Lúcio Flávio Pinto is a remarkable man and an heroic journalist. Despite death threats, assaults and 32 lawsuits, he is continuing to wage a one-man battle against corruption, land fraud and the "colonisation" of the Amazon jungle by big business concerns. Pinto publishes his hard-hitting investigative stories in his own fortnightly paper, Jornal Pessoal (Personal Journal) in the northern Brazilian city of Belém. It carries no ads and sells just 2,000 copies.
Pinto has been garlanded with awards during his 41-year journalistic career, including the 2005 international press freedom award from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, though legal problems made it impossible for him to fly to the US to receive the prize.
He founded the Jornal Pessoal in 1987 when the Belém daily O Liberal refused to publish his story exposing the involvement of two businessmen in the murder of a lawyer who had defended poor farmers in land disputes. He is harshly critical of the "tame journalism" of the Maiorana group, which dominates the media in the state of Pará, owning newspapers, TV and radio stations. (Via Brazzil magazine)
