word out. Why should they? You don’t see someone like Lula making his speeches only via the press. He stands up and speaks publicly, directly addressing the public. How is that any different?

In the end, in a free society, Petrobras can do whatever they like, and they did this because they felt their words were being filtered far too much by the traditional media. On the other hand, newspapers – being privately owned – have every right to deliver whatever information they want in whatever fashion they please.

So, where’s the problem? Forget about ethics. No one is breaking the law here and no one is stepping on anyone else’s toes here.

One last note – in our newspaper, we are faced with the challenge of having our words printed the next day – in other words, one day after all the events are happening. This isn’t good. We do have a website, and we are using it and promoting it heavily with social media, but there are continuous challenges. This Petrobras situation is fascinating to me as a result.

Cheers all
Keith