The embarrassed empathy between Bolsonaro and the major newspapers.

By Paulo Henrique Arantes 

It hasn't even been a week since Lula's inauguration, and our century-old newspapers, partly responsible for Jair Bolsonaro's rise, have already launched an artillery barrage against the new president. As before, they cherry-pick irrelevant gestures from government members and try to scandalize them. Or they take a phrase out of context. Simone Tebet's sincere statement that she has conceptual differences with Fernando Haddad, for example, was treated as a symptom of confusion.

During the election campaign, there was a persistent emphasis on the need for the country's economic management to be free from dogmas and ideological attachments. There was a demand for a "non-PT" (Workers' Party) administration in this area, always alluding to the "failure" of Dilma Rousseff's government. The choice of Haddad for the Finance Ministry, a PT member with a strong sense of political bias, should have been enough. But the former mayor of São Paulo, who left significant reserves in the city's coffers, was treated as a radical leftist.

Tebet's appointment to the Planning Ministry, on the other hand, was proof that the Lula government will deal with the economy through a pluralistic vision. Public officials of remarkable civility and technicians detached from ideological manuals will be at the forefront of the work. But it is still not enough. The market, always a frightening specter, and its voices in the media demand an economy of financiers, by financiers, and for financiers, something that the Lula government will never deliver, because it was not elected for that purpose.

Minister Flávio Dino is another target. Serious, correct, and knowledgeable about the law, Dino fulfills his republican duty by defending the investigation of any crimes committed by Bolsonaro and his punishment according to the Penal Code, should there be a conviction. There are those who cynically proclaim: "no revenge," as if amnesty for criminals were part of the political agreements made to form the new government. A government of unity does not mean a government tolerant of delinquency, and besides, judicial matters will be decided by the Judiciary. 

The creation of the Office for the Defense of Democracy, within the Attorney General's Office, is another focus of the cynical indignation of a press that once revolted against Bolsonaro, but not much. The measure, honestly interpreted, reveals itself as a perfect additional instrument in the fight against fake news, the established weapons of a truly global neo-fascist organization. The issue is treated as an initiative to "punish opinions," as if the champions of oppression were not the members of the government that just ended.

The fact that a politician like Bolsonaro relied, for much of his misrule, on analysts who were very cautious before finally holding him accountable already revealed the true face of the major Brazilian newspapers. There is a disguised empathy between part of the press and the runaway captain. 

We are not asking for leniency or turning a blind eye to the mistakes of the Lula government. On the contrary, we expect the press to be rigorous in scrutinizing his actions, but not to launch daily trial balloons to destabilize him before he even gets going.