1. Challenges of Media Democratization in
Brazil and Latin America –
University of Sheffield
Dr. Carolina Matos, PhD
The Government Department
Essex University
Part-time lecturer
E-mail: cmatos@essex.ac.uk

2. Key points
• Introduction: a brief look at the Brazilian media from the
dictatorship until today
• Media democratization debates revisited and intellectual
framework for comparative research
• Four lines of inquiry in Media and politics in Latin
America: globalization, democracy and identity
• Methods, survey and the private versus public dichotomy
• Latin American media: a history of neglect of public
communication structures
• TV Cultura versus TV Brasil: quotes from interviews and
issues raised
• Challenges for public media and media democratization

3. Daily newspapers and weekly magazines
• Newspapers (500) • Magazines (1.485)
• Folha de Sao Paulo (413.000 * Veja (1,1 million)
in 2001) * Playboy (442.200)
• Estado de Sao Paulo * Claudia (439.200)
(364.000) * Superinteressante (380.700)
• Extra (307.500) * Isto E (372.700)
• O Dia (249.900) * Exame (181.300)
• Jornal do Brasil (120.000)

4. Broadcasters and online media
• Television • Online media
(281 stations in 2001) (14 million Internet users)
• TV Globo • Uol, AOL, IG, Globo.com
• SBT
• Record • Cable television
• Rede TV! • Net Brasil & TVA
• CNT • Satellite
• Sky 7 DirecTV

5. The Brazilian media system during the
dictatorship
• Authoritarian regimes in Latin America
• Brazilian media (1964-1985):
a) Militant journalism and resistance in the
alternative media
b) Era of “enlightened” debate?
c) Alignments of the mainstream media
versus resistance of certain journalists and
newspapers during specific periods (Matos, 2008)

6. Brazilian media today
• Journalism of the 1990’s – Blurring of the
boundaries between newsrooms and commercial
departments
• The expansion of professionalism and objectivity
• The decline of partisanship and militant journalism
- romantic journalism of the 1970’s versus
pragmatism of the 1990’s.
• Decade of the 90’s - multiple journalism identities
(increase of public debate x decline of public sphere
• Rise of watchdog journalism and investigative
reporting as a contemporary genre of the 1990’s
(Waisbord, 2000)

7. Journalism in Latin America and Brazil

8. Latin American broadcasting has adopted US model
• TV in many Latin American countries has developed
following the US commercial model
• I.e. Development of Brazilian television by military
planners in the 60’s onwards contributed for the
formation of what Straubhaar (2001; 138) has defined as
the “nationalizing vocation”, and the creation of a
consumer culture and engagement of Brazilians in the
market economy (Matos, 2008).
• Television has taken on a central role in political life, in
the country’s democratisation process and in the
construction of various identities.
• It is possible to say that in this sense TV Globo carries
some resemblance with the role played by the BBC in the
UK.

9. Four lines of research inquiry in Media and politics in Latin
America (IB Tauris, 2012)
• An evaluation of the historical evolution and the
public broadcasting tradition of countries like the
UK and Brazil;
• The relationship established between the public
media with the state, public sphere and the public
interest;
• The debates on what constitutes ‘quality’
programming and information in both the private
and public media;
• An examination of the ‘crisis’ of civic forms of
communication, and how they can still be
relevant.

10. Parts of Media and politics in Latin America
• Frameworks of comparison for public service media
• Public communications and regulation in Latin America
• European public service broadcasting revisited
• Journalism for the public interest: the crisis of civic
communications and journalism in Latin America
• Television, entertainment and the public interest
• Audience perceptions of quality programming and the public media
• Television, popular culture and Latin America and Brazilian identity
• Internet for the public interest
• Political cynicism and the digital divide
• Mediated politics in the 2010 Brazilian elections
• Media democratisation in Latin America: towards a politics for
national development

11. Methodological issues
* Triangulation approach is considered to largely avoid the
biases of a single method, working towards providing a
thick description (Jick, 1979: 608-9 in Jankowski and
Wester, 1991)
* Online survey applied to 149 communication students at
UFRJ
* Conduction of in depth interviews with 12 journalists and
policy-makers
•Programmes and genres have become increasingly
blurred and are shown on both
•Hypotheses – that the public media differs from the
private (i.e. quality programming); differences are subtle

