On the afternoon of June 12, a man carrying a knife took journalist Marina Araújo hostage after breaking into the studios of the Globo Television Network in Rio de Janeiro. After a tense negotiation, which involved the network’s all-powerful general director of journalism, Ali Kamel, the man turned himself in. TV Globo released a statement saying that the incident was “the work of someone with mental disorders, without any political connotation.”

Yet the case comes after months of threats and even cases of physical violence against journalists by supporters of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro himself perpetuates anti-press sentiment, with violent, rude, and sexist language, demanding journalists shut up and even threatening a boycott of the country’s largest printed newspaper. He often does this on Facebook lives and through his Twitter account.

The unidentified assailant in the June 12 attack screamed “Globo Lixo” or “Globo is garbage”—the same expression supporters of the president usually dedicate to the network.

Full article at Slate’s website. Date of publication: 06/07/2020.