The Art of the Artless Insinuation: Suppose Globo Blackmailed The Prosecutor …

GLOBO LIES: I have fact-checked a number of cases in which this claim proved absolutely true.

Marco Aurélio Mello — not to be confused with the Supreme Court Justice appointed by his cousin, President Collor de Mello — is a journalist trained at the São Bernado do Campo campus of the Methodist University of São Paulo, with a master’s degree in journalism from La Crosse University.

He currently works at Jornal da Record, a TV newscast of the Rede Record, archrival of the Rede Globo, and writes the blog DoLaDoDeLá (From the far side, the other side).

Record has been picking up a lot of dissident journalists fired from Globo for what Globo vehemently denies was a case of ideological incompatibility.

The rivalry between Globo, with its Opus Dei ties, and Record, which is owned by a very wealthy and powerful Protestant evangelical congregation, reminds one of the One Hunded Year Wars of Religion.

Mello, for example, was fired for refusing to sign an internal petition attesting to the journalistic integrity of Globo’s 2006 election coverage. A meeting was called with Globo Journalism Central director Ali Kamel:

O editor de economia do Jornal Nacional em SP, Marco Aurélio Mello, estava presente. Ele havia sido um dos jornalistas a se recusar a assinar o abaixo-assinado preparado por Kamel com o objetivo de negar que a Globo havia tentado influenciar o resultado das eleições.

Mello, São Paulo economics editor for the [[Globo Evening News With Mr. and Mrs. Boner]] … had been one of the journalists refusing to sign the Kamel petition, which denied that Globo had attempted to influence the outcome of the elections.

O jornalista, assim como outros que estiveram presentes à reunião, entendeu a atitude de Kamel como uma proposta de trégua. O diretor da Globo chegou a colocar seu endereço eletrônico à disposição da equipe e incentivou que escrevessem sempre que tivessem alguma reclamação.

Mello and others at the meeting believed tht Kamel was proposing a truce. Kamel even provided his e-mail to the team and urged them to write him with any complaints.

Then he fired them all. Mello had been the editor for Globo business anchor Franklin Martins, who was also fired — and ended up as the presidential press secretary, who in Brazil also has control of government advertising budgets.

Reportedly the government has since drastically reduced its TV advertising.

On Globo’s election coverage in 2006, see

• Puta Sacanagem: Sampa Journalists Huddle with Capt. Edmilson of the Federal Police

I translate the transcript of a tape that captured journalists receiving a leak from a federal police agent. Some are overheard agreeing to proactively lie about their source because the agent is doing something illegal.

They also agree to Photoshop certain information out of an iconic photo of a mountain of money.

On the other hand, the federal minister of communications is still a former top Globo exec.

Maurelio produces an intriguing, teasing contrafactual insinuation about sleazy promiscuity among hypothetical politicized — Alberto Gonzalezified –prosecutors and the national press in São Paulo.

What he means to say is that José Blat of the MPE-SP — removed from the state organized crime task force during a criminal investigation of his extracurricular activities that was later dropped — is being blackmailed by Globo journalists.

Honduras: The Joy Division and the Army of Alarm

fear: abhorrence, agitation, angst, anxiety, aversion, awe, bête noire, chickenheartedness, cold feet, cold sweat, concern, consternation, cowardice, creeps, despair, discomposure, dismay, disquietude, distress, doubt, dread, faintheartedness, foreboding, fright, funk, horror, jitters, misgiving, nightmare, panic, phobia, presentiment, qualm, recreancy, reverence, revulsion, scare, suspicion, terror, timidity, trembling, tremor, trepidation, unease, uneasiness, worry (thesaurus.reference.com)

Globo (Brazil) reports: Honduran polling opens in atmsophere of  calm.

Globo (Brazil) also reports: Honduran polling opens in climate of fear.

On the same news portal, in the same thread, at the same time.

