Bolsonaro draws fire over comments about reporter

 

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday repeated a debunked sexually charged allegation about one of the country's more prominent journalists, drawing fire from press freedom advocates and even some recent allies.

Bolsonaro referred to Patricia Campos Mello, a reporter for newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, who last year won the International Press Freedom Award after coverage of his presidential campaign.

She'd also been honoured for earlier reporting from the Middle East, US and Africa.

A witness in a congressional hearing testified she had insinuated an offer of sex in exchange for help with a story that triggered an investigation of Bolsonaro's campaign by Brazil's top electoral court.

Her newspaper quickly debunked the assertion by releasing transcripts, screenshots and recordings of their conversations.

Still, Bolsonaro echoed the insinuation as he spoke outside the presidential residence in Brasilia.

The witness, Bolsonaro said, "talked about the journalist's harassment, hitting on him".

"She wanted a scoop, she wanted to give a scoop, at any price, against me", Bolsonaro added with a smile, using a Portuguese word for "scoop" that can have sexual connotations.

That drew laughs from his supporters.

Hours later, Bolsonaro spoke to journalists again at the same spot.

He said the journalists "acting like that, deserve this", before making an obscene gesture with his arm and driving away.

The Brazilian Press Association's (ABI) President Paulo Jeronimo said the ABI's position was of "indignation and protest" against such "daily" actions from Bolsonaro.

Campos Mello declined to comment on Bolsonaro's insult.

She has suffered online abuse and received threats from supporters of the Brazilian president since October 2018, when Folha published her report on a network of businessmen who allegedly sponsored the production of false news against rival candidate, Fernando Haddad.

The wave of insults against the journalist returned last week after the testimony in Congress.

Like US President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro frequently speaks off the cuff, doesn't shy from comments perceived as politically incorrect and often uses the press as a foil to rally support.