Situation:

Physical and verbal attacks on journalists have risen in number over the last years. Politicians and their supporters have become the main perpetrators of these attacks. In 2022, the year of the most polarized election of Brazil, the tendency was for these attacks to get even worse.

Brief:

In the National Press Freedom Day, JORNAL NACIONAL, one of the biggests newscasts in the world, had to show that it wouldn’t stand still before these attacks.

Objectives:

The objective was to show that when the press is attacked, democracy is at risk. To silence the press is to boycott democracy.

We started one of the most watched newscasts in the world in total silence. Without saying good evening or any sort of greetings to the audience and without the headlines of the day. It was 60 long seconds in which the hosts – two of the most important journalists in Brazil – were live and not saying a word. Odd? Yes. Odd enough to call attention of the whole country. More than that, it was also a disturbing silence and this disturbance generated by the silence of the journalists was accompanied by the following words:

Silence is disturbing.

National Press Freedom Day

Information is the pass to democracy.

Insight:

Use the biggest newscast in the country to spread a message capable of generating discussions and change of opinion regarding the perception of the audience about the attacks suffered by the press.

Key message: Attacks on the press are attacks on democracy

The target audience of this idea was the whole Brazilian population .ca 200.000.000 individuals. In a country of continental size, known by its diversity and huge cultural and economic differences, the message had to be clear, objective and capable to be understood by anyone.

Creation and distribution of assets:

This initiative was the beginning of a long discussion that lasted months in social media, in messaging apps and in in person talks.

Implementation:

To speak with the highest possible number of Brazilians we needed the newscast with the biggest possible reach. Therefore the idea was done in the newscast with the biggest audience, using journalists with great affinity with the viewers.

Timeline:

For the idea to have even greater relevance we chose the National Press Freedom Day. After that, with the use of PR, the idea kept reverberating throughout other media.

Placement:

Serious journalism has at its core to speak the truth and to reveal facts that most of the time go against the interest of the leaderships in the country, therefore we couldn’t stand still before so many attacks. To show that our journalism is in favor of the democracy and to show that even under attack we will continue to work it was our way to position ourselves.

Scale:

More than 98.000.000 people

Time spent with brand: This initiative was 60 seconds long and it was the beginning of a long discussion that lasted months in social media, in messaging apps and in in person talks.

Proof of engagement: More than 98.000.000 people engaged in the conversation about this initiative.

The hashtag #JonalNacional was in Twitter’s trending topics for over 3 hours in Brazil and reached almost 50% of the population.

Owned media results: We impacted 38.000.000 people during the live show.

Earned media results: more than 60.000.000 people in spontaneous media.

Brand perception: We have reinforced our brand positioning as serious journalism, that is brave enough to keep working and bringing credible information to the country

Consumer loyalty:

By making Brazilians understand that attacks on journalism are attacks on democracy we have automatically made these attacks be questioned and rebuked not only by us but by a large part of the population.