By Maira Magro
In the lead-up to the Oct. 3 Brazilian elections, industry groups have released reports documenting threats to free expression in the country.
A report by the National Newspaper Association (ANJ) highlights 70 different attacks on press freedom over the last two years, Estado de S. Paulo reports. They include instances of censorship, intimidation, and aggression against journalists from September 2008 to September 2010. The document also stresses the increase in court rulings stopping newspapers from reporting on certain topics, often those involving politically and economically powerful individuals.
Intervozes: The Brazilian Social Communication Collective, a group that advocates media democratization, released a report emphasizing other threats to free expression. Intervozes says the lack of regulation in the sector has led to concentrated ownership of media outlets and, consequently, has reduced the diversity of opinions that are published and broadcast. “Today, the reality is a system that is predominately commercial, concentrated, and exclusionary, in that the majority of society doesn’t participate and doesn’t have the means to share their points of view,” the document says.
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.
