“I’m here to beat everyone up. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or left. Our word is freedom. Democracy is respecting the principle of the opposite, everyone says it here. Just because we’re going to debut with Boulos here doesn’t mean we can’t have Kassab, Tarcisio here…”
Thus, journalist José Luiz debuted the program “Alô Alô Brasil” on Rádio Nacional, a state-owned channel, this Monday morning (23).
With national reach, the attraction will be broadcast live, from 8 am to 10 am, from Monday to Friday, on all stations on the network. Through the Rádio Nacional YouTube channel, it is possible to see the recordings of the program live.
It’s not just. On Tuesday of next week, at 9pm on the 3rd, “Na Mesa com Datena” will premiere, a weekly analysis of the main themes on the national agenda.
The journalist began his career on sports radio at the age of 15, before becoming nationally known on TV police shows.
At the Rádio Nacional studios in São Paulo, without following a rigid script, Datena expected to interview the minister (General Secretariat) only at the end of the program. But the politician had a trip scheduled to Brasília and showed up at the beginning.
Datena took the opportunity to play. “I didn’t imagine that a minister would wake up at 5 am. Some must wake up at noon…” He then recalled his candidacy for Mayor of São Paulo in 2024, in which he ran for and against Boulos. He left the election in fifth place, with 1.83% of the votes, the worst performance ever recorded by the tucanos in the capital of São Paulo.
“Debate was the worst thing in my life. Politicians communicate very differently from communicators. I thought I was going to swallow politicians and I was swallowed,” said the presenter.
Datena did not spare the minister and asked questions about current topics, the 6 x 1 scale and the samba school parade that he honored.
He also asked the interviewee to find out if he will join the Senate this year. Boulos went off on a tangent.
For the CEO of EBC, Andre Basbaum, “you can’t have Datena and think he’s going to do straight-up journalism.” It was Basbaum, a journalist with 27 years on television, who fought for Datena on the state-owned company.
“Having a guy like him on the team makes a difference. Having a guy like him on Rádio Nacional also makes a difference. The radio is turning 90 years old, and we wanted to invest in live journalism. It’s what gives it an audience and is what will give relevance and credibility to the vehicle”, said the director.
A curious situation occurred in the interview with Boulos, when Basbaum, who was watching the premiere from inside the studio, made a comment praising the possible end of the 6 x 1 scale, the same position defended by the minister.
Datena didn’t let it go: “I apologize for our president’s intervention. He is president of the EBC, but I wouldn’t lift that ball to you [Boulos]. We are not here to help the interviewee because he is from the government. I wouldn’t lift that ball to you.”
“He’s right, Datena did the right thing by putting me in my place”, said Basbaum in a good-humored manner after the program. “I shouldn’t have made the comment and he was very good about having to say something like ‘you’re the president of the company, but you don’t give a shit here’.”
On the program, Datena asked the minister if it was discussed at Palácio do Planalto and if it was a mistake. Boulos said the samba school paid a “courageous tribute and paid the price for it in relegation.”
“It wasn’t the government that decided to do it, it wasn’t a government company. Lula didn’t parade, Lula watched from the box. What is the electoral crime there? Listening to the same Bolsonaristas, who used the Federal Highway Police to prevent Lula voters from voting there in the Northeast, talking about electoral crimes with their mouths full? They have no moral authority”, replied the minister.
When asked if he would be a candidate for the Senate, the minister hesitated several times, while Datena insisted. In the end, Boulos said that “if she is given a mission, she will accept it.”
Datena became known in sensational attractions such as , on Record, or “Brasil Urgente”, on Band.
In December, the (National Federation of Journalists) and unions criticized EBC’s plan to hire him, and said, in a statement, that the presenter “consolidated a type of organization marked by systematic disrespect for human rights and political proselytism”.
“These programs have a more retrograde, very conservative content, but he was never that guy. I always knew that,” Basbaum said this Monday.
About this, Datena also has her thoughts, shared with the audience this Monday morning, when she commented on the advance of organized crime
“The program will feature news about the police, because public security is a subject that matters a lot. We have to unite against organized crime. It’s already in fintechs and, suddenly, on the Stock Exchange. Some idiots said I was a sensationalist. Look now.”
