By Maira Magro
Maritânia Forlin, a TV journalist in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, was arrested for allegedly passing information about police operations to criminals in exchange for exclusive stories, RPC TV reports.
According to the police, Maritânia was using her position to gather information from the police that she would pass on to drug dealers in exchange for reports on crimes they planned to commit, Jornal de Londrina explains.
In an telephone recording released by the police and transcribed by Globo, the reporter allegedly questioned one gang member if there were plans to commit a murder and was told "...there is going to be a little murder for you soon. It won't be long."
Maritânia, who denies all the charges, worked for an affiliate of the Rede Record TV network in Paraná. According to Globo, the network said that the journalist was laid off three months ago when her unit was relocated.
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.
