News operation
TV Bahia currently broadcasts 23 hours, 20 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 4 hours, 15 minutes each weekday and 2 hours, 5 minutes on Saturdays). The station also produces the 25-minute local sports show Globo Esporte Bahia, from Monday to Saturday, right after the newscast Bahia Meio Dia.[89]
TV Bahia's news operation began with Bahia em Manchete, a newscast shown at 7:15 pm, which premiered on March 11, 1985, and was presented by Paulo Gil.[90] In sports, the first program was Manchete Esportiva Bahia, with Ivan Pedro.[91] A new program entered the station's schedule three months later: Bahia Debate, hosted by the then Rede Manchete journalist Ney Gonçalves Dias. In the program, which was shown on Thursdays, he interviewed the candidates for mayor of Salvador in the municipal election of that year.[92] In July 1986, TV Bahia hired journalist Kátia Guzzo, presenter of variety program Mulher Total on then-SBT affiliate TV Itapoan (channel 5, now RecordTV Itapoan), to co-anchor Bahia Agora, the station's first noon newscast, accompanying journalist Paulo Brandão.[93]
As a result of affiliating with Globo in January 1987, TV Bahia restructured its news operation to produce three daily newscasts.[94] Paulo Gil remained host of the evening newscast, which was retitled BATV 2ª Edição on January 23.[95] The BATV 3ª Edição premiered in the early morning, presented by Paulo Brandão.[96] The noon newscast was rebranded BATV 1ª Edição the next day, presented by Cristina Barude.[97][94] On the same day, Manchete Esportiva Bahia was replaced by the local block of Globo Esporte, lasting 3 minutes.[98] TV Bahia's first morning production, Jornal da Manhã, hosted by Kátia Guzzo, debuted on January 26.[93]
On January 27, 1989, a plane carrying a news team from TV Bahia, composed of reporter Anna Valéria, cameraman Robson Barros, and assistant Alberto Luciano Valente, crashed shortly after takeoff at the Bom Jesus da Lapa Airport, colliding with an abandoned house and a umbu tree, and caught fire. The team was returning to Salvador after covering, in Correntina, the burial of 18 victims of an accident between two trucks in Brasília. The aircraft was also carrying a team from the Correio da Bahia newspaper and state representative José Rocha. All eight occupants were injured, but none died.[99]
Jornal da Manhã suffered its first anchor change four years after its premiere, in 1991, when Kátia Guzzo was replaced by Regina Coeli.[100] The morning show gained a double presentation in 1993, when Regina was joined by Casemiro Neto.[101] Jornal da Manhã and BATV 1ª Edição readopted the Bahia Agora name from 1993 to July 1995,[102][103] when the title began to be used for a feature magazine hosted by Anna Valéria.[102]
In 1993, TV Bahia news teams were involved in at least two polemic episodes related to former governor Nilo Coelho, already owner of TV Aratu. On May 21, 1993, reporter Robson do Val and cameraman Carlos Eduardo de Oliveira were covering Nilo's testimony at the Federal Police headquarters in Salvador. The politician was accused of having slandered the then candidate for governor ACM during an interview to TV Aratu on August 4, 1990.[104] As Nilo was entering the PF headquarters, his lawyer, the former Bahia justice secretary Marcelo Duarte, pushed Carlos Eduardo, who unbalanced and fell down a ladder with the camera.[105]
Also in the same day, while leaving the PF headquarters, Nilo Coelho ran over photographer Marcelo Tinoco, of Grupo TV Bahia-ownered newspaper Correio da Bahia. The former governor fled without giving any help.[104] The incident was also recorded by the station, which dedicated a large part of that day's edition of BATV to the incident, including the repercussion of the case among members of the press and politicians in Bahia.[105] On June 30, 1993, Nilo Coelho went to the 1st Police Station of Salvador to testify about the run over, and on that occasion three of Nilo's supporters - among them the mayor of Bom Jesus da Lapa Artur Maia and state deputy Calmito Fernandes - assaulted with kicks a TV Bahia crew, this time composed of Casemiro Neto, a cameraman and his assistant.[106]
In 1994, the news coverage of TV Bahia became involved in new controversies due to the control of the station by the Magalhães family.[107] After polls indicated the unpopularity of Salvador's public administration, Mayor Lídice da Mata, an opponent of governor ACM, criticized the station for showing news reports on the problems of the city's administration, especially those related to the situation of public transportation in the capital. According to the mayor's accusations, the coverage of the city's problems on the news was aimed at damaging her popularity by "brainwashing" the population.[108] In 2001, news director Carlos Libório denied that TV Bahia had treated the manager unfairly, mentioning occasions when she received space for clarifications at the station.[109]
Kátia Guzzo moved from BATV 1ª Edição to BATV 2ª Edição in 1996, when then-anchor Emmerson José opted to run for city council.[110][111] On August 25, 1997, noon newscast Bahia Meio Dia premiered, replacing Bahia Agora and BATV 1ª Edição. The new newscast merged the two programs, being hosted by Anna Valéria, Casemiro Neto and Cristina Barude.[112]
