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### Viewing cable 04BRASILIA2069, CRITICISM CAUSES BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT TO RETHINK

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
04BRASILIA2069 | 2004-08-17 10:02 | 2011-07-11 00:00 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Embassy Brasilia

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 002069

    SIPDIS

    SENSITIVE

    DEPT FOR WHA/BSC AND WHA/PD

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: PGOV PHUM SCUL ECON BR
    SUBJECT: CRITICISM CAUSES BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT TO RETHINK
    PROPOSED JOURNALISM RULES

    REF: A. BRASILIA 1987

         ¶B. BRASILIA 2052

    ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  The Lula administration last week proposed
    a journalism law that created a stir in the Brazilian press.
    The Journalism Council bill would create a national oversight
    body with authorities to regulate and discipline the press.
    It created such controversy --including charges of
    "Stalinism" from some overwrought editorialists-- that
    congressional leaders quickly pushed it to the back burner.
    The bill may be the fruit of some residual statist tendencies
    in the Workers' Party (PT), but it also reflects a GoB
    frustration with sensationalism and inaccuracies in the
    press.  It is probably not coincidental that it was announced
    in the middle of two controversies involving questionable
    journalistic ethics:  the Banestado money-laundering scandal
    and a journalist's confession that a 1993 story that led to
    the expulsion of a Federal Deputy contained errors.  Lula's
    advisors may give the journalism bill token support, but it
    seems unlikely to come to a vote in Congress this year, if
    ever.  A second controversial measure, an audiovisual bill to
    regulate film and TV, is still being drafted and has not been
    sent to Congress.  END SUMMARY.

    JOURNALISM BILL SENT TO CONGRESS
    --------------------------------
    ¶2. (SBU) Since 1967 and the dictatorship era, Brazil's Labor
    Ministry has been nominally responsible for overseeing the
    profession of journalism but has done nothing more than
    maintain a registry of professional journalists.  The
    National Journalists Federation (FENAJ) claims to represent
    30,000 journalists from 31 unions but does not provide
    oversight.  (FENAJ is loosely associated with President
    Lula's Workers' Party (PT) and most of its directors are PT
    members.)  The Lula administration saw a gap in this
    structure: a lack of legal authority to oversee and regulate
    the field.  So, with FENAJ's input, the Labor Ministry
    drafted a bill to create a Federal Journalism Council (CFJ)
    and five subordinate Regional Councils (CRJs).  Lula sent the
    bill to Congress on August 6, and as soon as the text became
    public it sparked controversy.  Under the bill's rules,
    journalists would have to register and pay dues to the
    councils and would elect the councils' members.  The councils
    would create and enforce an ethics code, oversee the
    profession, and discipline journalists.  Lula's Press
    Secretary, Ricardo Kotscho, noted that the bill is

    SIPDIS
    "negotiable" and was designed to "open the debate".  FENAJ
    announced that "the CFJ is an essential instrument for the
    profession" and would "protect journalists from manipulation"
    by private interests.

    MANY JOURNALISTS ARE RESOLUTELY OPPOSED
    ---------------------------------------
    ¶3. (SBU) Journalists were quick to react.  The Brazilian
    Press Association (ABI) and the major newspapers railed
    against the bill.  An editorial in conservative "Estado de
    Sao Paulo" called it an "authoritarian offensive" and noted
    that the GoB is "showing its dictatorial face".  Popular TV
    newscaster Boris Casoy called the bill "abominable" and an
    "obvious attempt to control journalists and the press".  The
    international press picked up comments in "Folha de Sao
    Paulo" that the bill is "authoritarian" and "Stalinist" and
    recalled last May's episode when President Lula threatened to
    expel a New York Times reporter for an unflattering article.
    The circle of critics eventually expanded to include leading
    political and intellectual figures within the PT party and
    across the ideological spectrum.

    CONGRESS WILL MOVE VERY SLOWLY
    ------------------------------
    ¶4. (SBU) The bill is now in the Chamber of Deputies, where it
    faces a slow march through three committees before going to
    the floor.  In the unlikely event it passes the Chamber, it
    would face a similar trek through the Senate.  The PT
    Chairman of the Chamber's Labor Committee said he favored the
    creation of the Journalism Council if it is done in a
    "democratic spirit", adding that national councils already
    exist for lawyers and doctors.  But Chamber Speaker Joao
    Paulo Cunha announced that he will allow a "full debate",
    i.e., the bill will move very slowly.  Cunha noted that the
    administration could have saved itself the trouble, since a
    similar bill, sponsored by Deputy Celso Russomanno (PP-SP),
    has been pending in the Chamber since 2002.

