Edir Macedo may be behind CNN Brazil.

By Gilberto Nascimento at Agência Pública – The triumphant arrival of CNN in Brazil is still shrouded in mystery. Paulo Saad, vice-president of the Bandeirantes group, in an interview with UOL, identified "a political project" behind the new 24-hour news channel in the country, backed by a network with international credibility. The channel is scheduled to launch on March 15th. CNN will be available to pay-TV subscribers and can be accessed through digital platforms. The brand was licensed by the American company Turner to a new company headed by journalist Douglas Tavolaro, former vice-president of journalism at TV Record, and businessman Rubens Menin, owner of the construction company MRV and founder of Banco Inter. Tavolaro will hold approximately 35% of the shares*, and Menin the remainder.

Based on his market experience and the investments made by CNN Brasil so far, Paulo Saad, responsible for subscription channels and new business at the Bandeirantes group, said he doesn't see this initiative as a viable business project, as the numbers don't add up: “It's strange for a broadcaster not to balance its accounts. They are investing money that the market can't support. I know what their revenues are, and it really doesn't cover the salaries of any of the big names they've hired,” he stated. According to the businessman's calculations, the broadcaster will lose more than R$ 300 million in two years.

Jair Bolsonaro, for his part, celebrated the arrival of CNN. A comedian whom the president brought to a humorless show in front of the Planalto Palace on Wednesday, March 4th, welcomed the network upon seeing the CNN microphone installed in the journalists' enclosure. Bolsonaro praised the new network and suggested a boycott of the "media that lies," according to him, citing, among other outlets, Folha de S.Paulo and Época magazine. "From what I'm hearing, it's going to be a different television network from Globo," he rejoiced. He then advocated that his ministers start giving interviews to the new network and reject the Marinho family's TV channel. Coincidentally, CNN Brasil, whose headquarters are on Paulista Avenue, will debut on the day of the demonstrations called for on the same avenue in support of the Bolsonaro government and against the Supreme Court and Congress. The president supported this protest through messages sent in his WhatsApp groups.

Whether CNN was actually created to support Bolsonaro is still too early to tell. But the revelation of Douglas Tavolaro's name as one of CNN's partners – until then the journalist was a loyal subordinate of Bishop Edir Macedo – raised suspicions last year that the leader of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God might be one of the hidden partners in the new channel.

The distrust was justified. No one had heard of any disagreements or break between Tavolaro and his boss and leader, Edir Macedo. Tavolaro had started attending Universal Church services during his time as a journalism student. It was also surprising that he had recommended his successor at Record: Antonio Guerreiro, his former professor at Faculdade Cásper Líbero, whom he had brought to the station. Furthermore, the main shareholder of CNN Brasil, Rubens Menin, owner of MRV and one of the founders of Banco Inter, was an advertiser on the R7 portal and Folha Universal, media outlets linked to the Universal conglomerate, and was one of the sponsors of the film *Nothing to Lose*, the biopic of Edir Macedo. Tavolaro and Menin met during the film's production. Another important piece of information: in 2016, Record had unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a license for the CNN brand. During the same period, Macedo had been maintaining contacts and seeking information from other international news networks.

The version of events circulating behind the scenes at Record regarding Tavolaro's departure is that he requested and received permission from his former mentor to step down and take on the new position at CNN, seeing this opportunity as a "challenge to undertake." At 43 years old and with 17 years at Record, Tavolaro – co-author of the biographies of Edir Macedo, *O bispo* (Larousse publisher) and *Nada a perder* (three volumes, Planeta publisher) – wished to advance even further professionally. Thus, the departure was expected to be peaceful. Macedo had not created any obstacles.

During his time at Record, however, not everything went perfectly. The executive was a trusted man, highly regarded by Macedo. But he competed for power with two other bishops at the top of the network: Marcus Vinicius Vieira, the CEO of Record, and Marcelo Cardoso, the administrative vice-president. Vinicius and Cardoso wanted influence over journalism, and Tavolaro resisted. The two believed they had more power and influence in the Universal Church – and consequently at Record – because they were bishops and Tavolaro was a layman. The executive did not yield and reminded them that he had reached the top of Record before his two colleagues. Because he was not a religious leader, he also did not submit to the same rules of conduct imposed on bishops and pastors. His behavior was criticized. Gossip and intrigue involving the vice-president of journalism began to spread among church members because he had separated and remarried. Their new union was even celebrated – and with great pomp – by Bishop Edir Macedo himself, in December 2010, at the elegant and sophisticated Casa Charlô in São Paulo, in a mega-party with a personalized buffet and a six-tiered cake decorated for 450 distinguished guests.

Tavolaro is not related to Edir Macedo, but he was frequently mentioned by the press as a supposed nephew of the Universal Church's leader. He made no attempt to deny these family ties, however, as these insinuations strengthened his position internally in disputes with his religious colleagues.

One of the bishops who desired control over journalism was Marcelo Cardoso, former president of Record Internacional and brother of Renato Cardoso, Edir Macedo's son-in-law. Also a bishop and married to Cristiane, Macedo's eldest daughter, Renato is currently the second most powerful man in the Universal Church. He has been groomed for several years by Edir Macedo to take over the church when the supreme leader and founder is absent due to age or health problems. In 2007, Macedo had announced then-bishop Romualdo Panceiro, former head of the church in Brazil and Portugal, as his successor. But he changed his mind, and Panceiro broke with the former leader. Macedo then opted to keep control of the Universal Church in the hands of his family in the future, opening the way for Renato Cardoso's rise.

