Everyone knew that Brazil's Banco Santos was about to go broke, including the media. But the media couldn't alert either the clients with checking accounts or the bank's mutual fund investors as to the danger in which their deposits and investments were.

Had the media done so, they would have been implicated as accountable for the race to the tellers.

In 1995, when the government took control of Banco Econômico, then Senate President Antonio Carlos Magalhães, along with a rotund troop of acolytes, galloped through the Praça dos Três Poderes (Three Powers Square) to defend the financial institution - of which, by the way, he was a shareholder.

In that ridiculous episode, the media reproduced, without any hesitation or discretion, in print letters, live and in color, the warning from ACM (Antonio Carlos Magalhães): "The banks that are going broke are Bamerindus, and then Nacional!"

Indeed they did fall apart, and in that order. ACM was then the big boss; he could paint the town red around the Nation. No one would dare sue him.

Nine years later, ACM's successor as Senate President, José Sarney, friend and compadre of Banco Santos' owner, Edemar Cid Ferreira, was warned about the bank's imminent collapse.

Shrewder than his Baiano (from the state of Bahia) counterpart, Sarney didn't blow the whistle and - under the radar - withdrew his precious funds four hours prior to the Central Bank's intervention.

Having secured his, the Senator overlooked the infraction he'd committed (profiting from insider information), but was cautious not to incur into another: no heads-up signal could be given, or risk being accused of setting off the breakdown in the financial system.

Sarney writes for two newspapers, owns a media conglomerate in his home state of Maranhão, and enjoys open doors to any large national news organization. He forgot about communication and turned incommunicado.

He only opened his mouth to explain - after caught red-handed - that, "as the whole world new, he too had heard of the rumors" involving his friend's bank. "The whole world knew" means his world, not that of the bank's clients.

The Press and Edemar

This is not the only confluence between the closing down of Banco Santos and the media. There are others more telling. Regarding banker Edemar Cid Ferreira's résumé, tons of papers were spent in the past days.

Suddenly, poor newspaper and magazine readers found out all that the press knew about this nabob, his maneuvers, and simultaneously, learned of the information that had been kept under tap.

The media exposed some previous "minor troubles", but put aside the shabby deals. Organized crime uses crowbars, master keys, or dynamite to crack safes open; disorganized crime is refined: it uses charm and cuddle.

One of the most precise profiles of banker Ferreira was printed in a forgotten small little corner of the Economy section of the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, (page B-4).

In 59 lines, the article unveiled the intersecting romance novels between the couples Roseana Sarney-Jorge Murad and Edemar-Márcia Cid Ferreira and, appropriately so, quoted two extraordinary self-revelations by the banker himself:

** "I am the reincarnation of Chatô (the mega-media entrepreneur of the mid-20th century)".

** "Culture paves the way. We follow behind doing business."

There you have it, the full-body self-portrait of the most ostensive advocate of Brazilian arts and culture at the dawn of the new century; commissioner of the Rediscovery Exhibit, our man in Beijing, competent in all aspects.

The great exhibition at the Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo was the climax of the 500th anniversary celebrations of the Discovery of Brazil, and the accomplishment of transforming that small bank into the depository of very important institutions and individuals is proof of his talents.

The list of Ferreira's skills includes his ability - not to be downplayed - to be surrounded by media barons and baronesses. Example: in the "Brazil 500 years Visual Arts Association" (of which he served not only as Chairman of the Board but also as CEO), there was the unprecedented Press Council, comprised by people at the helm of the eight most powerful or visible media conglomerates in the nation.

Makes sense: an exhibit of this magnitude and quality, destined to break attendance records, forcefully had to rely on the indispensable mediatic support.

The enormous achievement, masterpiece in psychological engineering, was to overcome idiosyncrasies, convincing big moguls to take part in the same committee, sitting at the same table, sharing decisions, and allowing their public introduction to be presented in alphabetical order (the honors were given to the representative of the smaller organization).

Since the activities of the Association that managed the exhibit came to an end, indications are that the relationships haven't die down. Apparently, an understanding between Edemar and the press still persists, despite the minor troubles. Chatô's successor had a very clear notion of his strategy:

"Culture paves the way. We follow behind doing business."

Alberto Dines, the author, is a journalist, founder and researcher at LABJOR - Laboratório de Estudos Avançados em Jornalismo (Laboratory for Advanced Studies in Journalism) at UNICAMP (University of Campinas) and editor of the Observatório da Imprensa. You can reach him by email at obsimp@ig.com.br

Translated from the Portuguese by Eduardo Assumpção de Queiroz. He is a freelance translator, with a degree in Business and almost 20 years of experience working in the fields of economics, communications, social and political sciences, and sports. He lives in São Paulo, Brazil. His email: eaqus@terra.com.br

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