The expectation was great because these elections are very close and because one of the very few things that Jair Bolsonaro, 67, and Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, 76, have in common is that they both hate the Globo network, the media conglomerate most powerful in Brazil.
This week they were separately in
Jornal Nacional
, the most watched nightly news, to submit to 40 minutes of questions.
A priceless opportunity to enter millions of homes after dinner.
The presenter's first question - a veteran, like both politicians - was a punch in the wound that hurts each one the most: corruption and coup d'état.
Lula returned for the first time in 16 years to speak live on prime-time television after years in which she starred in the news for cases of embezzlement of public money, later annulled.
The first question for Lula, favorite for the elections on October 2, was "how are you going to prevent a repetition of corruption scandals?"
And for Bolsonaro… “you have insulted Supreme Court judges, attacked the electoral system without evidence, threatened that there would be no elections, did you try to create an environment that would somehow allow a coup?”
Each responded true to his style.
Lula, recalling that "corruption only appears when you allow it to be investigated" and appealing to the legacy of his two terms.
Bolsonaro, with a counterattack: “First, I did not insult judges.
Fake news”.
William Bonner, co-anchor of JN, replied: "In all fairness, candidate, you called (a judge) a scoundrel."
Various analysts quoted in the Brazilian press maintain that in this campaign free advertising on television will once again have an influence.
The one he did not have four years ago, when an apparently irrelevant candidate won an extremely atypical campaign, who only had eight seconds of advertising on TV and radio.
That was Bolsonaro, who was also favored by the fact that Lula was imprisoned when he was the favorite and that being stabbed kept him from the debates with other candidates.
Having seen the two interviews, the one on Monday with Bolsonaro and the one on Thursday with Lula, the Brazilian press highlights that the leftist managed to avoid the most thorny issues and explain to the people in his usual simple style some of his great electoral banners.
Regarding Bolsonaro, analysts have stressed that the mere fact of coming out unscathed after being questioned about the coup, the 600,000 deaths from the pandemic, etc. was already an achievement.
Analyst Thomas Traumann tweeted as soon as the interview ended: “It's over.
Bolsonaro did not lose any votes.
He probably hasn't won any either."
Bolsonaristas often boast that the current president won those elections on social networks.
What they don't usually mention is the effect of fake news, which was notable although no one dares to say if it decided the final result.
A man attentively watches Bolsonaro's interview last Monday while another plays billiards, on the outskirts of Brasilia. UESLEI MARCELINO (REUTERS)
Fake
news
is once again very present on WhatsApp and the preferred networks of Brazilians, but this time they no longer catch anyone by surprise.
Institutions, technology companies, candidates and the press have prepared themselves as best they could but everyone is aware that the enemy is formidable.
The lies, the half-truths, fly at supersonic speed from mobile to mobile while denials and verifications move at a snail's pace.
Lula has filed a complaint with the Superior Electoral Court in which he demands that he remove some 200 posts from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Kwai, Gettr, YouTube, TikTok, Telegram and on various
websites
because he considers them "irregular propaganda" that spread disinformation. In Internet.
The coalition of a dozen parties led by the leftist maintains in the lawsuit that the amount of
fake news
is such that it "reveals the existence of a large coordinated movement of groups and supporters of re-election candidate Jair Bolsonaro to spread
fake news
, with the clear intention of influencing this year's elections."
It also indicates with names and surnames the three children of President Bolsonaro, Senator Flávio, Councilman Carlos and Deputy Eduardo, along with prominent deputies related to the far-right as actively involved in the massive dissemination of false news against the favorite in the polls, Lula.
The complaint comes after several falsehoods that circulate strongly among evangelicals.
The Brazilian press maintains that Lula's team has been slow to respond because they feared the shot would backfire and inadvertently reinforce the far-right's narrative.
Now Bolsonaro has two minutes and 38 seconds of free advertising and his first ad is aimed at the poor, a group that has preferred Lula for decades.
The current president boasts of generosity with an anti-poverty payment that triples the former PT Family Grant.
Lula, who has three minutes and 39 seconds, dedicates, instead, his first
spot
of her to remember that she left the Presidency with a popularity rating of 87% and that she spoke face to face with foreign leaders.
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