Celso Freitas

Celso Freitas began in radio in 1970 and spent more than five decades in journalism, first at TV Globo and then at RecordTV [4] [6]. He joined SBT News in November 2025 and anchored its weekday newscast until October 2026, when SBT News said he was retiring [1] [6].

Radio, then the Globo newsroom

Freitas started in radio in 1970, when he was 16 [4] [6]. TV Globo hired him in 1976, and he stayed until 2004 [4]. He entered the network by presenting local segments of Jornal Nacional and Jornal Hoje [7].

In 1983 he took over Jornal Nacional alongside Cid Moreira [4] [7]. About six years later he became the anchor of Fantástico and Globo Repórter [4].

The SBT News profile says he stood out during major moments, including the death of Ayrton Senna, Brazil's 1994 World Cup win, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the 2006 tsunami in Indonesia and Barack Obama's election in 2008 [1].

Domingo Espetacular and Jornal da Record

Record hired him in 2004 to join the launch of Domingo Espetacular [4] [3]. In 2006 he replaced Boris Casoy as anchor of Jornal da Record [4]. He also moderated electoral debates, presented Repórter Record and the Retrospectivas programmes, and hosted Entrevista Record News for five years [3]. JR 15 Minutos is also on Folha de Pernambuco's list of shows he presented at the network [4].

Leaving Record in 2025

On 11 March 2025 Record announced that it had dismissed him after 21 years at the station [3]. The network's note praised his "compromisso inabalável com a ética jornalística" (a steadfast commitment to journalistic ethics) and wished him well [3]. In a video posted on social media, Freitas said he was moving on to "novos desafios" (new challenges) [3]. Sergio Aguiar, with Christina Lemos, took over Jornal da Record [3]. The report we checked does not give a reason for the decision.

Joining SBT News

SBT News announced him as one of its new anchors on 10 November 2025, alongside Leandro Magalhães and Raquel Landim [1] [4]. The channel was due to launch on 15 December 2025 [1]. The same announcement named Camila Mattoso as newsroom director [1].

In the announcement he said: "O SBT News nasce com a credibilidade do SBT e seu alcance em múltiplas plataformas" ("SBT News is born with the credibility of SBT and its reach across multiple platforms") [1]. The SBT News article records his first "boa noite" on the channel, at 6:30 pm on 15 December 2025 [6].

Jornal do SBT News

In an interview published by SBT News on 11 December 2025, he described his new job as anchor of Jornal do SBT News. The programme airs Monday to Friday from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm and shares the desk with Marina Demori [2]. Asked what it was like to start a new project after five decades in journalism, he answered "Uma maravilha!" ("Wonderful!") [2].

He compared the work with open television. On a news channel, he said, the team has "a oportunidade de pegar os principais assuntos e esmiuçá-los" (the chance to take the main stories and examine them closely) [2].

Asked how he looks after his voice, he called it "uma dádiva divina que Deus me concedeu" (a divine gift that God gave him). He advises against drinking very cold water after long periods of speaking, because the thermal shock can reduce vocal power and quality [2].

Retirement in October 2026

On 26 October 2026 SBT News reported that Freitas would retire and that he was leaving the Jornal do SBT News desk from that Monday [6]. The article describes a career of more than five decades that began on radio when he was 16 [6].

Birth and age

Freitas was born on 18 September 1953 in Criciúma, Santa Catarina [6] [8]. The Museu da TV also gives Criciúma as his birthplace and 1953 as his birth year [7]. Press reports of his age matched that date: Poder360 gave 71 in March 2025 [3], and Folha de Pernambuco gave 72 in November 2025 [4].