How Brazil’s government paid for bad news about Eletrobras

Privatizing Eletrobras, Brazil’s state-owned energy generation and distribution, has been one of the pillars of the federal government since Michel Temer took office. The problem is that Congress has not been so supportive as of late. About 42 percent of congressmen support the deal, which is not enough for it to go through.

Eletrobras is now responsible for generating one-third of all the energy consumed in Brazil. The company also has properties valued at BRL 46.2 million and assets that are worth a combined USD 170 billion.

Privatizing the company is a core point of the government’s economic agenda for 2018, leading Michel Temer’s administration to hire a public relations firm to promote a “bashing” of Eletrobras and the financial health of the company and its subsidiaries. The strategy was simple: feed the press with bad news about the state-owned company.

The strategy was fairly...