The Brazilian Press Association (ABI) published a letter from the Result of the 3rd National Journalism Weekevent promoted by the entity from April 7 to 11, in Curitiba, Fortaleza, Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In addition to thanking the support of universities and civil society representative entities, the document reinforces commitments to democracy, human rights, freedom of the press and expression.
The main debates of the meeting, cited in the letter, concern the defense of the obligation of the journalism diploma to exercise the profession, the regulation of the big techs, the fight against fake news, the role of journalism in the battle of ideas and the importance of community journalism.
According to ABI, These topics can be summarized in the idea that “without journalism there is no democracy”.
“Journalism is itself a right. When it is absent, democracy ceases to exist.”
News deserts
Abi highlighted the regions with little or no journalistic coverage, called news deserts. The situation makes these territories a conducive to misinformation and dissemination of false news. Investment in the production of local informative contents would be a way out to ensure the right to communication, defends the entity.
The entity also addressed the need for regulation and accountability of the big techs, which called the “civilizing task.” The understanding is that there is no reasonableness for revenues with hate speech and criminal content.
ABI warns of what it called the transformation of the media into true “political parties”aligned with the most conservative sectors of society.
The reading is that the weakening of large traditional companies reflected in the almost disappearance of reports. The space would then have been occupied on social networks on the far right.
ABI speaks of a dark perspective of communication in Brazil “dominated by commercial media and threatened by digital platforms, Big Techs and influencers, which prevent the dissemination of the truth. ”
The exit, according to the entity, is the strengthening of communication and community communicators, popular and independent. The defense is that they have a sense of the political and social responsibility of communication, which allow a real life approximation of the people.
