Analysis
BRASIL You cannot not see The media in the June 2013 demonstrations
Daniel Fonsêca October 2013
The June 2013 protests in Brazil caused a veritable political earthquake. Initially demanding the right to affordable public transportation, hun- dreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets to express their discontent, which gradually came to include the sluggish progress made in public health and education, corruption and high spending on the upcoming sporting events, all the while demanding more rights and the strengthening of democracy in the country.
The media played a decisive role in the protests. While commercial broadcasters sought at first to stigmatize and criminalize the protes- ters as “vandals”, they were later forced to change, at least partially, their editorial stance by the excesses of police violence. Live coverage of the events on the streets by the alternative press provided diversi- fied information and alternative interpretations that were dissemina- ted on the social media, thus contributing to move up the debate on the democratization of communication on the public agenda.
Any political reform must be preceded by a reform of the broadcasting regulatory framework or, at least, of the articles of the Constitution specifically addressing communication. The right to communication is a crosscutting issue as it not only strengthens media plurality, but also ensures civil, economic, and collective rights. Index
What giant are we talking about? The protests - drivers and agendas 5
Free fare for the demonstrations 8
violations against the right to the “city Brazil” 9
The killing and repressive State 13
The commercial media 14
The editorial conduct of the corporate media 17
The alternative media 21
A model demonstration 23
in the way of conclusion: broadcasting regulation and enforcement of rights 25
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“By reversing the increase in fare prices in over one penses incurred to ensure the hosting of mega hundred cities across the country, for a moment the pe- events. ople shifted – and with long-lasting impacts –political control over mass transit management. Forged in the In effect, the Free Fare Movement (MPL, from heat of the barricades, an empowerment experience that the acronym in Portuguese) itself neither took is not just the physical occupation of the cities, as it in- part in nor started the 2013 demonstrations, cludes the way mass transit is organized in the country. as the movement dates back to, at least, 2003, This taking of power is what is frightening state and when an uprising led by students broke out in private managers, who are now trying to reoccupy the Salvador (BA). Nor have activists using black space they lost to the urban workers.” bloc tactics appeared recently, like some pre- Free Fare Movement maturely born offspring of the political setting that has rattled Brazilian cities. The black bloc’s What giant are we talking about? genesis can be traced back to the 1980s in Ger- The protests – drivers and agendas many, their skills honed in the fight against the neoliberal policies during the 2001 demonstra- “The giant awakened!”, rejoiced the many de- tions in Genoa, Italy. monstrators in the streets, their calls echoed massively by the corporate media, whether te- The movements of “June” actually proceeded levised, printed, or “digital”, in reference to the in many cities, including the environmentalist Brazilian people, who would have been asleep movement in Fortaleza (Ceará), the occupation in standing up for their most basic rights. Yet, it of the city council in Belo Horizonte (Minas is worth pointing out that, despite their “June” Gerais), rallies led by indigenous peoples and qualifier, the demonstrations we witnessed in teachers in Porto Alegre, and a number of Brazil are not without precedent; nor are they movements and demonstrations in Rio de Ja- recent or ended that month. neiro (RJ), e.g., protests against the Pope’s vi- sit, against police violence, and for education. The Jornadas de junho, the June protests, as they The discursive construction underpinned on have been called, are still challenging State and the demonstrations’ unprecedented nature and civil society to take a stand in face of broad their purported momentary and “self-contai- public agendas that, if not entirely settled, re- ned” character should, therefore, be analyzed mained contingent in the country. Starting with in perspective. Surely some time had elapsed an issue focused on the right to affordable since the last mass movements had exhibited public transportation in a number of capital such magnitude over a very short period of cities, multiple issues arose ranging from criti- time, as the marches for the impeachment of cism against corruption and the politicians’ re- former President Fernando Collor in 1992 and presentativeness, to the demilitarization of the the pro-direct elections movement Diretas Já! in police, and to opposition against the huge ex- 1983 and 1984.
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The generation born in the late 1980s and early this period of intense occupation of the Brazi- 1990s, widely described as “depoliticized” and lian streets, at least three causes are worth hi- “detached” from everyday life issues, is not ghlighting, since they were possibly, for various “awakening” now. Brazilians now in the 30–35 reasons, the most common to all the protests age range, for instance, were present in several held in the last three months: moments of resistance against the dismantling of the State, the deterioration of socioecono- 1) mass transit and urban mobility, which mic rights, the exorbitant profitability of the show, based on the demonstrations against the capitalist enterprises, and other hallmarks often fare hike, how central the issue of the right to associated with the apogee of neoliberal thou- the city has become in the last decades. Though ght, which was erected in Brazil precisely over focused on the price to have access to the mass the last 25 years and reached its zenith in the transit system, the demonstrators became fully second half of the 1990s. aware that the urban services provided by go- vernment agencies had exceeded their capacity, Internationally the milestones of that historic a situation that, ultimately, may have prompted moment were the November 1999 demons- the massive adherence to the demonstrations; trations against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle, the demonstrations in Pra- 2) state violence that represses, murders or gue against the International Monetary Fund “disappears” people, made clear after June (IMF) and World Bank meeting in September by the violence deployed by the military police 2000, and that same year in December, against against the demonstrators, the killing of Maré the European Council in Nice, plus the protests residents, and the missing case of Amarildo de against the G8 meeting in Genoa, in July 2001. Souza, a resident of the Rocinha slum never From this period came great part of the politi- to be seen again after he was taken by a Rio de cal and organizational references today perva- Janeiro Military Police car, and; ding the collectives, networks, fronts, and other social organizations that have played a key role 3) the conflicting information provided in the June demonstrations, either as direct ac- and little verisimilitude in the representa- tion activists or broadcasting producers. tion of the demonstrations by the media, as assessed on the ground by nearly all of the The last months have evidenced the strangling millions of movement participants who shook of the quality of life of and the very right to the country in those weeks. This led to TV ne- exist and commute (come and go) in medium tworks, newspapers and magazines also being and large Brazilian metropolises. This triggered remembered in the protests not only as poten- a chain reaction of protests that started in Por- tial “manipulators”, but also as part of an agen- to Alegre (RS), then moved to São Paulo, and da that encompasses democratizing the media spread throughout the country in June. During and the right to communication.
