Thursday, November 4, 2021, date when the 2022 Census Dress Rehearsal started in Brazil, began very early in Salvador for the teams of the IBGE´s State Unit in Bahia (UE-BA). Actually, it began in the eve, when last-minute contacts with the local media and final preparation for the launching event were coupled with the first interviews recorded with embargo for radios of the capital and interior.

The demand of the journalists for detailed information on the operation, interviews and to set time for following up enumerators in the field the next day already pointed out that the first day of the Dress Rehearsal in the neighborhood of Amaralina would be busy.

More than this, it would be on the news!

At 7:45 AM, Mariana Viveiros, coordinator of the Census Dissemination in Bahia, and Edmilson Andrade, a sub-area coordinator working as enumerator in the Dress Rehearsal in Amaralina, were in front of a building waiting for the team of TV Bahia, a Globo Network affiliate in the state.

A live interview would occur around 8 AM and it was necessary to control the nerves the best they could: passing on information to the viewers of the Morning News, the most watched news in that channel.

Finished the first commitment, they barely breathed. Andrade walked down the same street to carry out the first data collection, at 8:30 AM, at the apartment and studio of the singer and visual artist Laura (Laurinha) Arantes. He was followed by Heitor Montes, the UE-BA´s census journalist, by the team of Educadora TV (TVE) and by a photographer of the major newspaper and news portal in Bahia, Correio*.

And the “official opening”, scheduled for 9 AM, also nearby, at the auditorium of the Luís Eduardo Magalhães Foundation (FLEM) had not started yet. Gathering nearly 50 people, among census agents in Bahia, institutional partners and representatives from the municipal administration, the event that introduced the Census Dress Rehearsal in Amaralina also attracted two other TV stations: Itapoan/Record TV and Aratu/SBT TV, and a reporter from Correio*.

After interviewing Francisco Brito, the Census operational coordinator in Bahia, clearing the last doubts and shooting, they accompanied a second data collection, now at the house of Jairo Borges, a retired economist.

The launching event closed around 11 AM, but the day was still beginning! Back to the headquarter of the UE-BA, more interviews through telephone, including the one for the newspaper/news portal Tribuna da Bahia, and clarification of doubts followed. It was also necessary to check what was already reported in the Salvador media about the dress rehearsal in Amaralina.

The result showed how the Population Census can mobilize journalists and means of communication, reflecting the general recognition on the extreme relevance of the largest statistical survey in Brazil.

At least 23 stories about the beginning of the 2022 Census Dress Rehearsal in the state were compiled by the Supervision of Information Dissemination team in Bahia (SDI-BA) between November 4 and 5.

Of them, six were broadcast in TV news of four out of the major TV stations in Bahia. Two of them (TVE and Itapoan/Record TV) broadcast it twice. The printed media published other two news - in Tribuna da Bahia, in a cover story. The dress rehearsal was also broadcast at least once in Bandnews FM Salvador, as well as posted in the official profile of this radio on Instagram. In the 98 FM of Campo Formoso (far nearly 400 km from the capital), one more broadcast, which can be downloaded in podcast format.

Other 13 news were compiled in websites and portals, some of them very important, like nordesteeusou.com.br, very active in Nordeste de Amaralina, a neighborhood close to the place of the dress rehearsal.

“And the best of this report is that it was not only in Bahia. In all the 27 IBGE State Units, the beginning of the Dress Rehearsal was a success, engaging the media, governments, partners and communities and positively marking the resumption of the preparatory field works for the 2022 Census,” stated Mariana Viveiros.