By Ricardo Luiz
Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party (PL) for the state of Rio de Janeiro, released a "Note to Brazil" on Sunday, November 1, saying that Rede Globo, the country's biggest media group, pulled out of an exclusive interview because it would not air it in full. He also says that Globo's Sunday newsmagazine Fantástico is running a long report about him that night, with no right of reply.
The topic was also picked up by the X account @NewsLiberdade. According to the news portal Metrópoles, which reproduced the text, Flávio wrote that several outlets contacted him during the week, including Globo, which invited him to an exclusive interview.
Flávio Bolsonaro's conditions for the Globo interview
The senator says he accepted on one condition: that the conversation be shown "in full, without cuts and without forbidden topics." According to the note, "the broadcaster preferred not to move forward."
He goes further. "If the biggest communications group in Brazil is AFRAID, it has no moral standing whatsoever to judge me or try to destroy my reputation," the text says. In Flávio's view, this Sunday's Fantástico will air a report about him without hearing him on the terms he proposed.
Court order and Federal Police summons
In the note, Flávio says that "just seven minutes after the announcement of the election results," a court decision imposing precautionary measures against him already existed, "based on lies," in the senator's words. He says that twelve hours later he was served a summons in the middle of the street as he left the home of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
According to Metrópoles, the summons came from the Federal Police (PF), following an order from Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Brazil's highest court, for him to hand over his passports.
Flávio describes the scene as taking place before the "teary gaze of a father with comorbidities," who has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison. In the senator's version, the former president is being punished "without having committed any crime" and suffers from the distance of another son, whom he has not seen in over a year and a half.
"This is not democracy and it is very far from being a fair and impartial judicial process," he wrote. Flávio also said he lives in a country where he can "freely express" his opinion. He added that he will not be the target of a judge who "woke up wanting to do harm" and sent police to his home to "go through my daughters' underwear in the drawer." The phrase is his and reflects his account of the operation.
Zanin quote and promise of uncut interviews
The senator also cited a sentence attributed to Cristiano Zanin, on August 7, 2016: "There is no effective remedy in Brazil to stop human rights violations." Zanin was then the defense lawyer of President Lula and is now an STF justice. Flávio said he regrets "absolutely nothing" and that he ran for president facing "an entire system" that wants to keep everything as it is.
He closed with an announcement: in the coming days he will talk to "major national and international outlets," "without cuts, without filters." According to Bnews, Flávio is considering giving an interview to TV Globo or to Record directly from the United States.
Why it matters
Flávio Bolsonaro is the son of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's president from 2019 to 2022, and a leading figure of the Brazilian right. His note frames the dispute with Globo as part of a broader clash with institutions he accuses of treating his family unfairly. The first test is Fantástico on Sunday. After that, attention turns to the series of interviews he has promised, which may set the tone of the debate in the coming days. The precautionary measures he mentions remain open, as does Globo's response to the claim that it was afraid to air the interview in full.
VDD Analysis
When a senator says he agreed to speak without cuts and the answer is a report without his voice, the debate over balance in journalism is legitimate. Globo has the right to set its own editorial agenda, but the public has the right to hear both sides, and that is what Flávio says he is demanding. In an increasingly divided country, transparency and the chance to respond are the least one should expect from those who speak in the name of information.
Based on reporting by Metrópoles and the X account @NewsLiberdade.