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Other agendas also crossed Brazil in the June 6. Against other Human Rights’ violations; 7. and later demonstrations. The 2014 FIFA Social legacy and broadening of rights; 8. No World Cup, hitherto heralded by governments to the “city of exception”; and 9) For a Sports and the corporate media as the crowning of the and Culture policy. rising and prosperous moment experienced by the country’s economy, shifted from hope of Weakened by the wide media coverage of un- redemption from good part of the daily pro- relenting demonstrations in Rio de Janeiro, not blems faced by the population in the cities to surprisingly Governor Sérgio Cabral (PMDB) enemy number two of the rights expected by went back on his decision to tear down the Júlio that very same population, only trailing behind Delamare Water Park and the Indian Museum lawmakers and executive officials. Huge spen- and, a few days later, announced that the Célio ding (including overpricing), the disenfranchi- de Barros Track and Field Stadium would also sement of rights (i.e., evictions in host cities), be preserved, breaching an agreement previou- and the imposition of rules, granting of bene- sly made with the consortium building the Ma- fits, and suppression of laws to benefit Fifa, a racanã Complex. Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes private entity, triggered a concentration of dis- (PMDB), followed suit and also went back on satisfaction. his decision to remove some 500 families living in the Vila Autódromo community, in Rio’s East In a series of denouncements made before any Side, even though, as yet, the executive order has sign of a massive uprising, tens of social mo- not been issued. According to the Popular Com- vements came together in the twelve host cities mittee, the City informed that “the removal was and organized the World Cup Popular Com- necessary to render possible the construction mittees, and the Olympic Games in the case of of the Olympic Park’s sports facilities”. Once Rio de Janeiro. The goal of the committees1 again, the repercussion of the demonstrations is to demand, in the midst of growing private would force a ruler to change positions. appropriation of urban space and rights’ viola- tions, a basic agenda that will ensure the right In face of the myriad themes echoed in the to the city: 1. Participation / Public Consulta- streets, one should be cautious of any unop- tions; 2. Transparency and access to informa- posed agenda or claim, one failing to generate at tion; 3. Budget (priorities); 4) Labor rights; 5. least one controversy and usually hyped by the Zero eviction for the Cup and the Olympics; mainstream media. Put by the media in broad terms, as if seeking to encompass the univer- sal themes that would represent the “nation’s” yearnings, this agenda, overall, is most conser- 1. World Cup and Rio de Janeiro Olympics Popular Com- mittee. Megaeventos e Violações dos Direitos Humanos no Rio de vative and reactionary, while also containing Janeiro: May 2013 Dossier. [Mega events and Human Rights’ the most perilous intentions. In practice, in the Violations] Available at
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onstrations, the media concealed any mention tion fares had already happened in Natal and to such issues as project of society, ideological in Porto Alegre. Between the two a common angles, or more structure-targeting protests. denominator – the Free Fare Movement. If not directly engaged in the protests for lack With the second week of protests, after June of members in a given city, the group’s politi- 13, the day São Paulo saw its most violent cal and organizational principles set the tone crackdown, the claims and social composition of the popular expression on the streets. The of the demonstrators became less distinguish- breadth of their understanding of the city and able, with agendas both generic and sterile. Ex- the rights associated with the organization’s amples showcasing the attempt to remove poli- main cause, transportation, is the first clue to tics from the street protests, mostly driven by understand the movement’s purposes. the corporate media, include “against corrup- tion” –but who’s in favor of that?; “Let’s take The MPL conceives of circulation and mobility the streets”, simply –who’s against that?; “No in the cities not only as core processes for the violence” – who wants it and what violence is realization of capital, but also as strategies to meant?; “In defense of Brazil” – what are the achieve the most basic rights, such as the free- goals of such chauvinism?; and “No vandal- dom to come and go and social existence in the ism” – what kind, against what? cities itself. Workers, in this case, would be the most affected party, since their right to mobility Without being further clarified, these watch is basically limited to the home-job route, pre- words are mere mantras that perambulate with venting access to other less instrumental spaces the demonstrations, camouflaging vested in- – cultural, leisure, sports, etc. terests. In the same period, among the events circulating on the digital social media one The precursors to the movement were the up- would catch a glimpse here and there of what risings in Salvador that came to be known as these tautological agendas might actually mean: the “Bus Uprising” (Revolta do Buzu) in August “2014 Military Coup”, “March of the Families 2003. Later, collectives by similar social seg- with God in the Reconstruction of Brazil (For ments, inspired by the example of Bahia, staged Life, Freedom and Democracy, against com- the “Turnstile Uprising” (Revolta da Catraca) in munism)” and “General Strike – Let’s show Florianópolis in 2004. In these uprisings, the oc- [them] who runs this country”. cupation of bus terminals and blockades of the cities’ largest thoroughfares were the most com- Free fare for the demonstrations mon actions, as were state police crackdowns. In the end, the demonstrators managed to have the It was in the city outskirts, precisely on M’Boi hikes revoked. These two historical milestones Mirim Road, that everything started. Before became the cornerstones for the founding of that, demonstrations against public transporta- the MPL at the 2005 World Social Forum.
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However, the demand after which the group Chart 1 is named became too small in light of the di- Timeline agnosis its members made of the struggle for the “reappropriation of the public space”. In 2003 Bus Uprising in Salvador (August-September). 2004 Turnstile Uprising derails fare hike in the beginning, the main cause was the free Florianópolis (June) and enacts the free student bus pass for students. To the MPL, there was fare bill (October 26); the Free Fare Committee appears in São Paulo. no point in restricting their claim to just one 2005 MPL-Brasil founding plenary session at the 5th social category because, when fares rose, the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre (January); whole of society was affected, leading to un- fight against the hike in São Paulo (February); 2nd Turnstile Uprising bars fare hike in equal access to transportation. The students Florianópolis (June); demonstrations revoke were not the only ones to have their right to fare hike in Vitória (July). the city curtailed. Thus, it was imperative to 2006 National Meeting of the Free Fare Movement (June); struggle against fare hike in São Paulo broaden the audience benefitting from the ur- (November-December). ban space. 2008 Great struggle against hikes in the Federal District (October). 2009 Enactment of the free student pass in the Driven by the Zero Fare Project, planned by Federal District (July); occupation of the City the City of São Paulo in the early 1990s during of São Paulo’s Transportation Department (November). the Luiza Erundina administration, the MPL 2010 Struggle against fare hikes in São Paulo adopted the free public transportation ban- (January). ner. From then on the movement began to see 2011 Struggle against fare hikes in São Paulo and several capital cities (January-March); rallies transportation as a right that is necessary for revoke fare hike in Teresina (August). the accomplishment of other rights, insofar as 2013 Struggles in the São Paulo metropolitan region it ensures access to other public services. succeed in revoking bus fare hike in Taboão da Serra (January); demonstration defeats hike in Porto Alegre (April); June Protests defeat fare Violations against the right hikes in over 100 hundred cities. to the “city Brazil” Source: MPL, in “Cidades Rebeldes” (Boitempo, 2013).
Today, if the megalopolises – with Rio and São Paulo as highlights in the Brazilian case – “are modate these people and provide them with the brightest stars in the urban firmament”, services”, Mike Davis warns (2006, p. 192). about 75% of demographic growth is support- ed by “second-tier and smaller urban areas”. In One of the most salient reminders of this “ad- these places, as emphasized by UN research- ministrative” abandonment by the State is the ers,2 “there is little or no planning to accom- slums.3 While conventional wisdom portrayed
2. UN-Habitat, The challenge of slums: global report on human settlements 2003 (London, 2003). 3. Slums, as used by Mike Davis (2006).
