In 2008...

Twenty years of military dictatorship in Brazil, which had seen widespread repression of civil and political rights, came to an end in 1985. In 1987, the fifth Constitutional Assembly was called to draft a new Brazilian Constitution, based on democratic values and protecting sovereignty, dignity, political pluralism and the rights of citizens. In common with other democratic constitutions, the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 forbids all kinds of censorship – political, ideological and artistic.

In 1989, the first direct presidential elections in 29 years brought Fernando Collor de Mello to power; he was impeached in 1992. Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1997. In 2001 the main opposition party, The Workers’ Party, was elected and Luis Inácio Lula da Silva took office as the first leftist President of Brazil. He was re-elected in 2006 with 60.4 per cent of the vote. The presidential elections of 2006 took place in an atmosphere of political crisis. Several Workers’ Party parliamentarians were accused of corruption. In spite of the large number of allegations against members of his party, which were extensively covered in the Brazilian media, President Lula’s image was not directly affected.

Legal and Regulatory Framework

Articles 5 and 220 of the 1988 Constitution protect freedom of expression and information. Accordingly, Brazilian law guarantees the right to express thoughts and opinions freely and the right to intellectual and artistic freedom. Freedom of information and confidentiality of sources are also protected.

There are no laws specifically regulating freedom of expression, but many related issues – such as access to public archives, the functioning of media outlets, the professional exercise of journalism and requirements for establishing community radio stations – are regulated by law.

‘Censorship is forbidden in all its forms. However, the right to compensation is guaranteed for those whose honour or privacy are violated and who suffer material or moral damage as a result.’

According to constitutional provisions, relevant scholarship and case law in the area, the only restrictions on freedom of expression are those requiring the identity of the publisher to be known (prohibition of anonymity); providing for the right of reply; and those relating to the protection of honour and privacy.

Censorship is forbidden in all its forms. However, the right to compensation is guaranteed for those whose honour or privacy are violated and who suffer material or moral damage as a result. The 1940 Criminal Code includes a chapter on ‘crimes against honour’, which include defamation and calumny. Lawsuits, especially for civil defamation, have for many years been used to curtail freedom of the press.

Although Article 5 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of information, there is as yet no legislation specifically guaranteeing access to information in Brazil. Consequently, the exercise of the constitutional right to information is limited by the absence of legally defined procedures for requesting information and legal sanctions against public officials who refuse to grant access to information. During the 2006 electoral campaign, President Lula promised to promote the enactment of a law on freedom of information; a draft law was before Congress at the time of writing.

The 1967 Press Law (Law No. 5250/67), which was adopted under the military dictatorship, remains in force. It provides for heavy penalties for defamation and libel. For example, defamation can carry a sentence of up to three years’ imprisonment. Politicians have often resorted to using the Press Law in order to silence journalists who have criticised their policies or actions.

The Electoral Law contains provisions regulating media coverage of elections. Legal action can be brought against media outlets accused of pre-election propaganda in favour of individual candidates in the three-month period leading up to the poll. For example, in September 2006, a local television station in Manaus was closed down for 24 hours by a judicial decision in a lawsuit filed by the Governor of the State of Amazonas. The lawsuit had been prompted by TV A Crítica’s repeated broadcast of reports of corruption by the State administration.

Access to public information is partially regulated by Law 11111/05. Although this does not set out procedures, deadlines or responsibilities in relation to requests for information, it did establish a Commission for Verification and Assessment of Confidentiality within the Federal Executive to review and decide on the classification of public information. Law 11111/05 modifies the provisions of a 1991 law that set a 30-year period of non-disclosure, with the possibility of extending this period by an additional 30 years. The new law gives the Commission the power to extend non-disclosure indefinitely to protect documents considered ‘imperative to the safety of the State or society’.

Political Expression

Reporting of the 2006 election campaign raised concerns about the impartiality of local media. The influence of media outlets over public opinion in Brazil, especially on political issues, is significant. The high concentration of media ownership among families with overt links to traditional political elites brings into question the ability of these media to remain impartial.

