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Lúcio Flávio de Faria Pinto (born c. 1950)^[1] is a journalist who lives in Belém, Brazil. Formerly an employee of O Liberal, Brazil's largest media company, he later became the publisher and editor of the independent newsletter Jornal Pessoal. In more than 42 years of reporting, Pinto has reported on a number of sensitive or dangerous topics, including drug trafficking, deforestation by ranchers and loggers, and military, political, and corporate corruption.^[2]^[1] His reporting has led him to be the target of an assault, death threats, and 33 lawsuits.^[1]

In 2005, he won an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, a US-based NGO.^[2] In 2008, the Los Angeles Times described him as having the reputation of "an authoritative, stubbornly independent journalist who doesn't shrink from confronting some of Brazil's most potent interests".^[1]

Career

Pinto was raised in a middle-class family in Santarém, Pará, Brazil.^[1] He began reporting when he was 16.^[3]

He spent the first half of his journalism career with the media company O Liberal, whose founder, Romulo Maiorana, was one of his best friends.^[1] Following Maiorana's death, however, Pinto left the paper in 1987 after it refused to publish a piece in which he stated that two businessmen were implicated in the assassination of former congressman Paulo Fonteles.^[1] He subsequently faced a number of lawsuits initiated by the company.^[1] In 2005, he published a story about O Liberal's various holdings, and was assaulted two days later in a restaurant by Maiorana's son, Ronaldo Maiorana, and two bodyguards. Maiorana punched Pinto, and the three men kicked him when he fell to the ground, as Maiorana shouted "If I don't kill you now, I'll kill you later!"^[1] The incident was caught on videotape.^[4] When managers from O Liberal were later put on trial for tax evasion, Pinto was given an injunction by a federal court against covering the case; Reporters Without Borders described it as an example of "abusive judicial procedures to censor journalists".^[5]

After leaving O Liberal, Pinto founded the bimonthly, 12-page independent magazine Jornal Pessoal. Published in a newsletter format with a subscription of 2,000, the magazine emulates I. F. Stone's Weekly, the 1960s self-published newsletter by US journalist I. F. Stone.^[6] Pinto refuses to accept advertising for the magazine, stating that it would compromise the magazine's independence.^[1]

Pinto also worked from 1974 to 1989 for O Estado de Sao Paulo.^[3]

Personal life

Pinto is separated from his wife. He has four children. In 2008, the Los Angeles Times described him as living alone in "monastic devotion to his solitary labors".^[1]

Awards and recognition

The Italian Archivio Disarmo awarded Pinto its International Golden Dove for Peace Award in 1997.^[3]

In 2005, Pinto won an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, a US-based NGO.^[2] Because of the number of lawsuits pending against him, he declined to travel to New York City to receive the award in person, fearing a local judge would take the opportunity to jail him for missing a court date.^[1] His daughter received the award on his behalf.^[4]

Books

Amazônia, o anteato da destruição ("Amazonia: Before the Act of Destruction")
Amazônia: no rastro do saque ("Amazonia: The Tracks of Looting")
Carajás, o ataque ao coração da Amazônia ("Carajas: Attack at the Heart of the Amazon")
Jari: toda a verdade sobre o projeto de Ludwig ("Jari: The Whole Truth About the Ludwig Project")
Amazônia, a fronteira do caos ("Amazonia: The Frontier of Chaos")
Amazônia, o século perdido ("Amazonia: The Forgotten Century")
Internacionalização da Amazônia ("The Internationalization of the Amazon")
Hidrelétricas na Amazônia ("Hydroelectric Dams in the Amazon")
CVRD: a sigla do enclave na Amazônia
Guerra amazônica ("Amazonian War")
O jornalismo na linha de tiro ("Journalism on the Front Line")
Contra o poder ("Against Power")

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Reed Johnson (18 May 2008). "On the beat in the Amazon". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c "IPFA 2005 - Lucio Flavio Pinto". Committee to Protect Journalists. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mario Osava (26 June 2007). "Brazil: Journalist wages solitary battle against corruption". Inter Press Service. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
^ ^a ^b Michael Astor (16 October 2012). "Crusading Brazilian journalist defends Amazon _ and himself". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
^ "Local courts allow multiple lawsuits to be used to censor journalists". Reporters Without Borders. 25 February 2011. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
^ David Ransom (1 December 1996). "Lucio Flavio Pinto: a journalist in Amazonia ..." New Internationalist. Retrieved 16 October 2012.^{[dead link‍]}