12. Empirical work and survey: multi-
triangulation method
Discussion of programmes from the public media,
mainly TV Brasil, but also soap operas and Jornal
Nacional (O Globo)
Compared the programmes offered during peak time
on TV Brasil with those offered on TV Globo
Contrasted the subtle differences between the
themes and topics explored and choice of
programmes
Analyse of the uses of the Internet in political
campaigning and blogging in the 2010 elections:
a) new media as a counter-public sphere;
b) gender politics and representation

13. Some survey results
Survey revealed a lack of knowledge of the public media
Most watch TV Globo and cable and satellite TV
That said, 71% of students defended the public media,
stating that it could have a role in correcting market
failure and contributing to democratization
Most however saw little difference in regards to the type
of information broadcast in commercial and public TV
stations
Differences however are subtle, regarding style and
choice of programmes, such as emphasis on “serious”
programmes over heavy entertainment

14. Media democratization debates revisited
• Norris (2004) has argued that there can only be a positive
relationship between democratic governance, human development
and media systems in countries that meet the conditions of an
independent press which permits the access to pluralistic
information to all
• A freer and more independent media and balanced press can only
operate if they are not subject to either political or economic
constraints (i.e. Hallin and Mancini, 2004), and if public service
media systems serve the public interest and are not misused...
• Last research (2008) showed how large sectors of the media were
biased and susceptible to ideological manipulation, in spite of the
growth of professionalism and objectivity in the last decades
• Partisanship and political constraints have continued to prevail,
manifesting themselves during the 2006 and 2010 presidential
elections

15. Media democratization revisited
• As Voltmer and Schmitt-Beck (2006) affirm in the context of their
discussion of representative survey data of 4 new democracies,
Bulgaria, Hungary, Chile and Uruguay, the fact that many citizens in
new democracies lack the durable party identifications of the more
established democracies makes many vulnerable to media biases
• Literature on media democratization (i.e. Voltmer and Schmitt-
Beck, 2006; Curran and Myung-Jin, 2000; Sparks, 2007) has
stressed how countries as different as South Africa, Chile and China
encountered various problems when it came to the democratization
of political communications.
• As Voltmer and Schmitt-Beck (2006) state nonetheless, some
countries in Eastern Europe however did manage to implement
PSBs with some degree of independence from both the State and
from market competition – this is the current challenge in Brazil
and Latin America

16. Intellectual framework for comparative analysis
• My aim has been to expand the available knowledge on the media and
political systems of Latin America/Brazil, providing interesting
observations of the region and of more advanced democracies
• Latin American continent has changed significantly since the fall of
dictatorship regimes, with democracy flourishing amid the rise to
power of centre to centre-left wing governments, culminating in new
approaches to foreign policy, efforts of restructuring the state and
welfare programmes;
PSB in comparative perspective
– 1) it assists in the evaluation of the achievements of public service
broadcasting in European countries and its future challenges;
- 2) it can also provide a framework for the development of the PSB
platform in emerging democracies which are seeking to deepen
political democratisation and reduce economic inequalities, thus
contributing to expand debate and to promote wider social and
cultural inclusion (Matos, 2008)

17. Future role for PSB in old and new
democracies
In the UK, PSB has emerged as vehicle for
strengthening debate.
Talk became more spontaneous and less
constrained (Scannell, 1995)
As a vehicle for cultural and educational
emancipation; boost of political diversity as well as
both regional and national integration
Functioning as a counterweight to the market – the
necessity of multiple public spheres and media to
attend to both citizen and consumer demands
Is a truly independent public media possible?

18. Latin American governments and media
reform
• Brazil and Mexico, with stronger national production markets and
audiences, registered lower levels of media concentration and
higher diversity compared to other smaller countries in the region
• Governments in Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay and
Bolivia have acted to promote media democratization through the
creation of regulatory frameworks and public systems of
communication
• Argentina is being seen as an example by many experts
• In the first government of Kirchner (2007-2011), the approval of the
Law 26.522 – Lei de Servicos de Comunicacao Audio-visual,
substituted previous legislation from the dictatorship
• Law proposed limits on the power of media conglomerates,
preventing any private TV company from owning more than 35% of
the media, stating that licenses should be renewed every 10 years
instead of after 20 as well as quotas for local production.