During 2006 and 2007 repeated allegations of corruption, especially against politicians at the federal level (many directly or indirectly related to President Lula), created a persistent atmosphere of scandal, with serious, and intentional, consequences for political stability. The campaign of allegations reached a peak during the run-up to presidential elections in late 2006. Television broadcasting reaches more than 90 per cent of Brazilian homes and the radio between 86 and 88 per cent. According to research carried out by the Social News Agency in 2006, a third of senators and more than 10 per cent of representatives in the lower chamber (deputados) elected in 2006 control concessions for operating radio and television stations in the public interest granted by the State to private companies. At the time of writing it was not known how many deputados had relatives who held such broadcasting concessions, although Professor Venício de Lima of the University of Brasilia put the number at more than 100. In 2005, a lawsuit had been filed on the basis that Article 54 of the Constitution prohibits legislators from being associated with private companies awarded concessions to provide public interest services. However, the Attorney General considered that the situation did not constitute ‘unlawful activity’.

News Media

The concentration of broadcasting outlets and newspapers in the hands of a very limited group of media investors is a concern. New technologies such as broadband Internet services and cable television are controlled by a few media groups based in large cities. The limited number of service providers restricts the diversity of news and information available.

Private companies dominate the communications and media sectors in Brazil. Some 80 per cent of television channels, serving 90 per cent of the national audience and receiving 95 per cent of the profits in the sector nationally, are controlled by private outlets. As the National Forum for the Democratization of Communication has pointed out, broadcasting in Brazil is characterised by inconsistent public policies, economic concentration that leads to unfair competition, abusive use of political influence in the granting of concessions and excessive commercial exploitation of a service that should aim at cultural and public interest goals.

The creation of a public broadcasting system is currently being debated in Brazil. According to Article 223 of the 1988 Constitution, broadcasting in Brazil is composed of private, State and public systems, which should be mutually complementary. However, to date the different systems have not been regulated. There’s a public commitment to launch it before the end of the year. It will be done through an act of the Executive (Medida Provisória) by October 2007. If approved, the act would create the Brazilian Public TV Broadcasting Network, which the government announced is going to start broadcasting in December. Civil society has mobilised to press the drafting team (composed of representatives of the Ministries for Education, Culture and Communication) to abide by international human rights standards in the area.

According to the National Forum for the Democratization of Communication, there are approximately 6,000 community radio stations in Brazil. These broadcast to limited areas and are mainly dedicated to broadcasting local news, debating local problems, promoting neighbourhood artists and publicising other local initiatives and issues. According to Law 9612, adopted in 1998 to regulate the sector, community radio stations are required to register and obtain a permit from the Ministry of Communication. In many cities, however, it was not possible to file registration requests for several years after the law was passed, because the government had not yet opened the bidding process, which is carried out municipally; in São Paulo, for example, requests could not be filed until 2006. In other cities, radio stations have waited for long periods without receiving any reply to their registration requests. Community radio stations argue that they have no choice but to operate underground if they want to continue broadcasting. Police have raided dozens of stations operating without licences, confiscating equipment and closing down the stations. At the same time media campaigns by large commercial outlets warn of the supposed dangers of ‘pirate radios’, including interference in air traffic control.

New Technologies

Internet access has increased in Brazil over the past 10 years. The number of Internet users rose from 5,000 in 1990 (when access to the Internet was first made available in Brazil to research and academic institutions) to 31.2 million in 2005. However, the increase is concentrated in specific sections of Brazilian society – determined by income or regional origin. A study carried out in 2006 by the Internet Management Committee in Brazil showed that 54.3 per cent of the Brazilian population has never used a computer and 66.7 per cent has never navigated the Internet. The poll also pointed out that only 19.6 per cent of Brazilian homes have a computer and in the Northeast region the figure is as low as 8.5 per cent, reflecting the risk that growth in Internet access will mirror the pattern of inequality in other areas of Brazil’s social and economic development.

