From the poetic dimension to editorial staff practice

When journalist Flávia de Oliveira, of O Globo newspaper, called singer and composer Arnaldo Antunes to talk about sustainability at the opening the 7th Ethos Journalism Award ceremony, the audience that packed Teatro Alfa, at Hotel Transamérica, applauded enthusiastically. Antunes, as expected, performed his show, even without music. In a conference where specialists enlightened the stages with their brilliant talks about complex sustainability issues, Antunes broke the routine presenting a poetic and transcending talk on the theme.

The talk was short, but enough to bring the week’s discussions to a more daily dimension. What is sustainability? In Antunes’ opinion, the word has two concepts very close to his artistic production: time and space. Being sustainable means being standing, having a place, but also perpetuating in time, it means moving towards the future. How can this be achieved? Do we need food? Yes, he said, but he added: "We don’t want only food, we need to think broader, we need utopias". According to Antunes, "We can’t just sweep the dust under the carpet." Finally, Antunes sang with no guitar: "Saiba, todo mundo foi neném. Einstein, Freud e Platão também..." (You know, everyone’s been a baby. Einstein, Freud and Plato, too.) Once again, the audience gave him an ovation.

Next, the Ethos Journalism Award’s 15 finalists were presented on the screen talking about their work and challenges faced to have them accomplished. As critical and impartial professional journalists, they tried to remain neutral, but were not totally successful due to the gravity of the theme. It became clear that they all were engaged with what they had researched and written about, without endangering their commitment to the veracity of information, and the deepening and diversity of sources.

After the announcement of the winners, Andréa Vialli, of O Estado de S. Paulo, who received the award in the press media – magazine category, was interviewed by Ricardo Young, president of Instituto Ethos. She clearly communicated the level of transformation taking place in the different business segments in the country. Expert in finance, Andréa confirmed the sector is starting to believe in the importance of engaging in the sustainability cause.

According to Ricardo Young, an evaluation of the Ethos Journalism Award since its first edition shows that this year there was "an enormous evolution of the media approach to sustainability issues". Several factors contributed, he said. "The theme urgency, broader concepts dissemination, companies’ engagement, and the journalists’ competence show the award made great strides in quality."