RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The plot is tragic, the characters wear the right costumes (with well-defined roles), there is periodicity in the presentation of chapters, and the ending may be surprising. With the end of TV Globo’s Big Brother Brasil, the Covid CPI (parliamentary investigative committee) has become the new reality show for Brazilians.
Moreover, it has record ratings. The channel created by the Senate on YouTube to report on the progress of the committee counts over 3 million views in less than a month. Together, the videos on the investigation are second in views only to president Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment session in 2016.
“Featuring” the testimony of 8 witnesses, the CPI that investigates actions and omissions of the Bolsonaro government during the pandemic has become a hit with the public, and the next chapters are eagerly awaited. On Wednesday, May 19, ex-minister Eduardo Pazuello’s testimony was viewed over 853,000 times. There was also humorous coverage during the breaks.
Comedian Marcelo Adnet recounted part of former Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo’s testimony on Tuesday as if it were a soccer match presented by Galvão Bueno and commented by ex-soccer player Casagrande. “He goes on reeling, he goes on stuttering, he doesn’t know what is what. He seems intoxicated by hand sanitizer, his words don’t make sense anymore, he goes round and round with the ball on the field,” he joked.
A day later, Adnet’s videos had over 1.1 million views and were commented on even by legislators. “Amid so many tragedies and so many lies, it’s a good thing we have the genius of Adnet,” said leftist Ivan Valente (PSOL-SP).
Interactivity
The interest in the CPI is so high among voters and supporters of committee members that senators have checked their social networks during questioning and even asked questions sent by web users Committee rapporteur Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL) asks his followers for suggestions on social networks and publishes edited videos with his “best moments.”
During the deposition of ex-Secretary of Communication Fabio Wajngarten, a video posted on social networks was shown by Senator Rogério Carvalho (PT-SE) to refute the statement the witness had made minutes earlier.
The ex-SECOM chief said that he had been away from his duties for 26 days in March 2020 because he had contracted Covid-19. In the video recorded alongside federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP), however, Wajngarten claimed to be fine and working as normal. So far, his statement was the most watched in the Senate channel, with over 642,000 views.
Senator Kátia Abreu (PP-GO) varies her strategies. On Tuesday, she posted a video before the session had even started, wishing that “God have mercy on Araújo’s soul.” His incisive participation later yielded a string of memes on the networks.
Good characters
For political scientist Marco Antonio Teixeira, from FGV-SP (Getulio Vargas Foundation of São Paulo), there are several reasons behind this interest in the Covid CPI. “First, the subject matter, which is striking and relates to the lives of many people. Then, the cast is good and they engage in rhetorical duels worthy of a show. And, finally, the subject is not technical. Differently from the Petrobras CPI, for example, which was called the engineer’s CPI, the topics dealt with now are of public domain, i.e., they don’t require technical knowledge.”
Teixeira also pointed out that the committee has the potential to explain to the population in fact which policies or absence thereof have contributed to the human tragedy that the health crisis represents in Brazil, with over 430,000 deaths. “That is the most dramatic side of the CPI, whose material is suffering.”
On Telegram, which had a massive participation in BBB 21, the groups’ current entertainment is to follow the chats going on in the Senate. The Espiadinha [Sneak Peak] Channel alone already has almost 150,000 subscribers.