"I saw anewsreport that said the debates were being underreported by news networks that were owned by corporations that supported the bills, " said Mr. Walk.
The frantic afternoon presented another example of news organizations being embarrassed by a race to report information under intense competitive pressure.
In a Globo newsreport online, Ferreira was described as being an acquaintance of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, whom he met between 2001 and 2004 when he was a top executive at Albras, a large Brazilian aluminum producer.