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a slum as a decadent downtown tenement “microstates”. While some neighborhoods or house, the new slums are located, in general, at “zones” have a concentration (even a surplus) the edge of the urban spatial explosions. This of public and private urban services, others are is the most superficial foam of “over-urbaniza- granted State missions for the purpose of es- tion”, in which the cities’ swelling process is no tablishing “peace”, cleaning, order. longer accompanied by economic growth or, even less, by any broadening of social rights. Historical cases of gentrified urban territories in Brazil are not recent, with the city of Rio de A number of possibilities exist to face the Janeiro once again imposing itself as a “precur- reality posed by the cities, which have always sor” to and “role model” for actions designed been seen as “a meeting place, a place of dif- to geographically, socially, and economically ference and creative interaction, a place where marginalize entire communities, a process that disorder has its uses and visions, [and] cul- started in the late 19th century and has moved tural forms and competing individual wishes up to, at least, the hosting of mega-events and clash”, as indicated by David Harvey (2013, the execution of mega-projects that are spread- p. 30). Yet, this difference can also lead to ing across the city in this early 21st century. intolerance (violence) and segregation (ghet- toes), marginality (not segregated, but highly The State (especially state governments, city instrumental to the situation), and exclusion halls and the Union), under the guise of an (foremost as reserve army). equidistant and objective mediator of the con- troversies embedded in society, would have the These are processes that help build a rather fa- task of determining legal changes, instituting vorable terrain for major confrontations. Yet public policies, and executing administrative Harvey argues that “we cannot allow fear [of actions to endow the urban space with the ideal violence] to frighten and stagnate us into sense- conditions to serve as business arena. In this less passivity. Avoiding conflict is no response: process, violations of rights and physical and falling back to such a state is detaching oneself symbolic violence are perverse and leave no from the urbanization process, thus losing the doubt about the cause and effect relation of prospect of exercising any right to the city”. the deepening of inequalities stemming from the distribution of city space and benefits. The State always mediates the urban space in favor of specific classes or social groups,- se Records abound that confirm the governments’ lectively, in an action coordinated by States violating drive, including displacement of com- and hegemonic classes. The outcome thereof munities, interrupting entire the repertoires of is the “apartheid” city, which, in the develop- whole lives; closure of streets and sidewalks, ing world, “is splitting into different separated thus eliminating their public character on an parts, with the apparent formation of many indefinite basis; privatization of state-run in-
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frastructure, generally by resorting to scarcely ment; rights and freedoms have priority over transparent and democratic tools; deprivation democracy; the law and public-private part- of civil liberties, such as the rights to organiza- nerships, made without transparency, replaced tion, demonstration, and expression, in order democratic institutions; the anarchy of the to ensure that events and works can be carried market and competitive entrepreneurship re- out normally. placed deliberative capacities based on social solidarity”, points out Harvey (2013, pp. 32- “Yet it is with the public transportation condi- 33). This is highly elucidative for understanding tions that the cities end up collecting the high- the means on which rulers of every sphere rely est share of sacrifice from their residents. And to carry out mega-events and mega-projects while the worsening of mobility is widespread, such as those that invaded the largest Brazilian that is, affecting all, it is from the lowest income metropolises in the past decade. strata that it will charge the highest price in im- mobility”, identifies Ermínia Maricato (2013, p. Against this setting of rendering social rights 24). Obviously, it is not possible to compare, in and the public status of urban territories flex- essence, the issue of public transportation with ible, Rio de Janeiro presents itself, sided by the extermination of lives, the attempt against the other 2014 Soccer World Cup host cities, the right to housing with other equally serious as a “city-business” laboratory model. What’s rights’ violations as occur day in and out in the more, this configuration provides a view into outskirts and slums of the metropolises. forms of control and domination, undermin- ing the political negotiation rationale that, at Moreover, the idea must be discarded that, least at first sight, formerly mediated relations under the argument of the existence of pre- between governments and civil society, today determined possibilities, so dear to the logic increasingly conducted by police force, sup- of realpolitik, the right to the city can only pressing minimal freedoms which assumedly be demanded from the State if limited to al- had already been achieved and were ordinary ready given conditions, as if “equal opportuni- claims in the days of conventional dictatorial ties” sufficed, this overarching expression de- regimes, as the Brazilian civilian-military dicta- signed to camouflage actual urbaninequalities . torship (1964-1985). However, herein lies an additional difficulty: In the last decades, neoliberalism reshaped or As recalled by Nicolau Sevcenko (2004, p. 29), even destroyed several city “policymaking” the organizing of the urban environments in frameworks. Brazil took ambivalent roads. “On one side we had the organization and politicization of the In this context, management and participatory communities of the suburban districts, pres- processes are transformed in line with these suring the authorities for the legalization of changes: “Governance replaces the govern- properties and forcing investments in trans-
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portation, services, and infrastructure. On of Rio de Janeiro’s Governor Sérgio Cabral, is the other, the emergence of planners’ and de- directly linked to the provision of legal servi- velopers’ lobbies engaged in changing codes, ces to a major client, MetrôRio, the company statutes, and templates in order to capitalize awarded a concession by the State to run the private megaprojects, by creating exclusive ar- subway service. Also included in the law firm’s eas, circulation privileges and specializing in portfolio6 are Supervia, the company managing the art of leveraging public areas and equip- Rio’s urban trains and the Complexo do Alemão ment for speculative, promotional, and per- cable car; Telemar, which holds a controlling sonal purposes”. stake at mobile telephony company Oi; energy company Light; and security (Facility) and he- This paradox is made evident with the São Pau- alth services (Amil) providers. lo subway bidding process,4 in which compa- nies like French transnational Alstom, Canada’s These examples prove how the cities are the Bombardier, Spain’s CAF, and Japan’s Mitsui primary centers of capitalist socialization and were accused of participating in frauds as de- how the State vests in itself the role of ratifier nounced by Germany’s Siemens, Europe’s larg- and promoter of the process. “It is socialization est engineering conglomerate. According to the because it will be not be undertaken by private denouncements, after being awarded the con- capital directly; it is capitalist because there are tract, these companies usually subcontracted a few beneficiaries, according to a hierarchy ema- third party to receive kickbacks in the form of nating from the beneficiaries’ power”, explains services delivered. Milton Santos (2009, p. 118, author’s italics).
To a lesser extent, yet in the same transporta- Thus, the realization of profits and the accu- tion sector, the case of the sudden growth of mulation of wealth are made possible through the law firm run by Adriana Ancelmo,5 the wife the expropriation of the residents’ collective efforts, in the form of taxes, operating high- -value transfers of the population’s income to a few people and companies. This is, therefo- 4. Catia Seabra; Juliana Sofia; Dimmi Amora. Empresa re, “a selective process that affects economic alemã Siemens delata cartel em licitações do metrô de SP [German company Siemens denounces cartel in Sáo Paulo actors differently and, thus, makes the State a subway bids]. Folha de S. Paulo, July 14, 2013. Available at
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The killing and repressive State was held in their memory, in addition to de- manding punishment for the officers involved The violence used by the State against the civi- in the episode. lian population was made evident in at least two emblematic cases: The disappearance of Ama- Besides these cases, absurdly ordinary in the rildo de Souza, a resident of the Rocinha slum daily life of those living in slums and poor nei- who was never seen again after being taken in ghborhoods across the country, what drew the a Rio de Janeiro Military Police vehicle on July attention of the demonstrators to the agenda 14, and the killings of ten Maré slum residents of demilitarization of the police was the vio- in the early hours of June 25, during an inva- lent crackdown many people from diverse so- sion by the Special Police Operations Battalion cioeconomic groups endured during the pro- (Bope, from the Portuguese acronym). Amaril- tests. Much of the movement’s growth owes to do was not found and the Maré residents had to the deliberate violence used by the São Paulo carry on with the fight against their permanent Military Police on June 13, support that grew coexistence with “resistance to authority”,7 as on June 17 and peaked on June 20 in Rio de are traditionally classified by police reports all Janeiro, when the demonstrators were counted deaths stemming from “confrontation”. by the millions.