TV Bahia was the first television station in the state to use a helicopter for news coverage.[113] The aircraft, which started to be used during the carnival coverage in February 1999, was called BahiaCop, and was used for live traffic bulletins, as well as reports and coverage that required aerial images.[114] On August 29, 1999, TV Bahia premiered the information program Bahia Rural, with information about farming and cattle-raising and the interior of Bahia, presented by Valber Carvalho.[115]
After 23 years leading the TV Bahia news department, journalist Carlos Libório retired on March 13, 2008; he was replaced as news director by Roberto Appel, former journalism manager at RBS TV.[116] In the wake of the change in leadership, several changes in format were made, most notably the introduction of a two-anchor format to BATV; Guzzo was paired with Jefferson Beltrão, who moved from TV Itapoan.[117] The pairing continued until 2015, when Beltrão was dismissed and Guzzo, who shifted to producing special reports for TV Bahia,[118] who left the newscast after 19 years and became a special reporter for the station 1 month later.[119] was replaced with Camila Marinho.[120][121]
On July 21, 2012, Nelson Pelegrino, a candidate for mayor of Salvador, filed a lawsuit claiming that a report on the anniversary of Magalhães's death the previous's day featuring an interview with ACM Neto — his grandson, son of ACM Júnior, and a rival candidate — unfairly benefited Neto.[122] On August 3, however, the Electoral Court of Brazil ruled the accusation as unfounded. According to Ângela Bacellar Batista, judge of the 18th Electoral Zone, there was no breach of equality before the law, as Mário Kertész, who was running for the same position, was also interviewed for the same report.[123]
"'The simple fact that the TV station is owned by the candidate's family does not imply an offense to the principle of isonomy and, in this case, the report is included within the freedom of the press, essential to the democratic rule of law, whose dissemination of the manifestation of those present at the ceremony, purpose of the report, cannot be confused with the prohibition of article 45 of Law 9,504/97'."
During the carnival of 2014, TV Bahia again debuted a helicopter for news coverage, debuting RedeCop.[124] The aircraft provided services to the station until June 30, 2016, when TV Bahia's contract with the São Paulo-based company Time News, responsible for the equipment, was terminated.[125] Like other affiliates that aired local programming right after Fantástico on Sundays, the last edition of Rede Bahia Revista, produced since 1998, was aired on January 18, 2015. The program left the schedule due to changes in Rede Globo's programming for the time slot.[126]
As a result of increased competition from RecordTV Itapoan during the exhibition of early afternoon program Balanço Geral BA,[127] several changes were made. News director Appel retired and was replaced by Eurico Meira da Costa, who had held the same post at NSC TV, the Globo affiliate in Santa Catarina.[128] In response, TV Bahia hired Jessica Senra from RecordTV Itapoan to host a revamped Bahia Meio Dia,[129] which resulted in an immediate increase in ratings.[130] Another action to improve the channel's midday ratings was taken on November 26, 2018, with the removal of Globo's health program Bem Estar from the weekly schedule to expand Bahia Meio Dia; as a result, it began airing 15 to 30 minutes earlier than similar newscasts on other Rede Globo affiliates. The station noted that low ratings for Globo network programming were harming its own local newscast.[131] 2018 also saw the debut of a Saturday morning newscast, Bom Dia Sábado.[132]
After two decades with the station hosting Bahia Rural, Valber Carvalho left TV Bahia in 2019, with the program being hosted by two former reporters, Georgina Maynart and station veteran José Raimundo.[135][136] Raimundo would leave TV Bahia in 2021 after 31 years.[137]
On December 12, 2021, Camila Marinho, accompanied by cameraman Cleriston Santana, was attacked by supporters and members of president Jair Bolsonaro's security team as she tried to cover his visit to the city of Itamaraju, in the far southern of Bahia, due to heavy rains that wreaked havoc in the city and in the region.[138] Her microphone was damaged by the municipality's secretary of works, Antonio Charbel,[139] and she was also the victim of an attempted rear naked choke hold by one of the security guards, in addition to having a fanny pack stolen.[140] Reporters Xico Lopes and Dário Cerqueira, from TV Aratu, were with TV Bahia reporters and were also attacked.[141] The events were reported on TV Globo's national news programs, and the network repudiated the attacks on both teams.[142] Rede Bahia also released a statement denouncing the action.[143]
On September 28, 2023, TV Bahia announced, at a Rede Bahia event for the market, the premiere of the programs Onde Tem Bahia, presented by reporter Eduardo Oliveira, and Diga Aí, presented by Jessica Senra.[144] The first program, which highlights Bahia's exports, premiered on October 1 and was shown after Fantástico in two episodes. Jessica's program, on the other hand, is a talk show with an auditorium, which premiered on November 26.[145]
