On Sunday, the “Fantástico” team was scolded for dedicating more time to the queen of pop’s event in Copacabana than to the tragedy in the South.
The effort was great. On Monday night, JN dedicated 45 of its 54 minutes (84% of the time) to the tragedy. Bonner interviewed the state governor, Eduardo Leite, live. And not a word about the Copacabana show two days earlier.
Patrícia Poeta, who is from São Jerônimo, a city also hit by rain, opened Monday’s “Encontro” straight from Rio Grande do Sul, after ending Friday’s program with a Madonna-like outfit. The presenter got off at Florianópolis airport and traveled seven hours by car to Porto Alegre.
The morning program, which has a variety and entertainment profile, turned into another news program, with Patrícia as a correspondent in Porto Alegre, dejected, but less emotional than she could have been, calling on local reporters, without guests in the studio. Ana Paula Araújo showed more emotion in “Bom dia, Brasil”, having a good impact when she emotionally hugged a priest who lost everything in the tragedy while trying to help other victims. To conclude, this Tuesday’s “Profissão Repórter”, which would have had Madonna’s show as its theme, had its broadcast canceled so as not to give any more ammunition to critics.
The delay in covering the Rio Grande do Sul tragedy touches on delicate points for Globo. The broadcaster has always been accused of excessive “Carioca navel”, giving more prominence to everything that happens in the Marvelous City. There are other precedents, such as the little coverage of the death in a car accident of Cristiano Araújo, a country music star from Goiás, in 2015 – while the networks covered the idol’s death exhaustively, the broadcaster left something to be desired.
