Covid inquiry rapporteur wants to scrutinize media outlet’s finances

Senator Renan Calheiros, rapporteur of the Senate’s Covid hearings committee, has submitted a request to access the confidential banking records of conservative radio station Jovem Pan as part of a probe into pro-Bolsonaro digital troll armies. According to the request, co-signed by left-wing Senator Humberto Costa, the Jovem Pan group is a “major [Covid-related] fake news spreader” and has “contributed to the radicalization” of public debates around the pandemic.

The senators want the committee to scrutinize the radio’s bank accounts since 2018 to identify whether there are any suspicious cash inflows during the pandemic. Media organizations criticized the request, calling it an “attempt to intimidate the press.”

The ten-page request is highly vague in its reasoning and repeats arguments used in previous petitions. It suggests that the committee intends to scrutinize the radio station in order to reach another individual who is allegedly coordinating the pro-Bolsonaro digital armies.

Based in São Paulo and founded nearly 80 years ago, Jovem Pan recently made a pivot towards the far right as a business model and has been unequivocally supportive of President Jair Bolsonaro. The company was reportedly favored by the federal government in a bid for a TV concession earlier this year.

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