A decision of the state court condemned the Zero Hora newspaper and the Rosane de Oliveira vehicle policy columnist to pay $ 600,000 in compensation for moral damages to Judge Iris Helena Medeiros Nogueira. The company and the journalist will appeal.
The claim for compensation was made by the magistrate in reaction to one showing the amounts paid in April of that year to Judges of the TJ-RS (Court of Justice of the State of Rio Grande do Sul).
So president of TJ-RS, Iris Helena Medeiros Nogueira was at the top of the list, with net income of $ 662,389.16. The total included, in addition to the monthly remuneration (R $ 35,462.22), payments of an indemnity nature. She presided over the TJ in 2022 and 2023.
The decision was issued on Wednesday (21) by Judge Karen Rick Danilevicz Bertoncello of the 13th Civil Court of.
The newspaper Zero Hora belongs to the RBS group, which spoke about the decision by means of a note and said it will appeal.
“We reaffirm the defense of freedom of expression and information as fundamental principles of democracy, especially in the dissemination of content supported in the public interest, based on information available by the Access to Information Act,” says the group.
The judge stated that the column created a “skewed and sensational narrative that associated the author [desembargadora Iri s Helena Medeiros Nogueira] to the figure of alleged immoral or unjustified privilege, fostering the misunderstanding of the lay public. “
In her decision, the judge also states that “freedom of the press, although essential to the preservation of democracy, does not override unrestrictedly to the dignity of the human person and its developments, especially regarding honor and image.”
“Therefore, there must be a balance between the right to inform and the duty to safeguard the moral integrity of those involved in the journalistic matters,” continued Bertoncello.
The newspaper column showed, based on amounts provided by the CNJ (National Council of Justice), the ten largest net income of TJ-RS judges and also the ten highest amounts received by first instance judges.
The amounts, referring to April 2023, were disclosed in detail, specifying what was monthly subsidy and what were eventual rights, for example.
In a statement released on Thursday (22), the ANJ (National Association of Newspapers) says it sympathizes with the columnist and the newspaper and expects higher instances to reverse the decision.
“ANJ reaffirms the constitutional principle of press freedom and defends broad transparency in the dissemination of facts of public interest such as this, based on the Law on Access to Information,” says the note.
The report sought the TJ-RS, but the judge and the judge did not want to comment on the subject.