Marcelo Cardoso, an emerging religious leader, took over the position at Record in 2015. Even then, he was cited as a likely new president of the network. Thus, he and his brother Renato would form a trusted duo within the Macedo family. Marcelo was described in a UOL report as "inquisitive" and "restless," with a reputation as a "snitch." His mission at Record would be to "fix" the network and bring it back to the top of the ratings. He would also have the important task of investigating processes and measures adopted by his predecessors to detect possible irregularities and inform Edir Macedo. Bishop Marcus Vinicius Vieira, another trusted man of Macedo, is the son of former federal deputy Laprovita Vieira, who was elected several times in Rio de Janeiro with the support of the church. Laprovita was also president of Universal and one of the intermediaries in the purchase of TV Record in 1989. He was the man who appeared with a pack of cigarettes in his suit pocket during the negotiations to try to close the deal, in an attempt to hide from the sellers that the station would end up in the hands of a neo-Pentecostal evangelical church.

After reaching an agreement with CNN, Douglas Tavolaro had no difficulty installing Antonio Guerreiro as his successor as vice-president of journalism at Record. His proposal was well received. Macedo accepted the idea, but submitted it to a kind of "council" of the station. The majority endorsed it. At Guerreiro's inauguration, Bishop Marcus Vinicius summoned more than 50 executives and heads of journalism to announce that the new head was his representative in the department. The two got along well. Guerreiro won Bishop Vinicius's favor.

The career path of Rubens Menin, owner of CNN Brazil, ranges from the "Minha Casa Minha Vida" (My House, My Life) program to coordinating with business leaders to eliminate the "dirty list" of slave labor; it also includes palace meetings and substantial donations in the last elections.

In an interview with Pública, journalist Gilberto Nascimento discusses his book *The Kingdom*, which dissects the trajectory of the Universal Church in its quest for political power.

For Tavolaro, the treatment was different. Upon leaving to take the position at CNN, the journalist gave his detractors ammunition to criticize him. Marcelo Cardoso and Marcus Vinicius, among others, allegedly "poisoned" Macedo with claims that the former head of journalism was abandoning Record to strengthen a competing news channel. Therefore, he wasn't a true ally. From then on, Tavolaro's image was "deconstructed." The comments and insinuations about his separation increased.

Another reason for the harsh attacks was the decision to hire professionals from Record. Initially, Tavolaro took only one producer and two of his main journalism assistants from the bishop's network to CNN. Later, he poached André Ramos from the news director position at Record in Rio de Janeiro. Three days after announcing Ramos's hiring, CNN brought in Reinaldo Gottino, then presenter of Balanço Geral, one of the highest-rated programs on Edir Macedo's network. At that point, Tavolaro began to be bombarded by former colleagues.

A popular name at Record – mainly associated with gossip and police news – Gottino will now present the Brazilian version of the sober and serious news program CNN 360º, hosted by Anderson Cooper on the American channel. At the Barra Funda station, rumors were still circulating that CNN would hire former Globo presenter Adriana Araújo, who presented Jornal da Record and has been with the bishop's network since 2006. Macedo, finally, had become convinced that his former ally Tavolaro had become an adversary.

Record then went on the offensive. Between September 20th and 23rd, 2019, it aired three reports denouncing actions by clients who claimed to have been harmed by MRV, Rubens Menin's company, and pointing out problems in buildings erected by the construction company under the Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House, My Life) program in Paraná. MRV was included on Brazil's "dirty list" of slave labor, created by the Ministry of Labor, after violations were discovered at the construction site of the Cosmopolitan building in Curitiba in 2011. Eleven workers were rescued from the site. The following year, new irregularities were found in the construction of the Parque Borghesi condominiums in Bauru and the Beach Park residential complex in Americana, both cities in the interior of São Paulo state. The company was fined five times on charges of exploiting slave labor.

Menin, through the Brazilian Association of Real Estate Developers (Abrainc) – of whose board he is president – ​​has been cited as the leader of the lobby in Brazil against the disclosure of the names of companies involved in the use of labor analogous to slavery. The businessman refuted the accusations. He argued that the Ministry of Labor's registry ordinance did not provide for a means of defense against the inclusion of names on the "dirty list" of slave labor. Based on this finding of involvement, the companies cited would be prevented from obtaining credit, loans, and contracts with public banks, such as BNDES and Banco do Brasil. MRV is one of the main construction companies in the federal government's "Minha Casa Minha Vida" program. CNN partners Douglas Tavolaro and Rubens Menin did not respond to questions sent by Agência Pública.

In a statement last February, CNN Brasil disputed comments suggesting its arrival in Brazil was part of a political project. It also repudiated what it called Paulo Saad's "unfortunate statements." "CNN will produce professional, unbiased, and high-quality journalism that will defend the interests of society and will be sustained solely by the advertising and distribution market in Brazil, and other business units derived from the use of the brand in the country," the broadcaster stated. According to CNN, Paulo Saad's criticisms were motivated by the fact that the channel had hired Band News' main presenter, Carol Nogueira, and had also taken almost half of its competitor's journalism team.

In interviews last year, Tavolaro denied the existence of hidden partners and disputed comments about a possible alignment of the new channel with the Bolsonaro government. "It will be neither right nor left," he assured. President Bolsonaro has already been labeled in CNN's English-language news as a "far-right" politician. His misogynistic, racist, and homophobic pronouncements have also been cited. Shortly after the announcement of CNN's arrival in Brazil in January 2019, Menin and Tavolaro were received by Bolsonaro at the Palácio do Planalto. The new broadcaster, however, emphatically rejects the alleged links to the political project of the President of the Republic. As Record now announces a partnership with Fox News – the rival American network aligned with Donald Trump – CNN Brasil hopes that the eventual label of conservative will better suit Edir Macedo's TV station.