If you trace the conflicting characterizations back, you see that Globo is simply cribbing different news agencies, such as Reuters, AP, AFP and EFE.

These, in turn, are picking up on either the standard meme of the  situation (<election as fiesta>) or the standard meme of the opposition (<election as Kafkaesque farce>).

But not both.

The Estado de São Paulo, I thought, did a nice backgrounder on the issue that mentions both but endorses neither. Its headline:

Voting Begins in Honduras

Argentine Press Freedom Bill Is An Assault On Press Freedom: Globo

“Smile, you’re being manipulated”: commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Globo television network.

O Globo tells an out and out lie when it describes as “proceeding through congress in secret” a bill that has been widely debated in Argentine society and about which a Google search turns up thousands of mentions. One cannot even begin to fathom the cynicism of Globo.

O Biscoito Fino e a Massa on “democratization of the media” in neighboring Argentina.

Está ouriçada a grande mídia argentina, e particularmente seu maior grupo, o Clarín. Tramita no Congresso desde o dia 18 de março um projeto enviado pelo governo de Cristina Kirchner, que revisa a legislação imposta em 1980, no auge da pior matança ditatorial da história do país. O projeto de Lei de Serviços de Comunicação Audiovisuais limita o poder midiático que um único grupo pode exercer, reduz de 24 para 10 o número de concessões que um indivíduo poderá receber e elimina as restrições à liberdade de informação em nome da segurança nacional contidas na lei da ditadura. Em qualquer sentido que se olhe, ele promove uma democratização ou, pelo menos, as condições para alguma alteração no quadro monopolista de hoje.

The major news media in Argentina, and especially the country’s largest media group, Clarín, is all aflutter. A bill introduced by the Kirchner administration has been working its way through the congress since March 18 that revises the legislation imposed in 1980, the height of the bloodiest dictatorial violence in the history of the nation. The Audiovisual Communications Services Bill limits the power a single group may exercise, reduces from 24 to 10 the number of concessions an individual may receive, and eliminates restrictions on the freedom of the press in the name of national security contained in the dictatorship-era law. Anyway you look at it, the bill promotes a democratization of the media, or at least provides the conditions for altering the monopolist situation that prevails.

Foi o suficiente para que O Globo fizesse uma matéria que, sob a manchete “Casal K faz nova investida contra a imprensa”, conseguia ser ao mesmo tempo sexista – a presidenta é Cristina – e factualmente falsa. Não há, ao longo de todo o projeto, uma linha que atente contra a liberdade de expressão ou informação, muito pelo contrário – ele elimina as que havia na lei de 1980. O projeto de Cristina Kirchner limita, sim, a “liberdade” de que um único grupo controle 70% do mercado.

All of which was enough for O Globo to run a story which, under the headline, “Kirchner Couple Attack The Press,” managed to be both sexist — the president is Cristina Kirchner — and factually false.

Ecce Globo, eternal font of nasty, self-serving, quacking nonsense that it is.

“Dantas Judge Is Alien to Our Tupi Way of Life”: Globo

FAUSTO'S PARALLEL UNIVERSE: Época's profile of the Dantas judge suggests that he is an oddball who holds views of life, the universe, justice, democracy and everything that are alien to the mainstream of Brazilian civilization. Sleazy hit piece? An avalanche of online readers apparently thought so. Deliberately distorted photo: Epoca.com.br

Luis Nassif reflects on a notable backlash by online readers against a profile by Época magazine (Globo) of Brazilian federal judge Fausto de Sanctis.

The judge, who will rule on the charges against Opportunity founding partner Daniel Valente “The Quiet Brazilian” Dantas, has been repeatedly accused in the press recently of being Nazi-inspired. See

• The Authoritarian Temptation of Dr. Fausto: “Dantas Judge Is Nazi-Inspired”
• Dantas Judge: “Dr. Fausto Is Not a Nazi”

The Época piece does appear to be a continuation of that character-assassination campaign. It begins

Aos 44 anos, separado, com fama de vaidoso, o juiz Fausto De Sanctis tem alguns traços de comportamento que o diferenciam da maioria das pessoas.

At 44 years of age, separated, with a reputation for vanity, Judge De Sanctis has some behavioral characteristics that make him different from the average person.

If I get a chance, I will translate the Época profile for you. It tends to pound heavily on the notion that the judge personally and his notions of justice are unorthodox, peculiar, alien, un-Brazilian, and so on and so forth.

I also had the impression it was a sleazy piece of carefully contrived character assassination dressed up as an inane People magazine-style profile. It repeats the “Fausto is a Nazi” meme. It cites only critics of the judge, and none of his defenders (or neutral parties).

Nassif, meanwhile, notes that the magazine’s Web site — recently opened to comments as the magazine merges operations with Globo’s Web portal, G1 — was deluged with infuriated responses from readers, almost unanimously excoriating the magazine and defending the judge:

A rebelião dos leitores da Época com a reportagem sobre De Sanctis caminha para se tornar um case na Internet. Os leitores de Época a vêem como uma espécie de antídoto para Veja. Com a linha editorial dos produtos da Globo entorpecida pelo continuado patrulhamento ideológico de Ali Kamel, no entanto, a revista não ousou ocupar esse espaço anti-Veja.

The rebellion of Época‘s online readers against the piece on De Sanctis is fast becoming one for the books. Época‘s readers tend to see it as a sort of antidote for Veja, but with the editorial line of Globo publications poisoned by close, continuous ideological oversight by [Globo Journalism Central executive director] Ali Kamel, the magazine does not dare try to occupy this “anti-Veja” role.

On Ali Kamel as a gabbling, factually-challenged, logic-chopping ideological propagandist, see

• “Globo Gabbles on Communist Indoctrination Textbook Plague!”

I find Época almost completely unreadable, and Época Negócios, its companion business weekly is one of the most egregious fonts of gibbering nonsense I have ever read.

(Abril’s business weekly Exame can actually be a somewhat useful read, if boiled thoroughly first — proving that pockets of intelligent life do exist at the publishing house.)

A matéria colocou cacos ironizando o juiz. A rebelião dos leitores foi ampla, de uma virulência desproporcional ao teor da matéria, uma enchente de leitores indignados que, em pouco tempo, lotaram a seção de comentários da revista armados da chamada ira santa. Alguns hackers se valeram da falta de filtros da revista para direcionar as mensagens ou para a Carta Capital ou para a série O Caso de Veja.

The article introduced elements designed to mock the judge. The revolt on the part of readers was ample, their anger disproportional to the contents of the article, a veritable flood of indignant readers who in short order filled the comments section of the magazine with what might be called holy wrath. A few hackers took advantage of the Web site’s lack of filters to redirect the messages either to CartaCapital magazine or to my series on Veja magazine.

Dantas’ Inferno: On Audio Leaked to Globo, Cops Complain Bitterly of Leaks to Globo

In the Dantas case, Troncon commented, when the police team arrived at the scene of the arrests, the press was already there: “The team had to ask them politely to move so they could park the car.” The complaint was mainly directed at TV Globo.

Comunique-se comments on the recording of a meeting among senior officials of the Brazilian Federal Police and the investigator in charge of building the case against banker Daniel Dantas.

As reported earlier by O Globo, the policemen had discussed alleged evidence that Dantas had kept records of R$18 million in bribes paid in 2007 alone to “politicians, judges and journalists.”

See

• Dantas’ Inferno: “R$18 Million in Bribes to Judges, Politicians and Journalists”

Comunique-se amplifies on the tenor of the discussion of the role of the news media during that meeting.

The police officials complain about TV Globo’s incestuous relationships with the feds and it uncanny ability to get around their efforts to keep the agency from leaking like the proverbial sieve.

A gravação da reunião da cúpula da Polícia Federal, realizada no dia 14/07, que culminou com o afastamento do delegado Protógenes Queiroz do comando da Operação Satiagraha revela supostos pagamentos de propinas para jornalistas, juízes e políticos. O nome “Mangabeira” aparece como sendo o elo entre Dantas e os meios de comunicação.

The recording of the July 14 meeting that ended in the removal of Queiroz from the Dantas case reveals alleged payment of bribes to journalists, judges and politicians. The name “Mangabeira” appears as the alleged point of contact between Dantas and the news media.

Harvard Law professor Roberto “Pragmatism Unbound” Mangabeira Unger was hired as a trustee for Dantas when the Dantas group was ousted from management of Brasil Telecom by the other shareholders — the casus belli of so much of the conflict in this byzantine affair.

Mangabeira later overcame stiff political resistance to be named to a special cabinet post in the current government. See

• Unger’s Odd Couplings: Brazilian Biz on the Minister of the Future

“Nosso alvo é extremamente estrategista. Ao pegar o laptop (na casa dele, na hora da apreensão) estavam os manuscritos: na PF vai a pessoa tal, falar com tal. No Judiciário vai a pessoa tal. No jornalista, a gente contrata o Mangabeira para chegar nos meios de comunicação. Estava todo o organograma dele lá”, disse o delegado Carlos Eduardo Pelegrini Magro, um dos responsáveis pela Satiagraha.

“Our target is a consummate strategist. When we grabbed his laptop (during the serving of a search and seizure warrant) there were the handwritten notes: At the federal police, go see so-and-so. In the courts, go see so-and-so. With journalists, we hire Mangabeira to approach the news media. It was all charted out there,” said … one of the investigators in charge of the case.

Os documentos apreendidos apontam que o suposto esquema movimentava R$ 18 milhões. Durante a conversa, o superintendente da PF em São Paulo, Leandro Coimbra, pediu cautela ao se fazer acusações sobre a distribuição de propina.

The documents apprehended suggest the alleged scheme involved R$18 million. During the conversation, São Paulo federal police superintendent Leandro Coimbra called for caution in making bribery accusations.

“As organizações hoje se caracterizam por tentar entrar nos órgãos públicos. Temos que ter sobriedade nesses julgamentos”, disse Coimbra.

“Organizations nowadays are known for trying to infiltrate public agencies. We have to be sober when making these judgments,” said Coimbra.

Para Protógenes, imprensa tenta “desestabilizar” a PF

Queiroz believed the press is trying to “destabilize” the federal police

Durante a reunião, o delegado Protógenes Queiroz acusou parte da imprensa de tentar “desestabilizar” a investigação da PF. Ele classificou os veículos Folha de S. Paulo, Veja, Istoé Dinheiro e Época como “imprensa sem-vergonha”. De acordo com Queiroz, as manchetes queriam “denegrir” o trabalho da PF.

During the meeting, Queiroz accused part of the press of trying to “destabilize” the federal investigation. He characterized the Folha de S. Paulo, Veja, IstoÉ Dinheiro and Época (Globo) as “the [sleazebag] press.” According to him, the headlines were designed to “denigrate” the work of federal agents.

“Tentaram fazer isso no judiciário, não conseguiram. Tentaram fazer no Ministério Público, não conseguiram. Será que aqui vão conseguir? Acredito que não”, disse o delegado.

“They tried to do this to the courts, but failed. They tried to do it to the prosecutor’s office, but failed. Do you think they’ll succeed? I think not,” said Queiroz.

Dantas’ Inferno: Investigating the Investigation; TV Globo in Nextel Hell

Daniel Valente Dantas. Graphic: Veja magazine, May 2006, when it reported: “Daniel Dantas has a list that may show illegal offshore bank accounts controlled by the president and party bigwigs.” Veja had plenty of evidence that “almost certainly does not” was the word to use instead of “may.” Ecce Veja

In all four locations, teams of TV Globo journalists were present even before the federal police arrived to serve the warrants.

