ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by first defining leaks and discussing the control of information flows in Brazilian public sphere. It provides a description of the particular leaks that flowed from the investigations of Brazil's Lava-Jato case into the sphere of national media. The new technologies of dissemination of information connect accountability institutions and media in a new way. Leaks of information, in particular, can be harnessed by political and institutional actors to great effect. The chapter presents some of the existing academic views about the potential democratic benefits of leaks. This means looking at both the current international research into leaks and the research on politics of sources and information control. Several important leaks to the weekly press were based on pre-testimonies of the Lava-Jato probe, in other words, preliminary stages of plea bargains, where arrested individuals indicate the scope of their knowledge concerning corruption schemes.
