MPF asks for the suspension of radio concessions from Jovem Pan

The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) filed a public civil action to request the cancellation of three radio concessions granted to Jovem Pan. In the justification, prosecutors Yuri Corrêa da Luz and Ana Letícia Absy accuse the station of promoting “wide-scale disinformation” about the electoral system, with “potential of inciting violence and the rupture of the democratic order”. According to prosecutors, the news broadcast by the station would have legitimized the invasion of the buildings of the Three Powers in Brasília, on January 8.

In addition to canceling the company’s grants, the MPF wants the company to be sentenced to pay R$ 13.4 million for alleged collective moral damages for the content broadcast. The agency also requires that Jovem Pan publish videos about the reliability of the electoral process and electronic voting machines, 15 times a day for four months, with a daily fine of R$ 100,000 for non-compliance.

To support the decision, the MPF cited content from the programs “Os Pingos nos Is”, “3 em 1”, “Morning Show” and “Linha de Frente”. For prosecutors, the station would have committed four types of illegalities:

• broadcasting uninformative content that would have undermined the trust of listeners in the democratic processes carried out in the country, and content that delegitimized the constituted Powers, especially members of the Judiciary and Legislative Powers;
• broadcast content that incited disobedience to legislation and judicial decisions, not only by the general population, but even by the Judiciary Police and by overt security bodies;
• broadcast content that incited rebellion, indiscipline and even intervention by the Brazilian Armed Forces on institutions and constituted civil powers;
• broadcast serious content that encouraged the population to subvert the political and social order.