Há mais investigações sobre policiais da Satiagraha do que sobre o próprio Dantas: There are more investigations into police who conducted investigations in the Satiagraha case than into Daniel Valente Dantas, its principal suspect, reports Rubens Valente of the Folha de S. Paulo today.

If you have read Misha Glenny’s McMafia, you will already be somewhat familiar with the figure of Brazilian police investigator Protógenes Queiroz, who is featured prominently in the book as the courageous and dedicated Brazilian cop who (more or less) took down the Sino-Paraguayan smuggling king Law Kin Chong.

I say more or less because, although the King of the 25 de Março was convicted and sentenced — for attempted bribery of a congressional investigator into smuggling and product piracy — his sentence was later reduced, and he apparently continues to operate.

See

• São Paulo Diary: The Law King Gets Out of Jail

Brazilian federal police, I think it is fair to say — I follow the Web site of the professional association of delegados — tend to get very angry when they arrest someone and then the superior instances of the federal courts let them go, whereupon they flee the jurisdiction.

(Like Salvatore Cacciola, for example, or judges accused of selling verdicts to the mafia in the so-called Hurricane case in Rio.)

Passados quatro meses da prisão e soltura do banqueiro Daniel Dantas na Operação Satiagraha, já existem mais apurações federais a respeito da própria operação do que investigações contrárias aos executivos do Opportunity.

Four months since the arrest and release of banker Daniel Dantas in Operation Satiagraha, there now exist more federal investigations of the investigation of Dantas than investigations into Opportunity executives.

A Satiagraha, deflagrada em 8 de julho passado, resultou até agora em dois inquéritos relatados pelo delegado Protógenes Queiroz: um trata de corrupção ativa (Dantas teria tentado subornar um delegado por US$ 1 milhão) e outro de suposta gestão fraudulenta do banco.

Satiagraha, conducted on July 8 of this year, has to date led to two charges on the recommendation of federal police investigator Protógenes Queiroz: One for active corruption (Dantas allegedly tried to bribe a federal police agent with US$1 million) and another for alleged banking fraud.

O primeiro inquérito deu origem a uma denúncia formulada pela Procuradoria da República e acolhida pelo juiz da 6ª Vara Federal Criminal, Fausto Martin De Sanctis. O segundo inquérito está sob avaliação na procuradoria e na 6ª Vara.

The first charge led to an indictment by the federal prosecutor, accepted by Judge de Sancits of the 6th Federal Criminal Bar. The second is still under evaluation by the court and the federal prosecutors.

Em contrapartida, há pelo menos três apurações em andamento contra os investigadores da Satiagraha. Ao deixar o comando da operação, Queiroz denunciou que integrantes da cúpula da PF, em Brasília, boicotaram seu trabalho, ao negarem o envio do reforço pedido de 50 policiais. Depois disso, Queiroz passou a ter de dar explicações à PF e hoje é alvo de pelo menos dois inquéritos.

On the other hand, there are at least three investigations underway into the Satiagraha investigators. Upon leaving command of the investigation, Queiroz charged that top leadership of the federal police in Brasilia boycotted his work by denying his request for 50 police agents as reinforcements. After making this charge, Queiroz was forced to explain himself to federal police leadership and is now the target of at least two investigations.

O primeiro foi aberto pela PF de Brasília, por ordem da direção-geral do órgão a partir de uma reportagem da revista “Veja” que afirmou ter havido suposto grampo ilegal contra o presidente do STF, Gilmar Mendes, o senador Demóstenes Torres (DEM-GO) e integrantes do governo Lula.

The first is being conducted by the federal police in Brasilia by order of the head of the agency, based on a report in Veja magazine that stated there was alleged [sic] illegal wiretapping of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Senator Torres of Goias, and members of the Lula government.

