The government () increased the advertising budget allocated to its radio stations after accusing the company of promoting fake news about the elections and encouraging coup acts.
The group’s vehicles received at least R$2.4 million in media campaigns from the federal government in 2024, after remaining until the last months of 2023.
The resumption of federal advertising contrasts with statements made in February by the Minister of Secom (Secretariat of Social Communication) of the Presidency, (PT), who said he had cut Jovem Pan funds disseminated by the broadcaster.
The following month, the AGU (Attorney General of the Union) joined the Federal Public Ministry’s legal action for R$13.4 million. The Attorney General’s Office promoted the “systematic dissemination of disinformative content that encouraged the rupture of the Brazilian democratic regime”.
The company for, among other things, hosting Bolsonarian commentators who defended coup theories about electronic voting machines. The action also requests the revocation of the broadcaster’s concession, a point that was not endorsed by the Union.
Jovem Pan, Secom and AGU did not respond to the report’s questions about the return of government advertising campaigns to the broadcaster.
Since last year, the network has made attempts to modulate the discourse and have softened its editorial line. Also Jair Bolsonaro, like , councilor elected from São Paulo by .
In the four years of the former president’s government, from 2019 to 2022, the Jovem Pan radio and TV network received at least R$18.8 million in advertisements from the federal government.
During the Lula government, the company’s vehicles were once again included in the federal government’s media plans at the end of 2023. The broadcaster received R$270,000 in the year.
The R$2.38 million transferred to the group in 2024 is close to the value of advertisements directed to Globo vehicles, such as the CBN network, according to data extracted on December 16 from the secretariat’s own and ministries’ advertising expenses.
Comparison between groups, however, may be imprecise. Updating the portal depends on confirmation of advertising placement on each radio station, among other factors.
The same database indicates that vehicles from the Band group received around R$3.6 million in 2024. It is the largest sum transferred to the same radio communication group this year, according to the values currently available.
The Secom system also indicates R$48.2 million in government radio advertising expenses in 2024. The secretariat does not indicate amounts transferred to TV and Jovem Pan’s internet channels under Lula.
Federal campaigns on the company’s radio stations were expanded from May this year, when R$532,000 were spent on advertisements about government actions to rebuild Rio Grande do Sul after the floods.
The PT administration also paid at least R$260,000 for advertising about the
The majority of the funds allocated to Jovem Pan (R$ 1.56 million) financed advertisements for Secom’s actions, while around R$ 820 thousand came from the Ministry of Health’s campaigns, including the fight against dengue and HIV prevention. .
The portal managed by the Secretariat does not include payments made for advertisements by public banks and state-owned companies, such as Petrobras, which are kept confidential even in processes based on the Access to Information Law.
In February, minister Paulo Pimenta told Sheet that Secom considered that it could no longer transfer funds to Jovem Pan due to investigations against the company for alleged participation in coup acts.
“As a specific investigation was opened into the issue of Jovem Pan, including after January 8th, due to this closure, we felt unable to maintain the company in the plan”, he stated at the time.
In the same interview, Pimenta changed his speech when he learned of the broadcaster’s reintroduction into government campaigns and said that there was no “veto” to advertise with the company. “There is no prohibition, there is a recommendation, a guideline.”
“If an agency, or a ministry, understands that, for a given campaign, Jovem Pan… There is no prohibition in this regard,” he said.
The minister also stated that he had spoken with the company about the reasons for cutting the company’s funding and denied that any attempt to moderate the speech had made the government redirect advertisements to the group.