More than three months after Amarildo went Violence, as a preventive action to maintain or- missing, at least ten military police officers der, is per se an exception. Usually, it accompa- had been indicted for involvement in the nies the enforcement of any given form of spa- bricklayer’s torture and murder, in what was tial ordering, whether urban or rural. It suffices to become one of the biggest political and so- to see how the police forces act when facing cial consensus agendas of Rio de Janeiro since conflicts in Brazil’s countryside, as epitomized the June demonstrations. As for those killed in by the Massacre of Eldorado dos Carajás in Maré’s Nova Holanda slum, in the city’s North 1996, when nineteen members of the Landless Side, they only left the condition of being yet Workers Movement (MST, from the acronym another (wrongly) counted figure in the public in Portuguese) were slaughtered by Pará State’s security statistics on July 2, when a ceremony Military Police in an action ordered by the then Governor Almir Gabriel (PSDB-PA) to reopen a federal highway. 7. Since December 2012, deaths and/or injuries in connec- tion with police operations or confrontations with the poli- ce must be entered in the police reports, according to Reso- The procedures adopted to set up the Pacifying lution nr. 08/2012 issued by the Council for the Defense of Police Units (UPPs, in Portuguese) in Rio de the Rights of the Human Person. The terms “resistance to authority” and “resistance followed by death” should be re- Janeiro are no different from the method used placed by, respectively, “body injury due to police interven- against the peasant movement, compounded by tion” and “death due to police intervention” (information by organization Justiça Global). the fact that the corporate media’s hegemonic
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discourse only quantifies the number of casu- only of political adversaries, but also of whole alties after the deployment of regular and spe- categories of citizens who, for any reason what- cial military police battalions. The arguments soever, might seem unfit to be integrated into recur: They were “involved in drug dealing” or the political system”. had a “police record”. The semantics gets more complex, as this is no longer a mere journalistic Evoking a permanent state of emergency thus be- narrative but a discourse that seeks to conduct, comes an “essential practice of contemporary beforehand, the symbolic, political and even ju- States, including the so-called democratic ones”. dicial trial of broad sectors of the population. Being redundant, given this recurrent resort to this recourse, says Agamben, “the state of ex- In the cities, the language of this expedited pro- ception tends increasingly to appear as the cedure is useful for at least two recurrent pro- dominant paradigm of government in con- cesses of modern urbanization: social gentrifi- temporary politics”. When a measure that was cation and cleansing. Gentrification disguised as originally meant as provisional or exceptional “revitalization” of territories formerly classified becomes, in practice, a “governing technique”, as “degraded” and the cleansing of whole social it begins to transform the very structure of po- classes and segments have set the tone of the wer. “The state of exception presents itself as a policies implemented by the local powers, ge- zone of indetermination between democracy nerally a combination of state and city govern- and absolutism”, he cautions. ments, regardless of electoral antagonism. Tho- se who dictate the cities’ actual “governance” are Drawing a direct analogy, for the functioning not exactly the powers that be but, rather, ma- of this state of exception there is no need for a rket agents interested in the productive capacity coup d’état in Brazil, even less so for the states of the urban milieu. of the federation, which would hardly be the object of isolated ruler destitution. The state The problem is that, somewhat unlike financial of exception, therefore, is not synonymous economics, the cities’ “externalities” get greater with dictatorship, whatever the latter might be, exposure. This is not easily obliterated by aus- but rather “a space devoid of law, a zone of terity policies that submit the sociopolitical and anomie in which all legal determinations – cultural reality to statistics, surveys, and specula- and above all the very distinction between tions of all kinds. In analyzing how these con- public and private – are deactivated”, Agam- flicts were addressed in various different con- ben concludes (2004, p. 78). texts and cases, Giorgio Agamben (2004, p. 13) revisits the definition of modern totalitarianism, The commercial media which can be understood, building on the con- cept of the state of exception, as “a legalized Proposing an interesting interplay between civil war that allows the physical elimination not Machiavelli’s “prince” and Antonio Gramsci’s
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“modern prince”, Octavio Ianni (1999, p. 22- of government in the news coverage (as well as 23) expands the concept to address the media’s in the programming and editorial production) active influence and action. That is, the func- of uprisings, mass demonstrations, or broad tioning of the media cannot be construed by social movements in Brazil. building on the logic of the mirror theory, as if the representations conveyed were merely a Therefore, it is quite inappropriate, as con- “reflection” of social events. On the contrary, cerns conventional wisdom even within the Ianni (1999, p. 16) places emphasis on the tele- more critical sectors, the vision that the media vision, which “has great or preponderant top- is a “fourth estate”, with similar strengths as -down influence on social integration relations, the other branches (executive, legislative, and processes, and structures, spreading across the judiciary), though organized and acting without various spheres of social life”. any restraint from the others. Although quite independent at moments, the media behaves Furthermore, transnational corporations, inte- as a crosscutting power – conditioned by, yet rested in commodities trading and publicity, in also influencing, the other spheres of power. expanding markets and in growing consump- Hence, it is not hard to realize the political and tion, become key agents of the “new” commu- cultural leading role the media has also played nication technologies. Great part of the media in covering the huge protests that emerged in is organized in corporations that are often part Brazil in June. of transnational conglomerates. This affects and even strongly limits the prospect of en- The TV market, in line with “Brazilian capi- visaging the Internet and technology as a re- talism”, clearly reveals the complicity between demption from the state of affairs in which the governments and private capital and how the broadcasting industry is immersed in Brazil. [Brazilian] entrepreneurs depend on the State they so much attack for their survival. For that, The Brazilian media has a very particular char- there is much feedback and even coincidence acteristic, much to the surprise of foreign of interests. Anecdotal, the television debuts professionals and academics: A great part of in Brazil in 1950, with the smuggling of some those awarded radio and television concessions sets by Assis Chateaubriand, who would soon is also formed by politicians – about 30% are give one to President Eurico Gaspar Dutra. senators and 10% representatives. In other Next came Globo (1965), which flourished words, economic power not only coincides, but under the shade of the civilian-military dicta- also collaborates, in flagrant complicity, with torship (1964-1985), which, by investing in in- the institutional political power. Thus, the task frastructure, ensured the necessary conditions is made hard when it comes to distinguishing for the channel to become a network, among between the immediate interests of the media other blessings indicative of complicity with owners from the ends of lawmakers and heads the status quo.
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In exchange there was “global” political sup- least on the streets, since debate on the media port for the repression, a fact not surprisingly itself is still taboo in most commercial media. acknowledged in a mixed tone of apology and justification in an August 31, 2013 edito- Plenary sessions, debates and “aulões”, “big rial in newspaper O Globo, after the business classes” (held in public spaces), took place group was targeted for protests on several oc- in many cities, like the Popular Assembly on casions. This relation also verges on parasit- Democracy in the Media, organized by social ism: A 2012 survey by newspaper Folha de S. movements on June 25 at the São Paulo Mu- Paulo showed that, in its first 18 months, the seum of Arts (Masp). Broadcasting oligopoly, Dilma Rousseff administration awarded more risks to freedom on the Internet, and the me- than R$ 161 million to the corporate media. dia coverage of the demonstrations were some Of this amount, Globo Group alone grabbed of the themes discussed in these events, which R$ 53 million, while Record pocketed R$ 24 were replicated over the following months in a million. And this from the direct federal ad- number of cities. ministration alone. Meanwhile, Globo is being charged with the evasion of millions of reals Also perceptible was the demonstrators’ rejec- in taxes, a fact that is news only for its main tion of the broadcasting market’s greatest icons, competitor. such as the Globo Network. Though not the only problem identified in the Brazilian market, The gap between what was happening in the the company epitomizes the sector’s overcon- streets and what was aired daily by the TV centration and regulatory laxity. On open tele- channels increased the repertoire of criticisms vision, Globo8 controls 73% of all advertising that were already directed at the country’s me- budgets, even though today it only reaches 43% dia concentration. The demonstrators, stig- in audience ratings. On the subscription televi- matized and criminalized under the adjectives sion market, Globosat has a stake in 38 chan- of “vandals”, “rioters”, and “troublemakers”, nels and has veto power in setting the channels responded by taking on the core issue driving of companies NET and SKY, which, together, this spiral of silence: The lack of diversity in control 80% of the subscriptions. Brazil’s broadcasting industry. With the protests came back historical 1980s Thus, in sync with actions in defense of more banners, from the days the broadcasting com- traditional demands, like education and hous- ing, the democratization of communications came to the fore, with specific demonstrations 8. Intervozes. Por que a Globo simboliza os podres da mídia brasileira? [Why does Globo symbolize the wrongdoings of to that end. The right to communication went the Brazilian media?] Observatório do Direito à Comunicação, beyond the critique of the coverage of the facts July 11, 2013. Available at www.direitoacomunicacao.org.br/ content.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9735>. and reached the status of public agenda – at Accessed on October 10, 2013.
