Firefighters
in Buffalo New York battle the flames from the crash
of Continental Air flight 3407 on Feb. 12, 2009. Fifty people
were
killed, including a man in the house that the plane
hit.
Folha, Brazil
The New York Times Must Be Saved - and With It ... Air Travel
"Just
hours after the Buffalo crash, two of the best American newspapers, The New
York Times and Wall Street Journal, brought to light grim stories
about how airlines are cutting costs - to the point of compromising safety.
Everybody has an opinion. But one needs 1300 journalists to make a product with
the quality of The New York Times to expose stories like those above,
while also following live wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the end of the civil
war in Sri Lanka and the floods in Maranhão."
By Fernando Canzian*
Translated By
Brandi Miller
May 18, 2009
Brazil - Folha - Original Article
(Portuguese)
FROM NEW YORK: Last week the U.S.
National Transportation Safety Board held hearings on the crash of an aircraft in
Buffalo, N.Y. on February 12. The tragedy killed 49 people on board and one on
the ground.
In a matter of hours, two of
the best North American newspapers, The
New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, brought to light grim
stories about how airlines in the country are cutting costs - to the point of
compromising the safety of those that need to fly in a continental country like
the mainland U.S.
The copilot of the aircraft
that crashed in Buffalo had spent the entire night traveling in an economy seat
from the U.S. West Coast to Newark, next to New York (her base). Upon arrival,
she assumed the position of second in command on the flight that morning.
But the pilot, as the WSJ revealed,
had omitted from his hiring paperwork the fact that he had twice failed
simulated emergency flights. Detail: the failures occurred in the identical situation
that provoked the crash of the Buffalo flight.
One day later, the NYT presented other cases. Another
regional pilot purchased an old car that can barely move, to leave parked in a
garage near his flight base, which is hundreds of miles from his bed and his family
on the other side of the country. He uses the car to take naps. This is similar
to many others who share $200 per month rooms with families near airports so
they have "crash pads" where they can relax for a few hours.
A simple
information table on the cover of the NYT showed that a captain over
40-years-old and with 10 or more years of experience has an average salary of $5800/month
not counting benefits. His copilot, $2700/month. In the U.S. this is shockingly
little pay for this kind of work.
Many of these pilots, we discover
by way of the newspapers, have an average of only 8 hours and 30 minutes to
arrive at a hotel, change their clothes, sleep, get up and be ready for the
next flight.
In the U.S. there is a huge
enormous discussion going on about the so-called "newspaper crisis," which
translates into a fall in circulation, income and debt. A month ago, the NYT,
for example, entered into an agreement with its journalists and cut salaries by
5 percent this year to avoid layoffs. They even threatened to close the Boston
Globe, which its owns, if a similar agreement was not accepted.
Aside from many unique problems
connected with bad management at American newspapers, they also talk of a need
for "reinvention." This is necessary due to the massification
of the Internet, with its millions of blogs and opinions for all tastes.
Everybody has an opinion. But
one needs 1300 journalists to make a product with the quality of The New
York Times to expose stories like those above, while also following live
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka and the
floods in Maranhão [Brazil].
Due to the importance accorded
the sector in the United States, the U.S. Congress is beginning to look once
more at the issue, based on crisis of smaller proportions that occurred in the
1970s.
Out of this has come the Newspaper
Preservation Act, which allows two or more newspapers that compete in the
same region form a sort of cartel, with identical prices for subscriptions and
advertisements - as long as their editorials remain independent. The idea is to
avoid cannibalism between two companies that are already in crisis.
While lawmakers discuss other
measures to preserve the industry, newspapers are rethinking past actions. The NYT,
for example, is considering going back to charging for content available on the
Internet (based on example of the WSJ, which has almost a million
subscribers).
Some newspapers have also come
together to create portable devices that allow for the reading of online content
on a screen that's larger than a computer's, which would also facilitate the
sale of ads for this type of media.
But while the market for printed
newspapers in the U.S. has been shrinking, it's still gigantic. Just the top three,
USA Today, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal,
have a combined circulation of over 5 million copies. Moreover, online demand
for their content is increasing rapidly.
In Brazil, if we add up all
the major national and regional newspapers, it wouldn't reach even half the
circulation of the three largest North American newspapers. Despite this, contrary
to advanced countries, the circulation of Brazilian newspapers has grown in
recent years.
And based on increases in the
population's income, there's still a lot of room for growth in the future.
Fernando
Canzian, 42, is a special reporter for Folha. He was the managing editor and
editor of Brazil and Painel, and a correspondent in Washington and New York. He
won the Prêmio Esso Prize in 2006. He writes on Mondays.
E-mail: fcanzian@folhasp.com.br
CLICK HERE FOR PORTUGUESE VERSION
