Media organizations condemn Doria's attacks against journalists.

SP 247 - The aggressive behavior of the mayor of São Paulo, João Doria (PSDB), towards journalists was condemned by representative entities of the press sector.

The latest incident occurred last Monday, when the mayor did not answer questions from a CBN reporter and, instead, tried to embarrass him.

'- How many years have you been a journalist? How many years have you been a journalist? Answer!'

- I'm not the subject of this discussion, Mayor, I'm asking you about the water jets in Praça da Sé...

How many years have you been a journalist?

On Monday, Doria did not answer a question from a CBN reporter and proceeded to discredit the journalist who witnessed the action in Sé, accusing her of lying. 'Obviously there was some inducement – ​​let me speak, I want to speak and I'll finish speaking! – I want to be clear with you. Clear because I respect CBN's journalism, but I don't respect this woman's work. First, because of her ideologically compromised past with the PT, her experience with the PT, and her lack of balance in publishing a story that wasn't correct. So, it's not appropriate here to judge the regional mayor, but to judge the journalistic work of this reporter, who lied and published false information on the CBN website and on the radio. I am stating, not supposing, the reporter lied and acted in bad faith.'

In July, Doria recorded a video in which he attempted to discredit a reporter from Folha de São Paulo who showed that the donations received by the city hall were less than those reported. Mentioned by name by the mayor, the reporter's Facebook profile was tagged by Doria, and he was also the target of attacks from the politician's followers.

CBN's CEO, Ricardo Gandour, states that he repudiates this behavior by the authorities and clarifies that the report checked the cameras in Praça da Sé and revealed that there are blind spots, that the declared images do not exist, and that instead of clarifying the matter, the city hall mixed it up with the previous report in order to once again attack the press and generate repercussions on social media.

The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) stated in a note that by "discrediting journalism instead of answering questions, Doria denies society the democratic right to monitor the actions of administrators." The organization repudiates "attempts at virtual intimidation that can escalate into verbal and physical aggression."

The director of Abraji, Maiá Menezes, says that this exposes the journalist to 'virtual bullying'. 'This worries us at Abraji because it places the professional in front of a universe they don't know, exposed to harassment whose dimension we don't yet fully understand, and it's a very serious form of harassment because it affects the professional's individual world. On the other hand, it attempts to discredit the image of the media outlet itself to some extent.'

The executive director of the National Association of Newspapers, Ricardo Pedreira, stated that it is regrettable that an authority figure would systematically turn against journalists, encouraging such behavior from others towards journalists. He also said that public figures should know how to handle criticism and correct any mistakes.

The information is Radio CBN.