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pany neglected the coverage of the pro-direct on an editorial line that is based on the crimi- elections Diretas Já! movement to the em- nalizing, stigmatizing, or even invisibility of blematic case of the edited debate in the 1989 whole social segments, which include, among presidential runoff elections between Fernan- others, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, do Collor and Lula. “The people are no fools; transsexuals, and transvestites (LGBT), black down with Rede Globo!” was now accompa- men and women, women and youths, plus so- nied by “Truth is hard [to face]; Rede Globo cial movements and political groups identified supported the dictatorship”. Banners and plac- with the left along the political spectrum. Yet ards directly criticized the company, underscor- this violence turns mostly against the poor, ing reports of tax evasion that also began in black, and shantytown population, to stick to June. Protests against Globo were called, while an example befitting the city of Rio de Janeiro. demonstrators targeted the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro offices. The clarification of the positions of the media groups comes in the wake of the exacerbation, On July 3, activists concentrated the protests in the public sphere, of conservative thoughts. in a direct attack against Rede Globo in Rio This does not necessarily mean that the Bra- de Janeiro, in São Paulo, and in Fortaleza. Be- zilian society is becoming more conservative, fore, on June 11, militants of the movement yet renders it clear that many, once contingent, for the right to communication, in partnership political and moral issues are more salient now. with art intervention collectives like the Tanq_ With the exposure of the public agendas, the ROSA_Choq, aimed laser beams at the studio media does not abstain from taking sides, as it of news program SPTV and hit newscaster always did, with the dominant socioeconomic Carlos Monforte, who was on live. The action segments. Hence it manifests the agenda ad- was repeated in the end of August, also in the vanced by business associations, employers’ as- course of much criticism by the demonstrators, sociations, agrarian elites, regional oligarchies, this time hitting anchor Monalisa Perrone and and center-right parties, the same social groups parts of the setting. Another tactic used during that have always been at the head of the coun- the protests was the projection of photos and try’s sluggish accomplishment of democracy videos on buildings, including on television and respect for human rights, just to mention company headquarters. two of the broadest demands.
The editorial conduct of the The editorial approaches of the hegemonic corporate media media groups voiced, not by coincidence, the criticisms, agendas, and projects of the po- With the exception of specific cases where it is litical parties located at the most conservative possible to notice an inflection in this coverage, extremity of the political spectrum, like the generally the main media conglomerates agree PSDB, the DEM, and the PPS, all to the right
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of the incumbent Federal Government, head- TV!). The newspapers and weekly magazines ed by the PT and the PMDB. The traditional with the greatest circulation also played a key television channels, radio stations, and news- role in “orienting” the public about the demon- papers favor proposals focused on “new poli- strations, especially the print media produced tics”, like that of the PSB, which has recruited in the Rio-São Paulo axis, like weeklies Veja, eminent names of the agrarian conservatism, Época, and IstoÉ, and newspapers O Globo, such as old leaders of the Rural Democratic Folha de S. Paulo, and O Estado de S. Paulo. Union (UDR), known for its fight against land democratization and its persecution of the ru- The terminology generally used against those ral social movements. participating in the protests, like “vandals” and “rioters”, with the intention of promoting po- During the more recent demonstrations, TV litical and moral judgment by the audience, is channels Record, Bandeirantes, SBT and, es- just the expression of a strategic alliance en- pecially, Globo were accused several times of tered into by the companies to target the dem- “manipulating” the population that was fol- onstrations’ leading actors. This becomes even lowing the events from home. Among other more explicit when we recall Globo’s imme- common practices, the TV channels showed diate interests in the World Cup, over whose fragments of reality disconnected from any broadcasting rights they hold the monopoly, specific context or even devoid of any truth, just like television network Record with regard built narratives only from the point of view of to the Olympic Games. the police forces, and sought to divide the dem- onstrators into the “good” and the “bad”, in an However, in the second week of protests attempt to curb further support, fragment the (between June 13 and 17), it was possible to protests’ organization, and marginalize specific identify clear signs of inflections in the main- groups, especially those who are known as fol- stream media’s rhetoric. After two weeks of lowers of Black Bloc tactics. demonstrations in São Paulo, one of Globo’s top political commentators, Arnaldo Jabor, From a politically hegemonic point of view, handed down his ruling on Globo’s evening they legitimate and ratify the (physical) coercive news program of June 12, “But, after all, what violence that the State, via police forces, de- is it that triggers such violent hatred against ploys against the demonstrators; from a cultural the city? We only saw this when a São Paulo point of view, in the term’s broadest sense, the criminal organization torched tens of buses. media itself carries out symbolic (discursive) This can’t be because of 20 cents. […] Deep violence against broad social groups, demon- down, this is all about huge political ignorance. izing them before the vast audiences they hold, It’s stupidity mixed with aimless rancor”. The remarkably the nationwide television networks journalist also qualified the demonstrators as (Globo, Record, SBT, Bandeirantes, and Rede feeding an “illusion”, a “violent caricature of
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a caricature of 1950s socialism”, and ending 13, would become a milestone both in terms with a punch line alluding to that moment’s of the mass status acquired by the protests and main demand: “These middle-class rebels are of a shift in the editorial course of the most not even worth 20 cents!” important mainstream media, notably the tele- vision networks. On the same June 12, SBT television channel commentator Raquel Sheherazade adopted Ja- On that Thursday, with tens of thousands on bor’s tone and vociferated, “protest is made with the streets of São Paulo, the Military Police, arguments and imposes itself through reason. under orders of Governor Geraldo Alckmin The Paulista Avenue demonstrators lost theirs (PSDB) and, once again, with the support of when they allowed the movement to degener- Mayor Haddad, launched the biggest crack- ate into vandalism – pure and simple. There’s down on social demonstrations ever seen in the no excuse for that!”Criticizing the perspective country’s recent history. The arbitrariness and of the most oft-cited movement that was also violence deployed resembled the action of the leading the demonstrations (MPL), the journal- Brazilian State in 2000, when indigenous move- ist even came to conclude her comment with a ments, peasant organizations, trade unions, and kind of fable’s moral, “There is no free lunch”. other groups voiced their criticism against the The phrase, a mantra credited to liberal econo- overly-nationalistic celebrations for the 500 mist Milton Friedman, would also be the discur- years of the “discovery of Brazil” in a num- sive trait of magazines Época and Veja in their ber of events organized by the Federal Gov- June 24 and 26 issues, respectively, as a way of ernment back in the second half of Fernando distinguishing the “realistic” agenda, as they Henrique Cardoso’s second term of office. classified the political reform, from the “impos- sible” agenda, the adjective used to modify the On the city of São Paulo’s main avenues, pro- proposal for free public transportation fares. testers were hunted down by police officers, indistinctly and without any evidence to “jus- On an official mission to Paris, Governor tify” the detentions. Journalists, photogra- Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB) and São Paulo City phers, and cameramen were also targeted by Mayor Fernando Haddad (PT-SP) also disap- the usual “nonlethal” weapons used by the proved of the demonstrators’ attitude, arguing state riot police battalions: Rubber bullets, tear that the deal agreed upon with the military po- gas, pepper spray, and stun grenades. Profes- lice to end the march and not proceed towards sionals were also detained by or fell victim to Paulista Avenue, the city’s financial center, had the police crackdown, some seriously wounded not been kept. Once again the broadcasting on the face. Without any criterion whatsoever, companies’ and the governments’ speeches the military police also arrested anyone carry- had been harmonized, so aligned as to nearly ing vinegar, used to counter the effect of tear sound in unison. Yet, the following day, June gas. The bottom line was tens of wounded pro-
