The President of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), said this Thursday (11) that he did not intend to censor the activities of journalists during the forced dismissal of deputy Glauber Braga (PSOL-RJ) from the Board of Directors.
At the time, media professionals were expelled from the plenary, there were disturbances and attacks and the TV Câmara broadcast was interrupted. Additionally, video of the session was not listed on the House’s official YouTube channel.
In the note, Motta says he “regrets the inconvenience caused to communications professionals and reaffirms that there was no intention to limit the exercise of journalistic activity.”
He said the broadcast of the session on TV Câmara had been automatically interrupted and reaffirmed that he would launch an investigation to investigate possible excesses.
According to the memo, Glauber refused to leave his chair when a council member arrived to take his post at 4:02 p.m. Then, still according to the press release, Motta ordered the suspension of the session, announced by the first secretary of the Council, Carlos Veras (PT-PE), at 5:42 p.m.
The text specifies that the interruption of the plenary session automatically results in the broadcast by TV Câmara of another legislative event. “So, TV Câmara started broadcasting the meeting of the Health Commission, a standard technical procedure,” he says.
The transmission was interrupted before that, however, at 5:28 p.m. The session was no longer broadcast not only on the television channel, but also on YouTube.
The memo also states that, in accordance with the 2020 House rules on the movement of persons, the legislative police expelled the advisers and journalists from the plenary “to guarantee the safety of those present.”
“The presidency considers the conduct of deputy Glauber Braga inappropriate, which compromised the regular functioning of legislative work. The Chamber of Deputies reaffirms its commitment to transparency, freedom of the press and respect for democratic institutions,” concludes the text.
On the day of the riot, the press was kept away from the plenary and did not record images of the MP’s expulsion.
Only parliamentarians had access to the premises and broadcast videos of the police eliminating Glauber.
The episode was criticized by entities such as Fenaj (National Federation of Journalists), Abraji (Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism) and ANJ (National Association of Newspapers).
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