Even the left is being swept away by the era of fake news.

Originally published on author's blog.

It's almost unbelievable the reaction to the article in O Globo, written by journalist Ascânio Seleme, defending the baseless thesis that it's time for Brazilian society to "forgive" the PT (Workers' Party). The extremely weak understanding that Ascânio was speaking on behalf of the Marinho family caused – and continues to cause – an earthquake within the left.

The problem is that all this fuss stems from a false premise, because Ascânio today is far from being considered a spokesperson for Globo's political and business interests. That would only have made sense about 30 years ago. Let me explain: back in the 90s, the journalist was indeed one of the bigwigs at the newspaper O Globo, with great influence over the publication's editorial line.

In 2020, he is practically a retired journalist, limiting himself to writing the occasional newspaper column. Everyone, of course, believes what they want – even more so when it comes to such a thought-provoking subject – but a simple Google search would be enough to avoid wasting time and vital political energy.

Any company specializing in social media monitoring can attest to the avalanche of posts regarding Ascânio's text, not to mention the articles that flooded blogs and websites.

Broadly speaking, the positions revolve around two poles: PT leaders, activists, and supporters repudiate the "forgiveness" proposed by the veteran journalist and emphasize, quite rightly, that it is Globo that should kneel in the cornfield and apologize to the Brazilian people. On the other hand, in their eagerness to attack the party, those who claim to be "further to the left than the PT" rushed to warn about the imminence of a nefarious agreement between Globo and the PT.

Globo knows that, in relation to the PT (Workers' Party), it went too far and crossed the Rubicon. There is no sign on the horizon that the company intends to repent for its central role in the coup against President Dilma, in the persecution and unjust imprisonment of Lula, and in the destruction of national engineering in a treasonous alliance with Lava Jato.

Proof of this is that Lula, Dilma, and all the prominent public figures of the party continue to be censored by the network's main news program, Jornal Nacional.

Proof of this is that Globo continues to blindly endorse the increasingly discredited Operation Lava Jato.

Proof of this is the evident continued support for the presidential candidacy of the once-powerful Sérgio Moro.

Moral of the story: in the age of lies and fake news, checking and double-checking news and its versions is a procedure of great political importance.