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testers and more than two hundred people de- tone and splashed [the flag’s] green and -yel tained. On the same day, also in Rio de Janeiro, low in tens of pages with special reports on after a march that went from the Candelária ca- the days that “would change [the country] for thedral to the State Legislature, police officers good”. On their June 24/26 and July 1/3 issues, exhibited lethal weapons in front of the State Veja, Época, and IstoÉ, though still somewhat Assembly and even fired a few rounds in the air politically hued – the third publication slightly in an attempt to hold the crowd back. less averse to the Federal Government that the two others –, looked as if they had been pro- The country’s main television network staged duced by the same newsroom. an inflection that was as evident as it was un- expected. The scenes of the police action in It was after the political dismember- São Paulo were the underlying justification for ment of the demonstrations, carried out by the the public mea culpa by Arnaldo Jabor on the media companies themselves, that the com- same Globo news program, in a sequence that mercial broadcasters reoriented their interpre- hinted at the repositioning of nearly all the tation of the facts unfolding, seeking to pro- other mainstream media vehicles. “At first sight vide a new symbolic driver to the movements. this movement seemed a minor, useless provo- They then started to set an agenda, purport- cation that many wrongly criticized, including edly with demands from “the voices from the me. […] Brazil seemed politically uninhabited. streets”, that included political reform, outright Suddenly, the people have reappeared. […] If criticism of the Federal Government, and even everything turns into pitched battles, this thing the likelihood of a coup against democracy will get destroyed. If it becomes an abstract supposedly being masterminded by the Work- movement, too generic, it will all fade away. A ers Party (PT, from the Portuguese Partido dos new politics is needed that reinvents itself with Trabalhadores) because of a proposal for an ad concrete goals. If all goes well, we are living hoc constitutional assembly dedicated to up- a historical moment, beautiful and new. The dating the electoral law. These were the agen- youth will have taught us a lesson. Democracy das of the top reports by magazines Veja and we already have. Now we have to make a re- Época in the second half of June. public”, the journalist lectured. Weeks later, at some point in time in July, From that moment on, the bulk of the cor- Globo gave clearer signs that it was beginning porate media started to legitimize the demon- to consider as more legitimate the demonstra- strations, provided they were “peaceful” and tions against Governor Sérgio Cabral (PMDB- embraced less threatening banners, preferably RJ). Firstly it denounced, in a story about Pope those linked to nationalist sentiment, as “for Francis’s arrival [in Brazil], on July 22, 2013, on a better Brazil”, or rooted in the fight against its prime time news program, Jornal Nacional corruption. The weeklies followed the editorial (JN), the so-called “P2”, as informally are des-
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ignated the undercover police officers infiltrated media by the governments (including by the in the demonstrations. Despite having allowed police) and of censorship, via moral harass- the commander of the Military Police to have ment and other humiliations taking place inside the last word, it highlighted the detention of two the newsrooms. Standardizing the news’ angle alternative media Mídia Ninja reporters, plus the is in the interest of government and business, arrest of student Bruno Teles, on the same pro- who seek to stigmatize the demonstrators’ im- gram and also on the following day, July 23. age and to delegitimize groups falling out of step with the political orientation hegemonic in On July 26, JN news went live from a demon- the commercial media. stration in Copacabana, reported on the activ- ists’ anti-government agenda, informed a more Popular journalists and communicators have reasonable and credible number of participants, not been spared either from the abusive, un- and made no negative comments about the par- justifiable, and disproportionate violence the ticipants. A while earlier it aired a brief note police forces make use of. Professionals with about the march in São Paulo, where followers public companies and even those with foreign of black bloc tactics were extremely active, attack- agencies continue to be victimized by numer- ing shops, banks, and car dealerships. ous aggressions, and targeted by tear gas and stun grenades, not to mention rubber bullets, Newscaster William Bonner merely said that which have blinded more than one, while oth- “the demonstrators destroyed a few bank agen- ers had respiratory and other health problems. cies and a Military Police base”, yet no Military Many have been detained, “mistaken” for Police representative was interviewed. Rede demonstrators, as if that could justify such Globo, once again adapted itself to the social practices. and political agenda of the “amateur” digital media, which mushroomed on the Internet. The alternative media Live streaming and videos hosted on online platforms were constantly used as evidence of The alternative media (popular, community- abuses and unlawful actions by police forces. based, independent, free), neither seeking profit nor linked to corporate interests or mainstream Over and beyond the editorial orientation of politicians, play a critical role in constituting a the mainstream media, throughout the June to core group to counter the function fulfilled by October 2013 demonstrations, but especially the mainstream media, much stronger in terms in Rio de Janeiro, where street actions have of scope and audience. The communication proceeded, there has been ongoing action to collectives, district papers, community radio inhibit the work of free, alternative, and inde- stations, independent blogs, nongovernmental pendent press professionals, whether in the organizations, and trade union advisory teams form of privileges granted to the commercial rank among the key members of networks and
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initiatives across the country even before the ventional media; 2) stand up for citizenship, June 2013 protests. democratic collective life, and freedom of ex- pression; and 3) oppose the neoliberal “pen- Actually, in periods of sweeping changes, press sée unique”, which subordinates social rights freedom and freedom of expression are indis- to the competitive rationale of the financial pensable both as demands, in the case of a des- markets, concealing the gaping inequality gen- potic State, and as instruments of resistance, erated by the capitalist mode of production confronting symbolically and discursively the (Moraes, 2008, p. 39). hegemonic thought. It happened so during the bourgeois revolutions of the late 18th century, The digital media, as an alternative media an- then during the Independence movements chored in networks and technological sup- of colonized countries (including Brazil), and port, notably the Internet, brings at least three in the height of the anarchist movements in peculiarities: 1) temporality, or new forms of Brazil between the late 19th century and the real-time communication connecting differ- beginning of the last century, when hundreds ent social times; 2) spatiality, or the creation of of dailies circulated the view of the workers’ territorialities from local to global); and 3) so- organizations across the country. ciability, or forms of social relations in terms of scope, intentionality, and connectivity with Often lacking any permanent source of funding, new public sphere dimensions (Scherer-War- these groups rely on their mutual collaboration, ren, 2005, apud Moraes, 2008, p. 43). In other exchanging products and infrastructure, building words, elements dialoguing directly with the ur- on institutional and political solidarity, mostly in ban configurations historicized and described the form of networks and collectives – some of by David Harvey and Milton Santos. which appeared in the midst of myriad demon- strations. Not uncommonly, these experiences In Rio de Janeiro, the Popular Communica- get their inspiration, however indirect, from late tors Collective, existing since at least 2009, 1990s’ initiatives, in the wake of the demonstra- when it debuted in the context of the 1st Na- tions organized to protest against meetings con- tional Conference on Communications (Con- vened by multilateral institutions. At that time fecom), began as of June 2013 to converge tens of print and online media vehicles appear, with individuals and entities to create the Rede also spurred by the first editions of the World Alternativa (Alternative Network), a center for Social Forum, beginning in 2001. the production and broadcasting of contents. Similarly, other collectives, like Rio na Rua (Rio In common, the alternative, community, or in the street) and Voz das Ruas (Voice from independent media – also called “free media” the Streets) set out, each to their own ways, to today – adopts dynamics that seek to 1) break cover the demonstrations. With their members’ free from the checks and controls of the con- own infrastructure and funding, the majority
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of these initiatives survive on the voluntary how these individuals came to organize them- work of their members, whose affinity usually selves during the protests. dates back to their pre-political activism activi- ties (friendship, work, study, etc.). Days had gone by since the last big June pro- tests, whose culmination may be defined as the Surely, the most widely publicized case at home June 30 demonstration, the day of the final game and abroad was the experience conducted by in Rio de Janeiro of the Confederations Cup. Mídia Ninja (Narrativas Independentes, Jornal- There were some three thousand people at the ismo e Ação). This is the communications arm peak of the concentration, one block away from of Fora do Eixo, a group engaged in organiz- the state governor’s residence and workplace ing music festivals, fostering cultural produc- Guanabara Palace, where Pope Francis arrived tion, and shaping public policies, among other around 6pm. Pope Francis was at that moment activities. Even before June, back in 2011, the in a meeting with President Dilma Rousseff group started to work with a view to streaming (PT), Governor Sérgio Cabral (PMDB), and events on line. Thereafter, riding the rise of the Mayor Eduardo Paes (PMDB). Amid the tur- June protests and political actions, they gained moil, the running and beating, the air heavy with muscle with the transmission, on the Internet, tear gas, pepper spray, and stun grenades, about of practically all the major protests organized one thousand people ebbed and flowed depend- since then. With great success on the social dig- ing on the surrounding tension. ital media (especially on Facebook), the group managed to influence, directly and indirectly, In one of these moments, two Mídia Ninja re- the narratives of the major television networks. porters are detained and taken to the 9th Civil Police Precinct, roughly 2 kilometers away A model demonstration from the square. Some people had already been detained, yet the capture of Mídia Ninja activ- In all this debate over the behavior of the com- ists Felipe Peçanha and Felipe de Assis was the mercial media and the counterintelligence pro- sign for the demonstrators to march onto the tagonism of the alternative media, the July 22 precinct. Other Mídia Ninja activists and from demonstration is quite representative of the other collectives, like Rio na Rua, kept on trans- elements that came to mesh in the movements mitting, while lawyers of the Brazilian Bar As- taking place from June until now – an amalga- sociation (OAB-RJ) and the Institute of Hu- mation of police violence and frail democracy, man Rights Defenders lent their legal support. but also of the strength of the people’s reac- tion and the importance of the ubiquitous – Within two hours, almost everyone had been especially during moments of greatest tension– released. Around 9:45 pm came out ninjas Fe- digital media. Even though it took place only in lipe de Assis and Felipe Peçanha. Shortly after the following month, the narrative showcases 10pm came out Tiago Rodrigues Brandão, Ro-
