After four years of being labeled “liars,” “scum” and worse by President Jair Bolsonaro, journalists in Brazil are ready for a return to civility – but also suspicious of what the press has been doing under his electoral rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expected.

As Brazilians prepare to elect their next leader on Sunday – a polarizing race that has seen the far-right incumbent trail behind veteran leftist ex-President Lula in the polls – the press is hopeful but nervous after four years of insults and Attacks on Bolsonaro’s “fake news” media.

Lula, the ailing left-wing icon who led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, is also known for responding to reporters – particularly for reporting on its various corruption scandals – and recently sounded alarm bells when he proposed regulating the media.

But the 76-year veteran is a more classic politician than 67-year-old Bolsonaro, whose four years in office “were very difficult,” says a journalist covering the administration who asked not to be named.

“If (Bolsonaro) doesn’t like your question or doesn’t know how to answer … his strategy is to attack the messenger.”

The government’s relationship with the press has never been more hostile than under Bolsonaro, who sees traditional news media as “unpatriotic” and an “enemy to be defeated,” says Arthur Ituassu, a professor of political communications at the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de janeiro.

Since 2018, the year Bolsonaro won the presidency, Brazil has fallen five places to 110th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ annual press freedom rankings.

Bolsonaro “regularly attacks journalists and media,” says the watchdog group.

“I would so love to punch you in the mouth,” the president told a journalist from leading newspaper O Globo in August 2020 when asked about allegations his wife received money from a political agent who was the subject of a corruption investigation .

In June, a court ordered Bolsonaro to pay 35,000 reais ($6,500) in damages to another journalist, Patricia Campos Mello, for suggesting she had offered a source sexual favors in exchange for dirt on the president.

Journalists have little access to Bolsonaro.

At the beginning of his term of office, the president, who routinely greets his supporters in the mornings in front of his official residence, sometimes took questions from journalists there.

But the impromptu press conferences soon turned hostile, Bolsonaro attacked and insulted the press, and his supporters piled up.

Eventually, fearing for the journalists’ safety, the media decided to stop reporting the morning meet-and-greet.

“It was exhausting,” says another political journalist, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

“You would go there and expect them to push you around,” he adds.

“But there was no other place to ask the President a question.”

Bolsonaro rarely gives press conferences or traditional interviews, instead doing weekly live video on Facebook and occasionally marathon interviews with far-right media and influencers.

Journalists perceived as critical of the president are now being attacked by his supporters with hate campaigns on social media, where Bolsonaro’s camp “operates far more effectively than traditional parties,” says Amaro Grassi, public policy expert at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Lula has also regularly clashed with the news media, but as the president gave them more regular access, reporters in Brasilia say they are hoping for a return to “normal” if he wins the election.

However, a journalist interviewed by AFP said he feared Lula could “get revenge” on the press for reporting on his corruption scandals, which led to him facing a controversial 18-month sentence before his release in 2019.

The ex-president said at a campaign event on Saturday that he was “shredded by the media for five years” until the Supreme Court last year overturned his conviction in a massive bribery scandal involving state oil company Petrobras.

Lula added he plans to overhaul Brazil’s media regulations and tackle the “rot” on social media.

The Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper then ran a scathing editorial accusing him of censorship.

Lula denies any plan to restrict press freedom.

“I don’t want to control communications like Cuba or China. I want a system like Britain’s,” he said.

“Is that a democracy? Yes.”