Muckraking Brazilian Radio Journalist Shot Dead While on Air
Gleydson Carvalho, known for his exposure of political corruption in Brazil, was presenting a program on Radio Liberdade FM when two gunmen entered the station's offices during a musical interlude and killed him.
Gleydson Carvalho, a muckraking Brazilian journalist known for his exposure of political corruption in the country, was presenting a program Friday on Radio Liberdade FM when two unidentified gunmen entered the station’s offices during a musical interlude and killed him.
Carvalho died en route to a hospital in Camocim in the northeastern state of Ceará. According to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, “Carvalho was well known for criticizing the Ceará state government and Brazilian political corruption on his very popular programme. Relatives said he had received many death threats and knew he had made ‘enemies’ as a result of his accusations.” Brazil ranks 99th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports:
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder on Thursday of Brazilian radio journalist Gleydson Carvalho in the municipality of Camocim in the northeastern state of Ceará and calls on authorities to bring the killers to justice
“Violence against the press in Brazil had already reached unacceptable levels. Now we are stunned by the brazen murder of Gleydson Carvalho in the middle of his radio show,” said Sara Rafsky, CPJ’s Americas research associate. “Authorities must take action to combat a press freedom crisis that is violating the right of all Brazilians to be informed, not to mention ending journalists’ lives.”
CPJ has documented a sharp increase in lethal, anti-press violence in Brazil in recent years. Three other journalists have been killed this year in direct retaliation for their work, including two who were killed and tortured in a one-week period in May. None of their cases have been resolved. At least 16 journalists have been killed in direct retaliation for their work since 2011, CPJ research shows.
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–Posted by Roisin Davis
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