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During the presentation of our annual survey,
Attacks on the
Press, in Sao Paulo, there was clear concern about the ability of the
local media to report on issues of public interest without judicial
interference.
Journalists for three of the largest national dailies--O Estado de Sao Paulo, Folha
de Sao Paulo, and O Globo--together
with reporters for Sao Paulo's main radio stations and a group of local
advocates, gathered at the Blue Tree Hotel in the booming Brazilian city to
hear perspective on the status of press freedom in the country.
The event was organized jointly with the
Brazilian association of investigative journalists, known as ABRAJI. Widely respected among local reporters,
ABRAJI was founded in 2002 by some of the country's most prominent journalists and
has made great strides in promoting investigative journalism throughout Brazil.
The organization has already trained and educated 4,000 journalists, and has a
program that monitors press freedom violations.
Fernando
Rodriguez--president
of the group's board of directors, and one of Folha de Sao Paulo's most prominent journalists--made a brief
introduction and stressed the importance of CPJ's decision to select Brazil for
the book's regional launch.
My
essay in Attacks on censorship
caught widespread attention in the local media. Fully aware that politicized
decisions by the judiciary are hindering coverage on sensitive issues, the
Brazilian press was excited to know that this troubling pattern affecting free
expression has been laid bare to a wider international audience.
This interest resulted in extensive media
coverage: "Media Censorship in Latin America Has Reached Its Highest Level,
said CPJ," read Folha's headline. O Estado published a story announcing the launch on Tuesday, and
focused on Google's 2010 report, which said that Brazilian authorities had demanded that
content be removed from the company's servers on 398 occasions in the first six
months of the year, in its Wednesday's edition. Rio de
Janeiro's national daily O Globo
looked into journalists killed and imprisoned in its coverage of the report.
During lunch on Wednesday with some of
the top executives with the association of Brazilian publishers (known as ANJ), it was clear
that the judicial ban on O Estado preventing the paper and its
website from reporting on a corruption investigation involving the family
of Senate President José Sarney has created a unified front of
media working together against censorship.
The Brazilian federal government has also
been extremely receptive to CPJ's report. As a proof of that, meetings with
four top government officials in the administration of President Dilma Rousseff
have been confirmed for today and Friday. Minister of Communication Paulo
Bernardo, Human Rights Minister Maria do Rosário, Secretary of Communications Helena
Chagas, and the president of the Supreme Federal Tribunal, Cezar Peluso, will
receive copies of Attacks, and
hopefully engage in vital discussions on the most pressing issues affecting the
work of the Brazilian press.
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Vuestro trabajo es magnífico, gracias por su apoyo brindado durante mi periodo de encierro; Resulta realmente desastrosa la situación de los periodistas en Latinoamerica, Cuba es la peor de todas, nadie puede disentír, y a raiz de los sucesos del mundo Árabe la represión contra los Blogueros y periodistas independientes se ha visto en un grado increscendo, y muy peligroso; Las diferentes redes sociales están desempeñando un papel preponderante en cuanto a los llamados de libertad, y eso irrita a los Dictadores que ven temblar su trono Cesariano.