RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In an interview with Juca Kfouri on TVT’s “Entre Vistas”, journalist Glenn Greenwald said that, before the messages leaked by The Intercept Brasil, Jornal Nacional, TV Globo’s most important evening TV News, was virtually working as a partner of Lava Jato and Sérgio Moro.
“Evidently, mainstream media was an ally of both Sérgio Moro and Lava Jato in recent years, not only because of their ideology, but also because the Brazilian media outlet’s profit model was to get the leaks from the Lava Jato task force without spending on any footwork, without making investigations”, he said.
“So the “Jornal Nacional” would get leaks from the Lava Jato task force, while [news anchor William] Bonner announced that he had some very important news about corruption, with a huge audience, and Globo was profiting hugely without any journalism. The role of mainstream media in Brazil was almost like (that of) a partner of Lava Jato and Sérgio Moro,” Greenwald said.
According to the journalist, the situation only changed when The Intercept Brasil sought out traditional media, disclosing exclusive information, to report what the website was uncovering through the leaked messages. “Our strategy, then, was to invite the mainstream media to have access to our journalism, to report with us. I think that without our strategy, without involving everyone with us, it wouldn’t be so.”
Moro and his damaged image
Glenn believes that Moro’s image has been built over the past few years “unchallenged, like a hero,” but the consequences of the leaked conversations are grievous for the current Minister of Justice of Jair Bolsonaro’s government.
“Many of their allies in the media said, after only one week, that the allegations were severe and that he should resign from public office,” the editor recalled. “An important ally, Veja magazine, which applauded him for five years, has practically apologized to the public for the image they’ve built. And now, Veja is our journalistic partner.”
“If someone had told me three months ago that I would be a partner of Veja, reporting on Moro, I would have believed that that person was virtually insane. We can see that Moro’s dimension is much smaller in Brazil and that public opinion concerning the work of the Lava Jato task force has changed radically after the reports.”
The journalist believes that his work had changed Brazilians’ perceptions of the minister, as was the case when he joined Edward Snowden to unveil secret global surveillance programs in the United States.
“After two months, Moro is still the Minister of Justice. But he’s a much smaller player, like Deltan Dallagnol [Lava Jato coordinator]. I think these changes are subtle, but generally, major changes happen over time and in a subtle way”.
Report on Fernando Henrique Cardoso
The American journalist further believes that, among the various reports published by The Intercept, the one he felt that did not receive due consideration was related to Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
“We managed to demonstrate that Moro ordered the former president’s protection because he is an important ally. This is a crime for me, choosing who will be prosecuted and who will be protected because he is his ally”.
Glenn says that “there is much more to report” on this case, and points out that the former president and Lula’s circumstances are similar.
“We’ve already demonstrated this, that they were obsessed with convicting Lula, while at the same time wanting to protect Fernando Henrique Cardoso, even when members of Lava Jato were saying that the charges against the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Institute were almost the same as those against Lula.”