President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) said on Thursday (31) that he will cancel all subscriptions to the Folha newspaper in the federal government. In a threatening tone, he also said the newspaper's advertisers "should pay attention."
"I decided that the entire federal government terminate its subscription to the Folha de S.Paulo. The order I gave [is] that no one in my government will receive the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo here in Brasilia," he said in an interview with TV Bandeirantes.
"I hope they don't accuse me of censorship. Is that right? Who wants to buy Folha de S.Paulo, no one will be punished, his advisor goes there at the newsstand and buys there and have fun. I don't want to know about Folha de S.Paulo, which poisons my government to read Folha de S.Paulo."
Later in a live social media broadcast, Bolsonaro threatened Folha's advertisers. "We will no longer spend money on this type of newspaper. And who advertises in Folha de S.Paulo pays attention, right?"
In a statement, Folha said that "it regrets the President's openly discriminatory attitude toward the newspaper and that it will continue to produce critical and nonpartisan journalism about his government, which it has practiced with all other governments. "
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon