By Isabela Fraga
On the eve of municipal elections in Brazil, journalists suffered assaults in several cities across the country. The assaults shared a common thread of alleged illegal behavior by candidates and their supporters.
In the city of Guarulhos, São Paulo, a reporter for the newspaper Diário de Guarulho was attacked by the director of the Consumer Protection and Defense Foundation when he was caught illegally wearing a campaign sticker with two woman outside a polling place, reported the newspaper.
Journalist Rosinaldo Vieira was beaten and kicked when he delivered a community newspaper in Cidade Satélite, outside Natal, Rio Grande do Norte in the morning of Sunday, Oct. 7, reported the newspaper Diário de Natal Online. According to the journalist, his attackers were supporters of a council member up for re-election who was accused of corruption by the newspaper.
In Marília, in the interior of São Paulo state, a journalist was beaten when he photographed a fight that broke out between members of two political parties as they canvassed, reported the newspaper Correio Mariliense.
During the 2012 campaign season there have been several cases of attacks on journalists, especially in the interior of the South American country. Blogs and newspapers have also faced censorship by candidates and courts.
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.
