Six decades on, Políbio Braga remains a force in Brazil’s political journalism

The veteran journalist and former public administrator has continued writing on Brazilian politics and the economy while urging greater care over claims shared online.

Políbio Braga is a veteran Brazilian journalist and writer whose career has spanned print, radio, television and digital media, with a long-running focus on politics and the economy in Rio Grande do Sul and across Brazil. A profile published by Grupo Ceres says he has spent more than six decades in communication and public administration, and notes that he remains active online, continuing to comment on state and national affairs.

According to the same profile, Braga was born in Gaurama, later moved to Erechim and studied social communication at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul. His professional path took him through newspapers including Diário Catarinense, Correio da Manhã, Última Hora, Gazeta Mercantil, Zero Hora, Correio do Povo and Jornal do Comércio, as well as magazines such as Veja and Exame. He also appeared on television and radio at outlets including RBS, Band, TV Pampa and TV Guaíba.

The blog post that inspired this article also says Braga began journalism at 17 and was active in student politics, serving as president of the Brazilian secondary students’ union in the early 1960s. It adds that he later held public posts in Porto Alegre and the state government of Rio Grande do Sul, including roles in industry and trade, finance, international relations and the civil house. The same account says he was imprisoned twice during Brazil’s military regime and later wrote about that experience in Ahú, diário de uma prisão política.

Braga has also been linked to controversy online. In 2019, Sociedade Militar reported that he had published and later removed a post attributed to Olavo de Carvalho containing harsh criticism of the late journalist Ricardo Boechat. Braga said at the time that he had found the text online, underscoring a recurring issue in digital publishing: claims should be checked carefully before being shared, because material posted on the internet can circulate long after it has been corrected or withdrawn.