“Alleged,” nothing. Veja stated it as an established fact, based on (an anonymous source) who is (allegedly) an insider at the Brazilian National Intelligence Agency (ABIN). It has never identified the source and claims the audio that would prove bugging actually took place got “lost.” Quack.

Globo Critic: “The Silencing of Sidney Rezende and Operation Toucan 2010″

"Positive, negative, balanced and ambiguous coverage of each São Paulo mayoral candidate in 5 newspapers." Source: Observatório Brasileiro de Mídia. Click to zoom.

The Brazilian journalist does not feel free to write. More than just having to follow the editorial line of the publications they work for, the complaints principally have to do with coercion by political or business groups.– “A Profile of the Brazilian Journalist”

Rodrigo Vianna, the ex-TV Globo reporter, now with the rival TV Record, comments on the firing of iconic Rio de Janeiro radio announcer Sidney Rezende by Globo. On Vianna’s recent online crusade of sarcasm against his former employer, see also

• V Is for Vianna (and Vendetta): Notes from the Globo-Record Wars

According to Vianna, the firing is part of a series of politically-motivated ratfinks orchestrated by Globo journalism director Ali Kamel (whom Vianna refers to, sardonically, as “the Ratzinger of Globo”) in order to install journalists willing to comply with Globo’s bid to influence the 2010 president elections in favor of José Serra of the PSDB.

That Globo attempted to influence the 2006 elections with a mostly fabricated “October surprise” scandal is a more than credible charge, I think.

Imagine a news environment in which you could only get information from Fox News, or The Huffington Post, but not both, and with very, very few alternatives that spout the factoids of neither gabblingly partisan camp.

The degree of concentrated media ownership and political control of media in Brazil approaches that dystopian nightmare, I truly believe it’s fair to say.

Measuring the extent of media bias, as I was commenting to a friend the other day, is becoming a standard activity of election monitoring missions, such as the EU mission to Kenya last year.

That mission, for example, found that state-owned, BBC-trained public broadcasting service KBS blatantly shilled for the incumbent, in terms of the amount of exposure provided and the tone of coverage. KBS, it turned out, had the journalistic independence and impartiality of a fake news and astroturf artist on the payroll of Edelman Worldwide.

How a Reporter Covering Police Corruption Was Framed for Murder by Corrupt Police … and TV Globo

The ageless Gloria Maria of TV Globo’s Fantástico. Globo's venial, gabbling, vacuous, sensationalist Sunday infotainment magazine is an utterly acritical open mike for anyone with snake oil to sell.

A report aired by TV Globo’s Fantástico on January 21, 2001 and conveying [only] the police version of events was exhibited during the trial as “evidence of the crime,” according to court transcripts, but the journalist’s attorney, Marcelo Leonardo, refuted the theory of homicide, proving that the revolver was planted at the scene to incriminate the defendant.

The Observatório da Imprensa notes the end of an 8-year ordeal for a Minas Gerais reporter accused of murdering his wife.

The reporter, who reported extensively on police corruption for the Estado de Minas — one of the few major dailies remaining to the once-mighty Diários Associados (sort of a Brazilian AP) — was found to have been framed by corrupt police.

O jornalista mineiro José Cleves da Silva, acusado pela polícia de ter matado a sua mulher em dezembro de 2000 – em um flagrante crime contra a liberdade de imprensa (uma arma foi colocada no lugar do assalto para incriminar o então repórter do jornal Estado de Minas, segundo conclusão da Justiça), finalmente teve o seu drama encerrado.

Minas Gerais journalist José Cleves da Silva, accused by police of having murdered his wife in December 2000 — in a flagrant crime against freedom of the press (a weapon was planted at the scene of the crime to incriminate the Estado de Minas reporter, the court concluded) — has finally seen the curtain fall on his long personal drama.

O Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) negou, dia 27 de agosto, provimento ao agravo de instrumento impetrado pelo Ministério Público contra a absolvição do jornalista à unanimidade de votos, em abril de 2006, pelo 1º Tribunal de Júri de Belo Horizonte, e determinou o arquivamento em definitivo do volumoso processo, com mais de 1.600 folhas.

