In New Attack on Press, Bolsonaro Says Journalists Are “Dying Species”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In another attack on the press, President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday, January 6th, that Brazilian journalists are a “dying species” and accused the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo of writing a lie.

He said that fewer and fewer people trust the press and that daily newspaper reading poisons and disinforms.

“Those who don’t read newspapers are not informed. And anyone who reads [the newspapers] is misinformed. You have to change that. You [the journalists] are an endangered species. I think I’m going to put journalists in Brazil linked to IBAMA [the Brazilian Institute of the Environment]. You are an endangered species,” he said.

The president’s attack was made by criticizing a report by UOL, which has a minority and indirect stake in Folha de S.Paulo.

The report recalled that despite encouraging voters not to vote for candidates who use the electoral fund, Bolsonaro used public funds in his campaign for a federal deputy in 2014.

The president said the text accuses him of using the electoral fund. The report refers to the transfer of public funds to the PP, a party to which he was affiliated.

The president then criticized Folha‘s advertising campaign in defense of the press. According to him, although the newspaper knows the difference between the truth and the lie, it misinforms. Bolsonaro, however, presented no example or proof for his accusation.

Source: Folha de S.Paulo

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