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drigo (no surname), and teenager Lucas Dun- at her face with a warning by the commander lop Fernandes. Later, a middle-aged man by that she “needed sex” and that there were peo- the name of Roberto Melo Cassiano, a devout ple there who could give her what she wanted, Catholic, left the precinct saying that he had making direct allusions to the male genitals. All been arrested at the bus stop for contempt of sorts of violence condensed in one single “re- authority, allegedly for criticizing the military port”. After a long time, she was taken back police officers’ action. to the 9th Precinct, from where she would be released a few minutes later. At each release a celebration and an interview to the cameras of the free media. André Aze- The last one still held in custody, Bruno Teles, vedo Silva was charged with throwing pro- had been taken to the precinct on charges of jectiles against the police, while Vitor Pontes “bearing explosive artifacts” without any evi- was charged with carrying a flashlight that, ac- dence. A free media producer for the Rio de Ja- cording to the police officers, could be used neiro State University’s Laborav, an audiovisual to give electric shocks. Both were free around laboratory, Bruno is black, jobless, and lives in midnight. Then the people outside the precinct the impoverished Baixada Fluminense (Duque chipped in to pay bail for Leandro Souza Silva, de Caxias). That is, he exhibited enough fea- charged with carrying a backpack, “found on tures to be considered one of the usual “sus- the street”, with Molotov cocktails. pects” for military police searches PM, what- ever the situation. As time went by, more people arrived, touched by the transmission they were watching from In the end, about forty demonstrators remained home or the information circulating on the digi- till 5:30 in the morning of July 23 at the door tal media. In the meantime, nursing orderly Lane of the Rio de Janeiro Justice Court, waiting for Santos, the only woman in the group that had Judge Paulo Baldez to rule in favor of the ha- been arrested, left the precinct to be identified at beas corpus injunction filed by OAB and DDH Institute Félix Pacheco (IFP-RJ). She had been human rights’ defenders. At a certain point of taken in simply because she was undocumented. the wake, a social worker came from Niterói in solidarity and donated food and beverages for It must be noted that she was the only woman the demonstrators. in a group of eleven demonstrators arrested by the police. Soon after her arrest, Lane Santos On that day, several free media members fol- was put in a car, therefore under the respon- lowed the all-night-long negotiations taking sibility of the State, and taken from the Largo place at the precinct. Bruno Teles was only do Machado to the vicinities of the governor’s released the following day. Yet he was lucky Guanabara Palace (one kilometer away, approx- enough not to have been forgotten, for should imately). There she had her knapsack thrown he have not been closely watched by the activ-
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ists and the independent media, he would in all (CBT), a law that still regulates the functioning likelihood be treated by the commercial media of broadcasting (radio and TV) in Brazil, cele- as just another number in the statistics, with no brated its fiftieth anniversary. Since then, the identity and no history. television market matured, images got colors, national networks were created, thousands of Actually, the events unfolded differently: The television concessions, permissions, and au- next day, TV networks Globo, Record, and thorizations were awarded, thirteen adminis- Bandeirantes highlighted the fact that Bruno trations ruled the Federal Government (six had been arrested after being Tasered by mili- military dictators and seven civilian presidents), tary police officers and fainting. For that were and various technological innovations had di- used several videos produced by streaming col- rect impact on the organization and even on lectives and other free media activists. A week the functioning of the media companies. later, the inquest against the student had been dismissed by the Civil Police, in record time “Yet little, or next to nothing, had any influen- given the hundreds of activists who had been ce on the broadcasting policies of our country. reported in the preceding months. It’s been fifty years of concentration, of denial of the plurality and diversity set forth in the In the way of conclusion: broadcasting 1988 Federal Constitution”, as underscored by regulation and enforcement of rights the motto of the main campaign “To express liberty”, launched in June 2012 by the National The broadcasting businesspeople became Forum for the Democratization of Commu- frightened by the dimension the democratiza- nications (FNDC, from the Portuguese Fórum tion of the media theme was acquiring with Nacional pela Democratização da Comunicação), in every new report on the demonstrations, as it partnership with scores of labor, student, pe- became a recurrent claim in banners and plac- asant, and grassroots’ movements. The action ards and in the demonstrators’ direct actions. came in the wake of the 1st National Confe- Not seeing themselves represented in the news rence on Communications, held by the Fede- stories and live transmissions, in analogy with ral Government in 2009. Since then, state-level the political system, the demonstrators turned fronts and groups emerged that have provided against the key symbols of the corporate me- more perennial networking capability to the dia: News company cars were torched, TV net- movement for the right to communications in works journalists were harassed, and even the Brazil, in an attempt to carry out the changes main offices of the conglomerates were target- the area requires. ed by the collective wrath. At least two broad fronts of structural claims This is not without reason. On August 27, have been withheld for six decades (TV) and 2012, the Brazilian Telecommunications Code for ninety years (radio). First, a review of the
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country’s communications structure, through have sought to intervene in the demonstra- identifying the various existing forms of con- tions, events, and other activities organized by centration, horizontal and vertical, and scree- the social movements in order to influence the ning for cross ownership, one of the main cau- right-to-communications agenda by submitting ses of Brazil’s oligopolistic market. Second, the the Democratic Media Law, whose draft has enactment of a new law that not only updates, received the support of thousands of people but fully reviews the current legislation, as it nationwide. The goal is to collect 1.3 million proves its backwardness. signatures to be able to submit the petition to Congress and accomplish the same success- Besides not even regulating the principles the ful result as the Clean Record Law, which was Federal Constitution stands for, the diffu- enacted in 2010 with the help of the Catholic se Brazilian legislation is hardly equitable in Church, the electoral judiciary branch, the pu- addressing the various social actors, whether blic prosecutors’ offices, among other institu- mainstream companies (regional broadcasters), tions, and has become a milestone in the fight non-commercial organizations (community ra- against corruption in Brazil,. dio stations), or even state-owned institutions (state-level educational channels), imposing a The petition proposed by FNDC and other range of barriers to prevent these new actors supporting entities is focused on more demo- from expressing themselves. cracy, limits to ownership, regional program- ming, and more plurality and diversity in Bra- Even the digital and audiovisual media collecti- zilian electronic communications (radio and ves that were actively engaged in the coverage of television). The popular initiative also provides the demonstrations have reason to worry: The for equitable division of the electromagnetic absence of a clear Civil Rights Framework for spectrum, an oligopoly; the creation of the the Internet, ensuring users’ rights and laying office of public defender for communications, down their duties, can limit and stifle the fre- chosen among the citizens and with indepen- edoms that are almost integral to the network. dence in relation to the government and servi- Only now, in the second semester of 2013, after ces providers; and the establishment of a Na- months blocked in Congress, the new bill mo- tional Council for Communications Policies, ved ahead, driven by the espionage conducted with broader and more effective duties and ju- by the United States, which deserved a domestic risdiction than today’s, functioning as a Senate answer by the Dilma Rousseff administration. ancillary and consultative body.
