The CEO of EBC (Empresa Brasil de Comunicação), Glen Lopes Valente, has pressed the state-owned vehicles, such as TV Brasil, to reduce journalistic coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
During a conversation with the company’s management last week, to which the column had access, Valente said that “it’s boring” to talk about health crisis daily and that virus immunization campaign “not an exciting business” to run constantly.
“I think you have to, but not every day, you know? Every day is boring. Understand? Because… ‘Again?'”, Valente said at the time. “I think [que tem] that, once a week, make a highlight of what is happening. Every day talking about vaccinations… You know, it’s not an exciting business,” he continued.
During the conversation, the CEO of EBC —which has TV Brasil, Agência Brasil and public radios under its management— still compared the Covid-19 to the outbreak of H1N1.
“Like had Tamiflu for influenza, there will be something [medicamento para tratamento]”, he said, minimizing the duration of the crisis.
According to officials, Valente’s comments are not restricted to the leadership of the vehicles – he has also been pressing the teams for a “light newspaper”, classifying the editions that talk about the crisis as “heavy newspaper”. Sought, the EBC says it will not comment.
The director-president shares on his Twitter profile posts from government ministers about achievements of their respective portfolios and content that exalts the federal administration and the president. Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
Last year, an EBC staff committee wrote a document repudiating what they defined as censorship by the Bolsonaro government in the company’s newsrooms.
The initiative listed a series of cases that would prove the interference in journalistic activities and interference in the company’s structure.
According to employees, the company neglects to cover the Covid-19 epidemic, “giving decontextualized data and not following the evolution of the disease in Brazil”.
In the document, they also stated that TV Brasil ignored the lack of oxygen in Manaus and that their “social networks could not report the first person vaccinated against Covid-19“.
JOELMIR TAVARES (interim), with LÍGIA MESQUITA, BIANKA VIEIRA e MANOELLA SMITH
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