In similar rhetoric to that of Donald Trump and other far-right politicians, Brazil's new presidential elect Jair Bolsonaro is targeting news institutions in Brazil as being, 'fake news'. Bolsonaro has proclaimed that once in office, he will take measures to curb adversarial news groups in Brazil by limiting public ad-buy programs for news outlets. Although news outlets don' t rely primarily on public funding in Brazil, this is seen as a symbolic move by Bolsonaro to discredit the press and those who speak out against him. Bolsonaro's response to his alleged attacks on press freedom is, "Press that acts like that, lying shamelessly, won't have any support from the federal government". In other words, Bolsanaro is claiming that the news is corrupt and that he is limiting their ability to spread false news. News companies in Brazil have begun to experience backlash for their critical comments of the president-elect, with 150 reported cases of press reporters facing threats of violence or experiencing smear programs by Bolsonaro supporters. Bolsonaro has condemned acts of violence against the press. The press has become divided on how to handle covering stories about Bolsonaro. Major news groups such as TV Globo and Folha have decided to keep reporting how they have the whole election-cycle, as they receive minor amounts of money from government ad programs. Smaller stations have typically been less critical of Bolsonaro as an avenue to attract an audience base. The largest news station to support Bolsonaro is Record TV, owned by one Edir Macedo (a billionaire preacher) who supports Bolsonaro's policies and therefore has painted a negative depiction of the Workers Party in Brazil. Ultimately, there is no clear picture of what else could happen to the news media in Brazil until Bolsonaro becomes president, but in general it appears that, 'fake news' will be the rallying cry of the far-right not only in the United States, but abroad.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-media/brazils-next-president-declares-war-on-fake-news-media-idUSKCN1N90NN
Kevin Phelan
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