RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, recorded a video in which he defends the secrecy of journalistic sources in an action brought by the Brazilian Press Association (ABI).
Some analysts interpret this unusual step as Maia’s support for journalist Glenn Greenwald and The Intercept Brasil, which have been disclosing alleged conversations between the former federal judge and current Minister of Justice Sérgio Moro and Deltan Dallagnol, chief prosecutor of Lava Jato, in partnership with other media outlets.
“A hacker who has illegally, illicitly, and criminally retrieved data from third parties must be found and punished. A public official who leaks classified information that is under his or her authority is also committing a crime. Both of them, passing on information to the public, are committing an overt act. However, a public official delivered this information to a media outlet, and [the source’s] secrecy protects the outlet that made it public,” Maia stated when he said that the precept is a constitutionally protected right.
The video was published in the column of journalist Monica Bergamo, in Folha de S.Paulo.
Rodrigo Maia is one of the most powerful men in Brazil, a highly influential figure in the Brazilian parliament and one of the most crucial persons of the voting bloc “Centrão” without whose goodwill the Bolsonaro administration would not get a single law approved.
His support for freedom of the press and the protection of media sources is therefore of great significance and might give a hint of how Parliament would react to unseemly advances by Jair Bolsonaro and his embattled ally Sérgio Moro in regard to Glenn Greenwald and The Intercept newspaper.