Repression of Media Workers

Violence against media workers is still common in Brazil. Most cases involve harassment of journalists who expose corruption, mismanagement or improper behaviour by politicians. Impunity is a major concern; in only a few cases are the perpetrators prosecuted and, in those rare cases which result in convictions, punishments tend to be disproportionately lenient.

Among the cases of physical attacks on media workers recorded between April 2006 and March 2007, were: the assault by private security guards working for the Governor of the State of Rio on a photographer covering the governor’s so-called hunger strike in protest at what he claimed were false corruption charges against him; the beating by an electoral campaign worker of a journalist investigating irregularities in the electoral campaign of a candidate to the State legislature; the attack by a military police officer on a photographer interviewing victims about a case of land contamination; attacks and death threats against a television show host after he broadcast allegations of corruption and misappropriation of public funds against the local mayor.

Several media workers were harassed during the period April 2006 to March 2007. For example, the largest media group in the State of Espírito Santo had its phone tapped by police. The authorities claimed this was an administrative error, but nevertheless took 45 days to rectify the problem. During this time many of the group’s media outlets experienced interference with their communications. In another case, a reporter received anonymous death threats by phone, including to members of her family, after publishing a news article on irregularities within the Rio de Janeiro Scientific-Medical Investigative Department. In the State of Paraná, the distribution team of a newspaper in the city of Joinville was prevented from distributing the newspaper by individuals claiming to be police officers. In Vitória, State of Espírito Santo, a journalist received death threats following the publication of articles reporting on a parliamentary investigation into abusive use of phone-tapping by the police.

‘Violence against media workers is still common in Brazil. Most cases involve harassment of journalists who expose corruption, mismanagement or improper behaviour by politicians.’

A number of media workers have also been killed for exposing abuses and corruption. For example, Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho was shot in May 2007 by two unidentified men. He was killed after he exposed a child-trafficking racket in the state of São Paulo. In July 2006, freelance journalist Ajuricaba Monassa de Paula was beaten to death by a local politician in the city of Guapimirim, State of Rio de Janeiro. The journalist had reported corruption and other illegal practices by his aggressor.

Several media outlets have been attacked, including a number of newspaper offices. For example, in April 2007, the offices of the newspaper Tribuna do Povo in Minas Gerais were destroyed by fire following the newspaper’s investigation of allegations of mismanagement of funds by the local administration. In January 2006, a gas bomb, of a type used only by the armed forces, exploded in the reception of a local newspaper in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo. The editor-in-chief believes the bomb was planted in retaliation for the paper’s exposure of organised crime in the area involving civil servants and misuse of traffic fines. In May 2006, four heavily armed men forced their way into the building housing the offices of a local newspaper in São Sebastião, State of São Paulo, and set the printing area on fire. The incident followed the publication of allegations of corruption in local government. The newspaper had reported actions that were against the mayor’s political interest.

Art Censorship

In contrast to Brazil’s period of dictatorship, there is no State agency responsible for the examination of artistic and cultural productions touring the country.

The lack of public funding for art is regarded by some as causing a lack of artistic ventures serving the public interest. Most artists rely on support from private companies which may leave them vulnerable to pressures from special interest groups.

Repression of Other Groups

Media representation of minority groups – for example, the frequent treatment of the more than 230 indigenous groups in the country as one cultural group – exacerbates their exclusion from the public sphere. A few mass media companies control almost all public information in the country. As a result, the media usually neither reflect nor represent the diversity of cultures and traditions of specific groups, such as indigenous peoples, African descendants and socio-political groups such as Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (MST). These groups have little opportunity to express their points of view or disseminate news related to their specific interests as they are effectively excluded from the media. Professionals of indigenous and African descent are under-represented in the mass media. Recent research showed that only 5.5 per cent of media professionals are African-Brazilians. Community radio is an important alternative medium, but, as described above, its operation is undermined by cumbersome and inefficient registration procedures.