In recent years, there has been a growing academic interest in newsreels, historically neglected by cinema and film studies. This revision has proven particularly relevant when applied to the Brazilian context, where the format was a significant part of national production for decades, with the direct involvement of the state apparatus, which placed trust in the newsreel to shape the masses. Generally, the literature examines the textual dimension of official films and their relation to political propaganda. However, such a film-centered approach runs the risk of idealizing the functioning of the state propaganda apparatus and understanding it as a monolithic bloc. In line with the leading premises of the subfield of newsreel studies for a contextual and inter disciplinary approach, the objective of this study is to analyze the reception of Brazilian National Agency's newsreels in the 1970s, during the country’s civil-military dictatorship (1964-1985), to provide a more complex scenario. Bulletins from the 1st National Communication Congress, held at the Brazilian Press Association (ABI) (1971), an institution aligned with the regime, and interviews with National Agency directors in the press outline the need torebrand the worn-out newsreel in the face of the advancement of television and its historical relationship with propaganda. The establishment of a new series entitled 'Brasil Hoje' [Brazil Today], the world's first color newsreel, and an expansion of production would take place, but with the advancement of political openness from 1974 onwards—although still in the context of the military dictatorship, which would only end in 1985—negative criticism of the films became more common in the newspapers of the time. Debates pointed out the technical deficiency, the propaganda discourse of films, and the negative consequences posed to the national short film due to unfair competition. In 1979, official newsreel production in Brazil would be discontinued.