On the floor of the Brazilian Senate, legislators called for a vote “as soon as possible” on a constitutional amendment reestablishing the requirement to hold a media-related degree to practice journalism, Agência Senado reports.
Two years ago, Brazil’s Supreme Court struck down the requirement as an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of expression. The National Journalism Union (Fenaj in Portuguese) organized a caravan to the capital April 7 to pressure senators to support the reinstatement of the degree rule.
Bill sponsor Inácio Arruda said quick passage is necessary to correct the “difficult situation” of having “one of the most important professional categories in Brazil without any type of regulation.”
Constitutional amendments reinstating the requirement are pending in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
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.
