By Maira Magro
Franklin Martins, the minister in charge of government advertising and relations with the media, said that Brazil was preparing a media bill that will reach Congress before the end of the year, BBC Brasil reports. According to O Estado de S. Paulo, the proposal includes the creation of a government agency in charge of regulation.
“In Europe it is common to have agencies that monitor content. Not as censorship, but to ensure regional and independent production, rules for balance,” he said. Martins also defended President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s recent statements criticizing the media’s coverage of the election, saying “freedom of the press doesn’t guarantee that the press is good,” BBC explains.
According to Estadão, the bill will be presented after the International Seminar on a Regulatory Framework for Broadcast, Social Communication, and Telecommunications, on Nov. 9-10, in Brasilia.
Responding to the minister’s remarks, the president of the Brazilian Press Association (ABI) said the group was opposed to any attempt to regulate the press, Estadão adds.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