    ¶5. (SBU) The opposition PSDB and PFL parties immediately
    pounced.  Jose Carlos Aleluia, the PFL's floor leader, could
    be seen in Congress last week toting a book with Hitler's
    face on the cover.  He told the press, "I hope that President
    Lula is not taking the same path as Stalin and Hitler.  The
    bill is a clear demonstration of the authoritarian roots of
    the government.  The press should oversee the government, and
    not vice versa."  Aleluia promises to use parliamentary
    tactics to block the bill.  Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo
    Alckmin (PSDB) added, "Sometimes this government has an
    authoritarian relapse."

    GOB'S LATENT STATIST TENDENCIES
    -------------------------------
    ¶6. (SBU) The administration did not help its own cause when
    Lula's Communications Secretary Luiz Gushiken announced that
    freedom of the press is "not absolute".  This is not the
    first time Gushiken has criticized the press: in April he had
    to retract a comment that the press ought to be focused on a
    "positive agenda" rather than "fomenting discord", and in May
    he suggested that the critical New York Times reporter was
    working for the US government.  Lula's Chief of Staff Jose
    Dirceu struck back at critics in remarks before an August 14
    PT party gathering, calling opponents "terrorists" seeking to
    "limit the debate by shouting".  He also slammed this week's
    edition of VEJA magazine that has a cover with an ominous PT
    party eyeball over the title 'Authoritarian Temptation'.
    Dirceu said, "we struggled for democracy against many of
    those who are shouting now, including some of these magazines
    that openly supported the military dictatorship."

    BANESTADO AND IBSEN PINHEIRO
    ----------------------------
    ¶7. (SBU) Two recent cases have brought the issue of
    journalistic ethics into focus.  The first is the Banestado
    scandal, a long-running congressional inquiry into a massive
    money-laundering scheme.  In recent weeks there has been a
    steady stream of leaks --both substantiated and not-- from
    confidential banking records collected by the inquiry.

    SIPDIS
    Central Bank President Henrique Meirelles and Bank of Brazil
    President Cassio Casseb are among those being tarred by the
    press for alleged misdeeds (ref A).  Workers' Party and
    administration officials have charged that the PSDB Senator
    who chairs the inquiry is leaking information for political
    ends, and that the press is tacitly complicit by not
    verifying the anonymous allegations.  In the second case,
    this week's "ISTO E" magazine carries a cover story in which
    a former reporter admits that an error he made in a 1993
    story about corruption wrongly led to the expulsion from
    Congress of Federal Deputy Ibsen Pinheiro.  Ironically, the
    congressional staffer who gave the journalist the false
    information was none other than Waldomiro Diniz, who in
    February 2004 was fired from his job as a senior political
    advisor in Lula's office for soliciting bribes from a numbers
    racketeer.  This fact fuels opposition claims that in the
    past the PT used anonymous leaks to attack political
    opponents but now, in power, seeks to stifle the practice.

    COMMENT - JOURNALISM BILL UNLIKELY TO PASS
    ------------------------------------------
    ¶8. (SBU)  Some of Brazil's older journalists remember the
    days of self-censorship under the military regime, and they
    are quick to condemn government efforts to restrict the
    press.  Thus, sensitivity to perceived attempts to limit the
    press is a healthy part of the consolidation of Brazil's
    democracy, even if some of the criticism about the Journalism
    bill comes across as a bit hysterical.  And the bill is not
    necessary.  The press here has its strengths and weaknesses,
    and there are well-used libel laws to address the latter.
    The national papers are reasonably good, represent a range of
    editorial perspectives, and have a healthy competition for
    readers.  Thus there is not a pressing need for a set of
    nationwide councils to "orient, discipline, and oversee"
    journalists.

    ¶9. (SBU) Even before the formal debate has begun in Congress,
    the bill has generated staunch opposition both within the
    government coalition and in the opposition parties.  It is
    unlikely to ever win a congressional majority.  Its most
    likely fate is to waste away, unmourned, in a committee or to
    be pulled out of Congress by the administration for "further
    review".  Politically, the bill is not worth the grief that
    the administration is getting for it, particularly in advance
    of October's municipal elections, and when there is good
    economic news and Lula's popularity has rebounded (ref B).
    The administration is now drafting an Audiovisual bill to
    promote domestic film and TV content.  The text is not yet
    public and has not been sent to Congress, but industry
    critics say it also injects government interference into
    broadcasting content.  Look for this bill to be watered down
    considerably if it ever is sent to Congress.
    DANILOVICH

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