The Staple of News(O Mercado de Notícias)

Written in 1625 by the British playwright Ben Jonson, the play “The Staple of News” provides a historic root for this discussion about the role of the press in modern day Brazil. Journalists of several generations discuss the dilemmas of the selection and focus of their subjects, the resistance of the media in accepting itself as a political agent (though it has had a crucial role in influencing and forming the public opinion), the inevitability of interpretation as there are no hard facts in nature, and (above all) the search for an always complex balance between credibility and the public’s growing demand for news, which brings some organs to approach the realm of entertainment.