Among the presents were Mario Abdo Benítez (Paraguay), Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (Portugal), Sebastián Piñera (Chile) and Evo Morales (Bolivia).

From the country capital to the Brazilians households, Globo made a special and unprecedented scheme, with reports working in more than 20 locations live.

For CBS News, "Bolsonaro was the latest of several far-right leaders around the globe who have come to power by riding waves of anger and promising to ditch the status quo".

[18][22] According to Le Figaro, "Jair Bolsonaro took office on Tuesday, opening an age of ruptures with many uncertancies related to a far-right leaning of the largest power of the Latin America".

[18][20] Spanish newspaper El País, highlighting the promise to "free Brazil from corruption, criminality and ideological submission", emphasized the alliance of Bolsonaro with U.S. President Donald Trump.

"[25][26] In an interview to the Brazilian version of El País on 7 January, politician Ciro Gomes, who placed third in the first round of the 2018 election, affirmed: "What's unsettling is that he said this in his inauguration speech, something that is projected for history.

[18] Restrictions to the press work during the inauguration were published and criticized by journalists from many sources, national and international, and from organizations such as the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji).

Professionals affirmed they had no access to water or restrooms, that they were confined for around 7 hours, since their arrival until the beginning of the event, with no freedom of movement, and were unable to interview authorities during the coverage.

[28][29] The distribution of the traditional coffee was vetoed and chairs were removed, obliging the professionals to work sitting on the ground, and their snacks had to be placed in transparent bags and apples should be cut up, to avoid being thrown and cause an injury to the president-elect.

[28] Besides that, the new government advisors vetoed movement that could be identified as "sudden" from photographers that raise their cameras, as it could lead a sniper to shoot down the "target".

[28] Journalist and author Miriam Leitão, in her column in the newspaper O Globo, affirmed that covering inaugurations since general João Figueiredo, the last president of the military dictatorship, "there nothing so restrict".

[28][30] According to her, "it is clear that the security of president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, and from the heads of State who are among us, need rule enforcement, but what is happening to journalists is unthinkable and unacceptable".

[30] Under the title "A dog day" in her column in the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, journalist Mônica Bergamo described the event as "something never seen since the redemocratization of the country, in which the opening of a new elect government was always a festivity closely watched, and with almost full freedom of movement by the press workers".

[28][29] "The Abraji protests against this anti-democratic treatment given to the professionals that are there to broadcast to the public the historical recordings of this moment", concluded the entity in the statement.

[29] Foreign correspondents also got angry and professionals from China and France abandoned the inauguration coverage, complaining about the treatment given to journalists, mainly about the fact that they were placed in a room with no windows in the underground of the Itamaraty press are with one television, not possible to freely circulate and film the population.