19. Public communication infrastructure in Latin America: a
history of neglect
 State intervention in South America has had the aim of reinforcing
governmental powers rather than promoting democratic
communications (Waisbord, 2000; Matos, 2008).
 Broadcasting has been built on a combination of political control and
limited regulation. Educational and state channels are mainly owned
by sectors of the Church and politicians.
 National broadcasting policies have also been traditionally aligned
with political interests and state control.
 Debates on the necessity of broadcasting and media reform and
regulation culminated in the first realization of a conference on the
theme in 2009 (i.e. Confecom debates)

20. ‘Private’ versus ‘public’ dichotomy
Private Public
Right/Conservative/Centre/Left – the Centre/Left/Liberal/some
consumer conservatives - citizen
‘Objective’ and informational ‘Objective’/’public’/’serious’
journalism journalism
Talk shows/sit-coms/reality TV – Realism in
American programming, some content films/documentaries/reality TV –
from other countries ‘arty’ and European programming,
some US material
Advertising/aesthetic of consumerism ‘Quality’ aesthetic/Challenging
– self/intimacy/the private sphere (i.e. material - collective/the public sphere
Sci-fi, horror)
Dreamy/fantasy/’escapism’ texts – Historical material/in depth analyses
occasional ‘serious’ material – some entertainment (i.e. Soaps,
drama, sci-fi, horror).

21. Table 1 – Radio and TV stations controlled by
politicians in Brazil (1994) (Source: Lima (2001: 107)
(in Azevedo, 2006, 34)
Channels Total Brazil Current Per cent
politicians and
past
TV 302 94 31.12%
Radio 2908 1169 40.19%

22. Public communications in Brazil: achievements
and future challenges
Genuine public media does not exist in Brazil, but educational
stations controlled by the state or others which represent the
Legislative, Executive or Judicial powers (i.e. TV Senado);
• Scholars believe that only a new regulatory framework for the
media can be capable of contemplating differences between
the state and public TVs in relation to commercial sector
• Programme for the communication sector of the Lula
candidature in 2006 underscored that democratization of
communications was necessary to deepen democracy
• Auto-regulation of newspapers is being proposed by National
Association of Newspapers (ANJ), praised by Unesco

23. Facts and figures on public communications and broadcasting
in Brazil
 Government is preparing to put up for public consultation media
reform proposals
 Last Lula government submitted a text to the Dilma government
with proposals from the Confecom debates
 Changes to the current legislation on broadcasting, the Codigo
Brasileiro de Telecomunicacoes, which dates to 1962. The latter
combined the authoritarianism of the Vargas regime, such as power
to distribute licences, with economic liberalism
 Aim of new regulation for broadcasting is to make the process of TV
and radio concessions more transparent and quick
 Idea is that there would be one regulatory agency for
communications. Anatel (Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes)
would gain more attributions and a new name (Agencia Nacional de
Comunicacao)

24. TV Cultura versus TV Brasil
• EBC, which controls TV Brasil, was launched in December 2007
• Current restructuring of TV Cultura and TV Brasil to attend to
multiple publics, with TV Cultura forming partnerships with
newspapers such as Folha
• TV Cultura is seen as aligned with the government of Sao Paulo, of
the PSDB, whereas TV Brasil is linked to the federal administration
(i.e. accused by the opposition when it was launched of being the
“TV Lula”)
• Academics and journalists are weary about media reform (i.e.
Gabriel Priolli: “If FHC couldn’t do it, Lula either, I doubt Dilma
will.”)
• Sites: www.tvbrasil.ebc.com.br
• www.tvcultura.cmais.com.br
• www.redeglobo.globo.com