On August 27, the federal court of appeals (STJ) unanimously turned down the prosecutor’s appeal against the absolution of the journalist in April 2006 by the First Jury of Belo Horizonte, and ordered the vast case file, with more than 1,600 pages, definitively closed.

That’s right: In Brazil, if you are acquitted of a crime, the prosecutors can appeal the acquittal.

Endlessly.

Not very civilized, that.

“NET Will Compete With GatoNet in Rio Shantytowns”

Anatel techs watch GatoNet at the scene of a federal bust of one of these black-market paramilitary infotainment distribution businesses. Did death threats to anyone wishing to switch cable providers guarantee 100% market share? What do you think? And here you thought Time Warner Cable was bad.

Favelas cariocas terão TV a cabo e internet banda larga a preços populares: NET, a cable and broadband venture of Carlos Slim and Globo, will offer cable TV and broadband Internet at “popular prices” in Rio shantytowns … as soon as law and order is established there. An important proviso, that.

In a related story, the quality of Brazil broadband Internet services is rated as poor, as has been widely reported today.

Tell me about it. (NET quality of service in our neighborhood, has, however, been improving, to be fair. And compared to Speedy? Forget about it, although the neighbors do have a new Telefonica satellite service with big claims behind it. Have to ask them about that.)

A empresa de TV a cabo e internet em banda larga Net vai oferecer serviços a preços populares em duas favelas cariocas. A iniciativa surgiu após um pedido do secretário de Segurança Pública do Rio de Janeiro, José Mariano Beltrame, e só se tornou possível com a implantação de um modelo de policiamento comunitário nas comunidades.

Cable TV and broadband Internet provider NET will offer services at popular prices in two Rio shantytowns.

Rio has hundreds and hundreds of shantytowns.

The initiative arose from a request by state public security secretary Beltrame, and will only be possible when community policing is established in the communities.

Globo: You Live by the Leak, You Die by the Leak

Globo: The all-seeing pinball within a pinball

Globo ‘conscientiza’ elenco a evitar mídia: Folha de S. Paulo TV columnist Daniel Castro reports that the Globo network is “raising consciousness” among its stable of creative professionals about the need to avoid talking with the press.

According to Castro, Globo management is angry that its employees are washing the broadcaster’s dirty linen in public.

Both the Folha and the rival Estadão have been known to bash Globo unmercifully in their TV and entertainment columns.

I find this fascinating. The media groups seem make common cause with Globo in other areas and on other occasions. It has even been rumored that Globo might acquire the Estado de S. Paulo group.

A Globo vai fazer uma campanha interna para tentar impedir que seus atores, diretores e autores transmitam informações a jornalistas. Segundo Octávio Florisbal, diretor-geral da emissora, será feito um “trabalho de conscientização” para mostrar aos profissionais que expor a empresa “não é bom”. Florisbal diz que nenhuma empresa brasileira é tão exposta na imprensa quanto a Globo. Revela-se incomodado com o fato de “assuntos internos serem discutidos na mídia”.

Globo will conduct an internal campaign in order to prevent its actors, directors and scriptwriters from providing information to journalists. According to Octavio Florisbal, the broadcaster’s director-general, a “consciousness-raising effort” will be made to show their employees that it is “not a good thing” to expose the inner workings of their employer. Florisbal said that no other Brazilian company is as exposed to the press as Globo is. He expressed discomfort with the fact that “internal matters are being discussed in the media.”

Globo journalism is notorious for the crusades it conducts in favor of “transparency” in public life.

Its O Globo daily won an Esso prize this year for a photo essay in which its photographer captured images of private IM conversations from the screens of Brazilian Supreme Court justices during a public hearing.

Also notorious is Globo’s reliance on the crudest forms of leak journalism.