Halftime for the Brazilian Press Will Justice Prevail Over Censorship and Violence?
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Halftime for the Brazilian press Will justice prevail over censorship and violence? A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists Halftime for the Brazilian press Will justice prevail over censorship and violence? Brazil is home to vibrant media, but journalists are regularly murdered with impunity and critical journalists are subject to legal actions that drain resources and censor important stories. During the 2014 World Cup, this contradiction will be on vivid display. Does Dilma Rousseff’s administration have the will and determination to beat back impunity and end legal harassment, allowing press freedom to thrive? A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists Published May 6, 2014 The Committee to Protect Journalists | Halftime for the Brazilian press 1 Table of Contents Introduction by Joel Simon............................................................................................................................................... 3 1. In the government’s hands ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Brazil has a troubled record on press freedom, but Dilma Rousseff’s administration has recently taken steps, including setting up a working group to investigate attacks on journalists and issue recommendations. Will the government implement the group’s advice? If so, how? And how quickly? By Carlos Lauría Sidebar: A work in progress ............................................................................................................................................. 9 By Fernando Rodrigues 2. The vicious cycle of impunity..................................................................................................................................... 10 Brazil is the 11th deadliest country in the world for journalists, and at least 10 have been murdered in direct reprisal for their work since Dilma Rousseff came to power. Despite a recent flurry of convictions, the violence is mounting, and so is the country’s impunity crisis. By Sara Rafsky Appendix: Journalists killed in Brazil since January 1, 2011......................................................................................... 15 3. Censorship via the courts............................................................................................................................................ 25 Widely considered the second biggest problem after violence for journalists in Brazil, “judicial censorship” refers to the practice of politicians, business people, and celebrities using privacy laws to silence the media. The targets of judicial censorship range from major metropolitan dailies and Internet companies like Google to independent bloggers in remote towns. By John Otis Appendix: The civil code................................................................................................................................................ 30 4. The Marco Civil da Internet........................................................................................................................................ 31 Brazil’s landmark law on Internet rights, the Marco Civil da Internet, is far from a perfect piece of legislation, but its journey is instructive for how governments and civil society should approach Internet regulation—and which legislative outcomes are in the best interest of Internet providers and users, including journalists. By Geoffrey King 5. Recommendations....................................................................................................................................................... 36 CPJ’s recommendations to Brazilian authorities. The Committee to Protect Journalists | Halftime for the Brazilian press 2 Introduction By Joel Simon For a long time, Brazil has been fighting to overcome its contradictions. The country features a dynamic, modern, and diverse economy—and some of the worst poverty in the hemisphere. It has been led by two successive Socialist governments, and yet retains one of the most skewed income distributions in the world. Brazil is also home to a vibrant and robust national media. But journalists are regularly murdered with impunity and critical reporters are subjected to legal harassment and judicial censorship. When Brazil draws global attention for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, these contradictions will be on vivid display. But as this report makes clear, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is confronting the challenge of creating a more Soldiers, police, and journalists take position during an operation at favorable environment for the media. After initially a slum in the capital in November, 2010. (Reuters/Sergio Moraes) failing to recognize the gravity of the threat posed by unchecked violence against the press, Brazilian authorities have taken steps to bring the killers of journalists to justice. In the past year, authorities obtained an unprecedented four convictions in such cases. The Rousseff administration has also sought to improve the online environment—understandable since Brazil is rife with what is known as judicial censorship, both online and off-. Hundreds of blog posts and links are taken down each year by court order, according Google. The Marco Civil da Internet was developed with broad input from civil society, and initially hailed as a landmark piece of legislation that could safeguard freedom of expression online. A troubling amendment that would have imposed a sweeping and onerous data retention requirement on Internet companies operating in Brazil was dropped from the final legislation. These efforts are to be commended, but the contradictions remain. Despite the convictions, the murder rate for journalists has not declined, and Brazil continues to feature on CPJ’s Impunity Index, mired in 11th place on the rankings of countries around the world where the killers of journalists go free. Laws on the books continue to make it possible for powerful figures to bring punitive suits against critical journalists—suits that drain resources from media organizations and bloggers and keep them from pursuing important stories. The political environment surrounding the World Cup is likely to be volatile. Large street protests fueled by anger over the extravagant expenditures on sport stadiums rather than on unmet social needs are expected to resume once the matches get under way. By mid-July, several questions will be answered. Will Brazil be World Cup champion? How will the government respond to protests or other disturbances? The Committee to Protect Journalists | Halftime for the Brazilian press 3 And will Brazil’s leaders show the political maturity and confidence to allow unfettered coverage by the global media? It will take more time to answer another key question linked to the future of Brazil’s democracy. Does the Rousseff administration have the will and determination to beat back the culture of impunity and end the legal harassment of the media? If Rousseff succeeds in creating a safe and secure environment for the Brazilian media, then Brazil will have eliminated a key contradiction. It will also have advanced in its efforts to define its political future as a hemispheric and global leader. Joel Simon is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He has written widely on media issues, contributing to Slate, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Review of Books, World Policy Journal, Asahi Shimbun, and The Times of India. He has led numerous international missions to advance press freedom. Follow him on Twitter @Joelcpj. The Committee to Protect Journalists | Halftime for the Brazilian press 4 1. In the government’s hands By Carlos Lauría Since June 2013, Brazil has been the scene of sporadic but huge anti-government demonstrations that have brought millions to the streets to protest an array of grievances, from fare increases for public transport to corruption and the use of public funds to host the coming soccer World Cup. The protests sometimes turned violent; a cameraman was killed in February 2014. Throughout the demonstrations, dozens of journalists have been detained, harassed, and attacked by law enforcement and by protesters irked by some media treatment of the demonstrations. As the world focuses on Brazil for the World Cup this summer, the possibility of intensified street protests is just one of several challenges facing the government of President Dilma Rousseff. Brazil’s troubled press freedom record is another. In recent years, a number of journalists have been killed with impunity, while legal harassment has resulted in persistent censorship, including online. With presidential elections scheduled for October, the government is wary that violence and censorship have eroded human rights. Scrutiny from media industry groups and press freedom advocates, both domestic and international, has prompted Rousseff’s administration to take action, primarily by forming a working group in late 2012 to investigate attacks on the press and issue recommendations to the federal government. Now that the group has issued its report, the question is whether the government will implement its recommendations, and if it does, how it will, and how quickly. “The government has acknowledged that the media face serious problems while doing their work,” said Mauri König, an investigative journalist for the daily Gazeta do Povo in Curitiba and a winner of CPJ’s 2012 International Press Freedom Awards.