By Maira Magro
The states of Ceará, São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Bahia, Piauí, and Alagoas are considering creating communications monitoring agencies, Folha de S. Paulo and O Globo report.
The proposed agencies could have the power to monitor compliance to broadcast laws, denounce prejudiced reporting, promote media independence and pluralism, and defend the public interest in media issues.
On one side, critics like the National Newspaper Association (ANJ), the Brazilian Association of Radio Broadcasters, and the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) see the agencies as threats to press freedom and argue state media regulations are unconstitutional. On the other, the National Journalists Federation (FENAJ), the National Forum for the Democratization of Communication (FNDC), the Brazilian Social Communication Collective, and other community and groups and activists support the proposed regulations, which they see as “far from a censorship attempt.”
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.
