“Linha Direta” on Eloá does not spare Sonia Abrão and shows press errors – 05/05/2023

After 15 years of broadcasting, “Linha Direta” returns to the Globo program under the leadership of Pedro Bial and deals with a nationally known case: the kidnapping of Eloá Pimentel by her boyfriend, Lindemberg Alves, in 2008. The police in negotiating the release of the hostage, the program decided not to spare Sonia Abrau, who was famous at the time for interviewing the criminal live. Although he didn’t mention the journalist at first, the allure made it clear that the press’s work was much closer than it should have been, including Globo herself, and without naming the presenter, mentions that she has put herself in negotiator mode. “On that day, the 15th, there was an agreement between the captain and the brother of Eloá and Lindemberg to surrender. When this presenter entered, Lindemberg realized that he was living and decided to prolong everything because he was the center of attention,” said Prosecutor Antonio Nobre Volgado.

At one point, the paper made it clear that she wasn’t the only one and showed reporter Zelda Milo talking to the kidnapper. Likewise, other conversations were recorded by the announcer, showing that the proximity of the press, which reverberated at all times and made the robbers watch everything in real time, was not restricted by the police. For Cesare Tralli, who was interviewed, agents have to make the job of journalists more difficult, which hasn’t happened. All negotiations and conversations were accompanied by the exhaustion of five days of imprisonment, there was even a morning call asking the hostages to give signals through the window.

In conversation with this columnist in an unpublished excerpt from “De Lado com Fefito” and in recent interviews, Sonia Abrau claims she never regrets interviewing Lindemberg. According to the broadcaster, her conversation with the criminal was one of the few moments in which he calmed down over the course of more than 100 hours of kidnapping. It is clear that the criminal’s contact with journalists and news anchors was not limited to Sonia, but rather it was happening constantly, although she was the most criticized in the case, which included such mistakes by the police as to the point of broadcasting it live to break into the prison.

If the press was wrong about the case, then soon after it was essential to clarify the case and deny the police account that they conquered the captive only after hearing a shot and also the false statement about Eloá’s death, which would only be confirmed later.

In terms of format, “Linha Direta” proves that it still has a lot of power and speaks perfectly to the true crime milieu already reproduced by the podcast. The show has adapted its narrative in a way that’s more thematic and less sensational than some previous seasons, thanks in large part to the experience of Pedro Bial, who has perfectly matched the genre. Globo was right to redo the program as well as revise its errors.