Former Supreme Court (Supreme Court) president José Celso de Mello Filho was a reader, collaborator and often a source of news from the newspaper Integration, Tatuí (SP), his homeland.
The minister followed the newspaper’s trajectory from his first number until the last edition, on December 24, 2024, says journalist José Reiner Fernandes, editor of the weekly.
The newspaper was born on December 24, 1975 at Cásper Líbero, where Reiner graduated. “Celso was a prosecutor and my friend. As he filed against the military dictatorship, he provided a legal advisor to Secretary José Mindlin, at the Paul’s State Secretariat of Culture,” Reiner recalls.
In the last editorial, Reiner stated that “the newspaper never cowered in defending the interests of the community. Often, facing always victorious legal demands, so that the freedom of the press and the credibility of the published information prevail.”
Celso de Mello confirmed to the Legal Consultant Magazine What Reiner suffered civil and criminal proceedings because of his craft: “Never gave in! Won all these processes!”
In 2019, when the arrest was on trial in the second instance, Celso de Mello was the subject of attacks over the internet. One message even suggested that the minister no longer appear in the city.
The Integration newspaper has recorded that “in Tatuí there is a” digital militia “, coupled with the most hateful thought of extreme right.”
Reiner attributed the initiative to Bolsonarist groups who intended to “proclaim” a “premature conviction” of the minister to “exile”.
In the monthly, when he felt pressured before voting in favor of infringing embargoes), Celso de Mello sent his outburst to Reiner, who was in Switzerland:
“I have never witnessed such an ostentatious behavior of the social media in fact, in fact, to press and virtually subdue a judge’s conscience.”
When Sergio Moro was nominated for Bolsonaro Justice Minister, the former judge confirmed the fact in a message for Celso de Mello’s WhatsApp. The dialogue was only published in Integration.
When the Senate confirmed the name of Celso de Mello to compose the Supreme Court on June 18, 1989, the headline of Jornal de Reiner was: “Bravo, Celsinho!”
Days before retirement by Celso de Mello, from Sheet revealed how the minister kept Tatuí as a reference. In the hometown, he was not just an STF member. It was the “Tatuian minister”.
“Celso felt more than I close the newspaper,” says Reiner. “His passion has always been journalism and freedom of the press.”
“It was a decision my free and spontaneous making,” says Reiner. In October 2023, he suffered a retinopathy and lost his view of the right eye.
“As I am 73 years old and I am not successor, from then I started my process of closing the newspaper.” He has three children, successful in his careers (medicine, economy and administration). Reiner had the support of the family.
“I was maturing the idea of stopping the printed newspaper. I always took care of the administrative part and I have no problem ending the small company,” he says.
Reiner closed the newspaper in January, because on December 31 they won all 2024 signatures. He says he will not charge for the circulation of another month.
“All advertising contracts have been strictly fulfilled. The newspaper has no labor liabilities, all social charges are paid. As my accountant said: ‘Just give low the commercial board and end the company.'”
“The Integration newspaper has always been my life. I am in full peace, with the sense of duty fulfilled. I have never cowered in the face of lawsuits that tried to silence the newspaper,” says Reiner.
Celso de Mello defines Reiner as “a remarkable paradigm of a press professional.”
The former decan wrote: “Tatuí and the region lose an important voice. The São Paulo press loses a great interior newspaper.”
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