The Land of Booming Newspapers

Across the world the newspaper industry is full of woe - the victim of declining circulation, ageing readership and falling advertising revenue. But in Brazil, the powerhouse economy of South America, newspapers are thriving. In 2007, total circulation of Brazilian newspapers rose a remarkable 12%, and even the following year, with the credit crunch biting, sales still rose 5%, to 4.35 million, according to the Instituto Verificador de Circulacao, Brazil's equivalent of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. Under the leadership of President Lula da Silva (below), more Brazilians can both read and afford the price of a newspaper. Born into extreme poverty, Lula's is a remarkable story of the street hawker and shoe shine boy who rose through the ranks of the metal workers union to champion the cause of the poor. After years of military dictatorship, Brazil's first direct elections for president took place only in 1989. Lula, for the workers' party, was beaten by a conservative opponent. But 12 years later he won, and has now had two successful terms as president. He is not allowed to stand a third time at the elections that will take place later this year. During his time, rapid economic growth has swelled the middle-classes. And the standing of poorer Brazilians has improved thanks to a popular family stipend programme expanded by the president. With a booming agribusiness sector and a thriving oil industry, the country's recession was over by the second quarter of 2009. One manifestation of the economic changes is the growth in the newspaper-reading classes. Previously too poor and illiterate, many Brazilians now embrace the possibility of buying and reading newspapers. One of the mechanisms Lula had used to transform the union movement was based on understanding the power of the press. He changed the boring union leaflets into something people wanted to read - by adding cartoons, comic strips and interesting copy. As a result, leaflets stayed in pockets instead of lying crumpled at the factory gates.

There has been an explosion in the number of colourful tabloids in Brazil - packing in sports, celebrity and crime news. And, as in Britain, freesheets are handed out at railway stations. But the country's three established national papers - Folha de Sao Paulo, Estado and O Globo - are growing, too. Newspapers have enjoyed rising advertising revenue every year since 2001. One paper, Super Noticia from the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais, has more than doubled its sales within two years to become the country's third-biggest paper.

There'll be no shortage of copy for these papers in the next few years. In 2014, Brazil will host the football World Cup (which Brazilians are naturally confident they will win). And just two years later the 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio. Of course there are still favelas and social problems. But for numerous Brazilians the economic outlook has been transformed. And the outlook for journalism is an important part of that story.