25. Quotes from interviews
‘ ...always when a government destined resources to the
public TV, it wanted to be compensated by a positive
representation..... We have not yet fully incorporated the
notion that the public television attends to citizenship
rights..... If we really have a strengthening of the public
media – which will only be ‘public’ if it is really
independent of governments – we will have advanced
historically....In Brazil the idea that the government
should interfere in social communications is like a multi-
party consensus. We can see that no public television has
total autonomy..The average mentality of politicians in
that respect is still very backward....’
(Eugenio Bucci, journalist and former Radiobras
president)

26. Quotes from interviews
“Open television has been incapable of developing relevant
themes or even to use national values, like music, to assist in
constructing a national identity. The ways in which we can
improve the quality of Brazilian television is to oblige them to
include a quota for local production..... The issue is mainly to
make room for wider competition, allowing the entry of new
players. It is a market in which the only real competitors are
Globo and Record, with the latter trying to imitate Globo’s
model. The only way to break this mediocrity pact is to open
spaces for new players...”

(Journalist Luis Nassif, former FSP columnist and
presenter of the TV Brasil debating programme
Brasilianas.org)

27. Quotes from interviews
‘In 2005, when the mensalao scandals emerged, that was when they
‘sold’ the idea to Lula to have TV Brasil, of having a strong public
network capable of competing with the private, as the government
wanted a media which could be more favourable...The government
wanted an instrument to defend itself, and it convinced itself that it
was important. This is a contradiction with the real role that public
TV should have....There is actually a lot of idealism and hypocrisy
in this whole discussion... People say that all you need is another
option to TV Globo for people to change channels, but the reality is
that they do not, they do not change to TV Brasil. I believe that this
issue has a direct relation to education as well, for a better quality
education produces audiences of better quality.....more sensitive
and....interested in watching the public media. ...’
(Gabriel Priolli, vice-director of journalism of TV
Cultura)

28. Media reform in Brazil: achievements and
future challenges
• Achievements of the last years include the realization of
the Confecom debates; the implementation of TV Brasil
and commitments towards media regulation
• New rules for radio and TV concessions
• Ministry of Communications of former government has
identified five areas to tackle:
• 1) creation of a new regulatory framework;
• 2) regulation of article 221 of the Brazilian Constitution;
• 3) author’s copy rights;
• 4) Internet regulation
• 5) public TV regulation.

29. Challenges for public communications and media reform
in Brazil
• Reluctance of market sectors and some media organisations
(i.e. fears of media censorship, control of content, competition,
etc)
• Break the false equation of regulation with censorship
• Scholars believe that only a new regulatory framework for the
media can be capable of contemplating differences between the
state, the public and commercial sector
• Study of other European regulation models (i.e. UK and
Portuguese)
• Document discussed in the Chamber of Deputies underlines the
importance of the State in taking on responsibility for policies
for public communications (i.e. guarantee funds)

30. Some conclusions
*
* More support for community radio, funding for
segmented media outlets and magazines
1) Building of a broadcasting regulatory framework
committed to the public interest and independent;
2) reinforcement of balance and professionalism in
newsrooms, including regulation of the journalism
profession and auto-regulation of the press;
3) Fortifying of the public media platform, TV, radio and
the Internet, followed by an engagement with the debate
over “quality”
4) Strengthening of regional, local and alternative media
5) Wider access to less privileged sectors of the
population to the Internet throughout Latin America

31. Selected bibliography
Banerjee, Indrajit and Seneviratne, Kalinga (2006) (eds.)
Public Service Broadcasting in the Age of Globalization,
Singapore: Asian Media Information and Communication
Centre (AMIC)
Bolano, Cesar Ricardo Siqueira (2007) Qual a logica das
politicas de comunicacao no Brasil?, Sao Paulo: Editora Paulus
Canizalez, Andres and Lugo-Ocando, Jairo (2008) “Beyond
National Media Systems: A Media for Latin America and the
Struggle for Integration” in The Media in Latin America,
Berkshire: Open University Press, 209-223
Fox, Elizabeth and Waisbord, Silvio (eds.) (2002) Latin
Politics, Global Media, Austin: University of Texas Press
Hallin, Daniel C. and Mancini, Paolo (2004) Comparing Media
Systems – Three Models of Media and Politics, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1-17, 21-86, 251-306
Matos, C. (2008) Journalism and political democracy in Brazil,
Maryland: Lexington Books