With regard to the campaign, today several Moreover, one cannot overlook the existing state-level networks, driven by the regional complicity and promiscuity between politicians committees of the National Forum for the De- and commercial broadcasters. Thus, any poli- mocratization of Communications (FNDC), tical reform must be preceded by a reform of
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the broadcasting regulatory framework and, Back in December 2011, the PSOL filed with as a minimum, the regulating of the Federal the Federal Supreme Court a Petition for Non- Constitution articles specifically addressing compliance with Fundamental Precept (ADPF, broadcasting (220 to 224). Demands also inclu- from the Portuguese Arguição por Descumprimento de the democratization and more openness of de Preceito Fundamental) against the awarding and the Judiciary, as over the last years this branch renewal of broadcasting concessions, permis- has repeatedly “legislated” on broadcasting by sions, and authorizations to companies whose ruling on the constitutionality of legal instru- partners and associates hold any legislative offi- ments. Examples of the judicialization of es- ce. In the ADPF, it is argued that the control sentially political conflicts include the end of of radio and television stations by politicians the requirement for higher education diplomas is unconstitutional and violates fundamental ri- for journalists in 2009, the ruling on the un- ghts, such as access to information, freedom of constitutionality of the Press Law (5290/67), expression, political pluralism, and the holding and the subsequent rejection of the regulation of free elections, in addition to the principle of on the right of reply, provided for in Chapter equitability, impartiality, and independence of IV of that law, the legitimizing of the decree the Legislative branch. Three types of political establishing Brazil’s digital television technolo- use were identified: The awarding of broadcas- gical system, and more recently the questio- ting concessions, permissions, and authoriza- ning of the linkage between program hours tions as a means to securing political support, and age classification ratings. the use of the award by grantees to influence public opinion in favor of their partners, asso- More recently, other actions have underscored ciates, and supporters, and the use of legislative the importance of these reforms for communi- power to get or renew their own awards. cation. In November 2010, political party PSOL (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade) filed with the Fede- The ADPF (nr. 246/11), drafted in partner- ral Supreme Court a Direct Action of Uncons- ship with Intervozes – Coletivo Brasil de Co- titutionality by Omission, drafted by jurist Fábio municação Social, brings a list of current re- Konder Comparato. The initial petition requests presentatives and senators who are partners in Congress to regulate three articles of the Fede- companies awarded broadcasting concessions. ral Constitution (220, 221, and 223) on Social “The study, which took into account the Mi- Communications. Other demands included are nistry of Communications system and Anatel, the creation of specific legislation on the right plus the candidates’ declared real properties to of reply, the prohibition of broadcasting mono- TSE/TRE electoral courts, shows that, in the polies and oligopolies, and the regulation of the present legislature, 41 representatives and 7 se- broadcasters’ production and programming. In nators are partners or are associated with legal the end of April 2012, the Republic’s Prosecu- persons that have been awarded broadcasting tion Office (PGR) ruled in favor of the suit. concessions. This number only considers those
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with direct nominal involvement. When first- analyzed. This might even weaken last century’s -degree relatives and indirect participation are broadcasting democratization– open-wave ra- considered, this figure can reach 52 representa- dio and television stations –, something that tives and 21 senators, as per a survey conduc- has never actually been stringently regulated in ted by Transparência Brasil.”9 Brazil in terms of enforcement and scope.
The appearance of innovative forms of me- Broadcasting regulation, more than a histo- dia production, heavily based on the Internet, rical lawmaking liability, is a demand demo- aligned with the new political organization me- cracy cannot afford to do without. The right thods, i.e., horizontal and with fewer hierar- to broadcasting has a crosscutting status that chies, cannot allow the past to be overlooked not only favors media diversity and plurality, as it still imposes itself as a bottleneck for the but also promotes, defends, and ensures first- future of Brazilian broadcasting. After all, the -generation (civil), second-generation (socioe- so-called cyberspace is not detached from the conomic), and third generation (collective and broadcasting reality. On the contrary, never be- trans-individual) rights. Qualified thus, broad- fore have the transnational corporations that casting, just like the right to the city is cons- control “old” technologies like the television trued on the basis of the flow of people and (and telecommunications, to be sure) been so information, institutes itself beyond mere ac- strong, posted such revenues, or existed in a cess to the media, but above all as enforcement market frantically moving towards monopolis- of the people’s rights to expression and organi- tic concentration, especially if stockholding is zation, constantly violated in Brazil.
9. Ação contra concessões de rádio e TV para políticos será apresen- tada ao STF [Lawsuit challenging radio and TV concessions for politicians to be filed with Supreme Federal Court]. In- tervozes, December 14, 2011. Available at
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Bibliography AGAMBEN, Giorgio. Estado de exceção. Trad. MORAES, Dênis de. Comunicação Alternati- Iraci D. Poleti. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2004. va em rede e difusão contra-hegemônica. In: COUTINHO, Eduardo Granja (Org.). Comu- BAUMAN, Zygmut. O mal estar na pós-moderni- nicação e Contra-hegemonia. Rio de Janeiro (RJ): dade. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 1998. Editora UFRJ, 2008, p. 39-64.
DAVIS, Mike. Planeta de favelas: a involução ur- MOVIMENTO Passe Livre – São Paulo. Não bana e o proletariado informal. In: SADER, começou em Salvador, não vai terminar em Emir (Org.). Contragolpes. São Paulo: Boi- São Paulo. In: CIDADES Rebeldes. Coleção tempo, 2006. Tinta Vermelha. São Paulo: Boitempo, Carta Maior, 2013, p. 13-26. HARVEY, David. Condição Pós-moderna. 22. ed. São Paulo: Edições Loyola, 2012 [1989]. ______. O tempo nas cidades. São Paulo: Ciência e cultura, v. 54, n. 2, abr-mai. 2004, ______. A liberdade da cidade. In: CI- p. 21-22. Disponível em:
MARICATO, Ermínia. É a questão urbana, SEVCENKO, Nicolau. A cidade metástasis e o estúpido! In: CIDADES Rebeldes. Coleção urbanismo inflacionário: incursões na entropia Tinta Vermelha. São Paulo: Boitempo, Carta paulista. Revista USP, São Paulo, n. 63, p. 16- Maior, 2013. P. 19-26. 35, set/nov 2004.
29 About the author Imprint Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Brasil Daniel Fonsêca is a doctoral student at the Fe- Av. Paulista, 2011 - 13° andar, conj. 1313 deral University of Rio de Janeiro’s Communica- 01311 -931 I São Paulo I SP I Brasil tions Department and is a member of the Stee- www.fes.org.br ring Committee of Intervozes - Coletivo Brasil de Comunicação Social Responsible Tina Hennecken ([email protected])
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