By Isabela Fraga
The Brazilian journalist Mauro König, of the Paraná-based newspaper Gazeta do Povo, left the country after receiving several threats that followed the publication of several investigative articles on the state police.
In an interview with newspaper Zero Hora, König said that the situation will not keep him from reporting. "After you realize that in-depth journalism produces results, makes the people you denounce uncomfortable and makes a difference in the lives of people, you can't do anything else. (...) I will not vow down to these threats," he said.
König, also the director of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism, had recently received the Committee to Protect Journalists’ prestigious International Press Freedom Award.
Along with the case of Folha de S. Paulo reporter André Caramante -- who left Brazil for three months after receiving threats from police officers -- the threats against König contributed to make Brazil the fifth most dangerous country for journalists in 2012, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
