brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva dismissed the management of all public mediawho came from the previous government, as a result of the treatment they carried out of the takeover of the three public powers in Brasilia on January 8, when, contrary to what the private media said, they described the Bolsonaro hordes as “protesters” They tried to hit.
The decision, adopted on Friday night but released this Sunday, includes the appointment of the journalist kariane costa as President of the Brazilian Communication Company (EBC). Among other functions, the EBC is responsible for TV Brasil, a public station that broadcasts the official events of the federal government, Radio Nacional, made up of a network of local public radio stations throughout the country, and Agencia Brasil, a news agency that disseminates government actions.
The reasons for the transition
The local press highlights that the direction of these media outlets was still in the hands of charges appointed by the previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, whose most radical followers stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the seat of the Federal Supreme Court a week ago. The trigger for the changes would have been the coverage of the assault on the three powers, given that while the majority of the 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 local newspaper Newspaper.
Another source explained that they feared even more radical coverage by these outlets run by people close to Bolsonaro and the possible spread of anti-democratic ideas, or even technical sabotage to disrupt broadcasts and appearances by the presidency. The day after the assault on the three powers, the TV Brasil news broadcast statements by Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the former president, which was interpreted as a provocation by leaders of the ruling Workers’ Party (PT).
The profile of Kariane Costa
The new temporary president of the EBC is Kariane Costa, who has worked at the state communication conglomerate for more than ten years. Costa gained the confidence of the minister of the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency, Paulo Pimenta, by being part of the transition cabinet. A workers’ union delegate, she worked as an editor from August 2012 to February 2014 and since then has worked as a political journalist.
Now Costa must lead the transition process to the new management that will be implemented in the coming months. “I accepted the invitation of President Lula da Silva and Minister Paulo Pimenta to lead, on an interim basis, the transition process for the resumption of the EBC mission. Thanks for the confidence! Together we will rebuild our company!“, assured the journalist on her Twitter account.
Costa had denounced an alleged moral harassment at EBC during the Bolsonaro government, and the state company tried to fire her under the crime of libel. But in November 2021 the case was processed by the Comptroller General of the Union, after the Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Senate asked to investigate an alleged persecution of workers by the EBC.
Costa’s appointment was the only one publicly announced, but four other women will be part of the transition team: Rita Freire, Juliana Cézar Nunes, Nicole Briones and Flávia Filipini. Only the director of Programming and Content, Denilson Morales da Silva, remains in the post.
The determination was published on Friday in an additional edition of the Official Gazette of the Union, signed by Lula and not by Minister Pimenta, who collaborated in the definition of the new cadres. “The composition of the transition process, which brings together employees of the company but also representatives of society and professionals from the area, demonstrates our commitment to public communication and to the integrity and strengthening of the EBC,” Pimenta stated in relation to changes in state communication.