Brazilian journalists are reporting harassment and threats following coverage of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s recent hospitalization. The incident underscores the challenges facing the press in a politically polarized environment.
Michelle Bolsonaro, the former first lady, shared a video on Saturday, March 14, 2026, featuring Cris Mourão, a supporter of her husband, Jair Bolsonaro. In the video, Mourão alleges that journalists covering Bolsonaro’s emergency hospitalization at DF Star Hospital in Brasília wished for his death.
The video prompted two journalists to file police reports after experiencing intimidation. One journalist reported threats against their child, while another closed their social media accounts due to the harassment. A third journalist is considering legal action, according to reports.
In a post accompanying the video on her Instagram stories, Michelle Bolsonaro wrote, “Journalists gathered wishing for Bolsonaro’s death and celebrating it being Friday the 13th.”
The footage shows Mourão shouting at reporters and filming a press pass belonging to a media aide. “Here’s a disgrace,” she says in the video, while the journalists ignore her.
Assista ao vídeo (2min10):
📹#vídeo Apoiadora afirma que jornalistas desejavam morte de Bolsonaro
📲 Uma apoiadora do ex-presidente Jair Bolsonaro (PL), gravou, na 6ª feira (13.mar.2026), um vídeo de jornalista que cobriam a internação do antigo chefe do Executivo em frente ao hospital DF Star, em… pic.twitter.com/YAGKwoDExq
— Poder360 (@Poder360) March 16, 2026
Journalists featured in the video were subsequently identified and subjected to online and in-person attacks. Two reporters were recognized in public and confronted, while others faced fabricated content and digitally altered images, including a deepfake depicting one journalist being stabbed. Photos of journalists’ family members were likewise used in attempts to intimidate them.
Several allied lawmakers shared the video online. On Sunday, March 15, 2026, Cris Mourão posted on her Instagram account, stating, “My intention is never to harm anyone, but to defend with tooth and nail those who fight for our nation.” She also congratulated one of the journalists featured in the video, claiming they had expressed support for Bolsonaro.
Mourão stated that a friend of the journalist told her the reporter was supportive of Bolsonaro and had discussed the former president’s hospitalization stemming from a 2018 stabbing incident.
ENTITIES ISSUE CONDEMNATIONS
The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) released a statement condemning the video and its dissemination. The organization strongly condemns the threats, defamation, and violent exposure of journalists and their families following the “irresponsible” sharing of the video during coverage of Bolsonaro’s hospitalization.
Abraji stated the video was shared without “any verification” and was spreading falsehoods and exposing journalists who were simply doing their jobs. The association called it “unacceptable” that lawmakers and public figures were using their influence to orchestrate smear campaigns and incite aggression against journalists.
The Brazilian Press Association (ABI) also issued a statement on Sunday, saying, “The attitude of former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who shared a video with attacks on journalists on her social networks, causes outrage.”
The National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj) and the SJPDF (Union of Professional Journalists of the Federal District) jointly released a statement on Saturday, declaring it “unacceptable that journalists, in the full exercise of their professional activity, are surrounded and harassed at the entrance of a health unit.”
All three statements criticized the sharing of the video by lawmakers.
Read the full Abraji statement:
“Abraji vehemently repudiates the threats, defamation, and violent exposure of journalists and their families that occurred after the irresponsible dissemination of a distorted video during coverage of the hospitalization of former President Jair Bolsonaro, on Friday (March 13), at DF Star Hospital in Brasília.
The video, produced by a Bolsonaro supporter, was amplified by far-right lawmakers and by former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who shared it without any verification, spreading lies and exposing press professionals who were simply doing their job.
Following this disinformation campaign, journalists appearing in the images were identified and attacked on social media. The aggressions were not limited to the digital environment: two reporters were recognized on the street and on public transportation and suffered in-person attacks. Fabricated content and videos using artificial intelligence were produced, including simulating one of the professionals being stabbed. Photos of journalists’ children and family members are being used as a tool for intimidation, and harassment.
