The governor of the central-western state of Mato Gross, Silval Barbosa, asked the press to not publish negative stories about the progress of development projects for the 2014 World Cup, which will be held in Brazil, Olhar Direto reports.
According to Barbosa, reports about project delays damage the image of Cuiabá, the state capital and one of the 12 host cities. “Each negative story is one more thing we have to justify to FIFA,” the governor said.
The government worries that press comments about alleged delays could lead FIFA to revoke Cuiabá’s host city status.
Barbosa said that the timeline for the projects is being strictly followed. However, according to Portal Copa 2014, the head of the agency in charge of the state's World Cup projects says that construction of the Arena Pantanal stadium is seven months behind schedule.
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.
