Chuck Mertz: I am going to start by getting you angry about the New York Times. There have been protests of late in Brazil, but according to the New York Times those protests while not as widely attended as those that took down Dilma Rousseff, have gone further to the right. This is the New […]
When an estimated one million people took to the streets across Brazil on #15M – March 15 2017, to protest Michel Temer’s unelected Government and their radical reforms to pensions and workers rights, which will result in most Brazilians dying before reaching retirement, there was a chronic media failure, both nationally and in Anglo media. […]
In 2016, with Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment underway, a rumour spread that actor Wagner Moura, regular collaborator with director Jose Padilha, had refused the role of Lava Jato Prosecuting Judge and self-styled national saviour, Sérgio Moro, in a new drama series. He had just completed a second season portraying Pablo Escobar in Narcos, also directed by Padilha, and also for […]
This week, embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff invited correspondents from large global media organisations, some of which her administration had previously snubbed, to a special press conference to address International Media about the plot to anti-democratically oust her. This coincided with such a shift in international narrative towards tacit, personal support for Rousseff, and a perception […]
A momentous week in Brasil was also one where the dominant international narrative shifted from widespread depiction of a “Heroic Impartial Anti-Corruption Campaign” (If you question the method you’re defending thieves) & “Spontaneous, Popular, Patriotic Anti-Government Uprising” (If you question mass media incitement & foreign funding you’re denying agency) to one which described that what […]
Why is it that everything that happens in Brasil seems to be reported like an existential threat & why do foreign outlets so often get it so wrong? Here’s some examples from the past few years. (Ironically most of them received more media attention than the recent environmental catastrophe in Minas Gerais). 1. Carnaval is Cancelled Happens every […]
In September Bloomberg covered a Brazilian elite NYC fundraising gala which it sponsored along with Goldman Sachs, BrazilFoundation (linked to BlackRock Inc) and KAR Properties, a developer who specialises in selling Miami condominiums to wealthy Brazilian ex-pats. In it, the reporter wrote “While the sensitivity of the issue prevented anybody from speaking a word publicly about Brazilian President Dilma […]
Narcos is not a documentary and purely as televisual entertainment it is difficult to dislike. It is directed by the talented Brazilian José Padilha (Bus 174, Tropa de Elite) and also featuring fellow countryman, Tropa de Elite’s lead Wagner Moura (Elysium, Praia do Futuro), who shines as Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Narcos is a stylish, visually & […]
A toxic rag with an agenda that goes far beyond journalism. – Jon Lee Anderson, veteran reporter at the New Yorker. Last week football legend turned senator Romário Faria made a special announcement to his 2 million Facebook followers. “On Thursday I found out from a Veja magazine story that I have millions of Reais in […]
“Only a crisis, real or perceived, produces real change.” – Milton Friedman. Brasil is having a horrible 2015; a far less favourable global economic situation, a number of policy misjudgements made early in President Rousseff’s first mandate and rolling scandals that have followed 2014’s election have resulted in flurry of headlines both at home and abroad decrying “Brasil in Crisis” or “On […]