It is unacceptable for lawmakers and figures with a space in public debate to use their influence to orchestrate defamation campaigns and incite aggression against press professionals. This type of attack is not only an individual threat — it is a direct attack on freedom of the press and democracy.”
Read the full ABI statement:
“The Brazilian Press Association repudiates the manifestations of hostility and hatred directed at journalists who are covering the hospitalization of former President Jair Bolsonaro in recent days in Brasília.
Press professionals fulfilling their duty to inform society have been the target of verbal attacks and intimidation by supporters of the former president, in an environment of growing hostility against journalistic work.
The attitude of former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who shared a video with attacks on journalists on her social networks, is outrageous. The material, produced by a Bolsonaro supporter and amplified by far-right lawmakers, was disseminated without any verification, spreading disinformation and exposing professionals who were merely doing their job.
As a result of this campaign, journalists appearing in the images were identified and attacked on social media. The aggressions went beyond the digital environment: reporters were recognized on the street and on public transportation and suffered in-person attacks. Fabricated content and videos using Artificial Intelligence simulating violence against professionals also circulated, as well as the exposure of photos of children and family members as a form of intimidation.
It is unacceptable for public figures to use their influence to spread false content or encourage defamation campaigns against journalists. This type of practice does not threaten individuals alone, but represents an attack on freedom of the press and the public’s right to information.
The episode recalls the period from 2019 to 2022, when violence against journalists was practiced and encouraged directly by Bolsonaro himself, then President of the Republic, through several unfortunate episodes. There were several occasions when press conferences at the Presidential Palace became spaces for attacks on press professionals in the ‘enclosure’ under the command of Bolsonaro and supporters.
We express our full solidarity with the professionals and reiterate our unconditional defense of respect for journalistic activity and freedom of the press.”
Read the full FENAJ and SJPDF statement:
“The Union of Professional Journalists of the Federal District (SJPDF) and the National Federation of Journalists (FENAJ) hereby express their deepest repudiation of the serious episodes of hostility, violence and intimidation suffered by press professionals covering the hospitalization of former President Jair Bolsonaro, this Friday (March 13), at DF Star Hospital in Brasília.
It is unacceptable for journalists, in the full exercise of their professional activity, to be surrounded and harassed at the entrance of a health unit. Even more serious is the fact that the physical and verbal violence on the spot was amplified by coordinated virtual attacks. The offenses and threats intensified after federal deputy Mario Frias (PL-SP) published a video, subsequently deleted, exposing the professionals and alleging, without any proof in the images, that they were ‘wishing for the death’ of the former president.
This irresponsible exposure resulted in the leakage of personal information of the reporters, who began to receive hundreds of offensive messages and death threats on their social networks. This type of conduct, frequently encouraged by sectors of the far right, aims not only to intimidate the individual professional, but to weaken the free exercise of journalism and the public’s right to information.
Given the seriousness of the facts, we demand immediate protection for journalists. We remember that it is the State’s duty to guarantee the safety of professionals in public and journalistic interest places. The union will submit a request requesting the action of the Military Police on the spot, ensuring the protection of press professionals, considering that PMDF vehicles are already providing escort and security around the hospital for the former president. We demand that this police force also act to protect journalists, preventing restrictions and aggressions by militants.
We also demand a rigorous investigation of the threats so that episodes like this do not repeat themselves. We request the police authorities and the Public Ministry to identify and punish the authors of the virtual threats and those responsible for the improper exposure of data from professionals.
We also demand that companies provide safe working conditions for their professionals, taking appropriate measures. And still, that they offer legal support to journalists and guarantee removal from the coverage location if journalists do not feel safe to carry out their work.
We reaffirm that freedom of the press is a fundamental pillar of democracy. Journalism is essential to bring facts to the public’s knowledge, and cannot be curtailed by methods of physical or psychological coercion. We will not accept intimidation as a political method.
We extend our full solidarity to the affected colleagues and inform that the Union and its legal department are available to offer all necessary support.”
