Empires and Underdogs: Brazil's Media Story

On the Media | Jul 15, 2016

It's a tough time for the Brazilian press. In the unfolding political drama around corruption and presidential impeachment, the mainly right-wing media is accused of deeply biased coverage and coup-mongering. Especially Globo, a giant network of TV and radio stations, newspapers, and magazines with a history that includes supporting the dictatorship.

While a corruption scandal makes huge headlines every day, trusted watchdogs are struggling to keep up at a time of newsroom cutbacks. But in Brazil, everything is complicated. Bob dives into why the country's concentrated media powers are so deeply distrusted -- and what's filling the vacuum.

With:
-Professor Maria Immacolata Vassallo de Lopes, of the Center for the Study of Telenovelas at the University of São Paulo
-Mauricio Santoro, a political scientist with Rio de Janeiro State University
-Diego Escosteguy, editor of the Globo-owned newsweekly, Epoca
-Tai Nalon, co-founder of the independent, crowdfunded fact-checking site Aos Fatos, "To the Facts”
-Patricia Campos-Mello, a reporter-at-large at Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest daily newspaper
-Eliane Goncalves, a reporter at the national public broadcaster, EBC
-Marcelo Rafael, chief reporter for EBC
-Political columnist Celso de Barros

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