The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has dismissed by decree the management of all Brazilian public media following their treatment of the takeover of the three branches of government in Brasilia on January 8.
The decision was adopted on Friday night and includes the appointment of journalist Kariane Costa as president of the Brazilian Communication Company (EBC), on which key media outlets such as the news agency Agencia Brasil, TV Brasil and the radio station Radio Nacional depend. The measure means the opening of a transition and reorganization process in EBC that will last about 30 days, informed the Brazilian Presidency in a statement.
The Brazilian press highlights that the management of these media was still in the hands of positions appointed by the former president, Jair Bolsonaro, whose supporters stormed the Congress, the presidential palace and the headquarters of the Federal Supreme Court a week ago.
Precisely the coverage of these events would have been the trigger for the changes, since while most Brazilian media referred to Bolsonaro’s supporters as «vandals» or «coup plotters», the public media kept the term «protesters», reported government sources quoted by the newspaper ‘Folha de Sao Paulo’.
Another source explained that they feared an even more radical coverage by media run by people close to Bolsonaro and the possible propagation of anti-democratic ideas or even technical sabotage to interrupt the broadcasts and appearances of the Presidency.
The day after the assault on the three branches of power, TV Brasil news broadcast statements by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the former president, which was interpreted as a provocation by politicians of the ruling Workers’ Party (PT).
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
