The Minister of the Social Communication Secretariat (Secom) of the Presidency of the Republic, Paulo Pimenta, said that the federal government will recreate or institute new social participation councils in order to encourage greater involvement of society in the construction of public policies.
“Our way of working is to open channels of participation. [Por isso] We are going to once again place great value on the creation of councils, ombudsmen and other spaces, so that the population is heard”, announced the minister when being interviewed by the program The Voice of Brazil this Friday (6).
According to Pimenta, instances of citizen action – such as the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security (Consea), which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Sivla recreated on his first day in office, through Provisional Measure No. 1,154 – tend to democratize public management.
“This is a non-negotiable commitment of our government: to carry out a democratic management, with the opening of channels [por meio dos quais] the population can be heard”, said the minister, adding that the federal government also intends to reinforce the role of ombudsmen of ministries and public companies. “So that the people may have a door where they know they will be heard.”
Responsible for formulating and implementing the communication and social dissemination policy for the entire federal Executive Branch, as well as national actions to combat disinformation, the minister also emphasized once again that the federal government will intensify the fight against fake news.
“Digital policies are very current issues worldwide. The European community has been debating the issues of fake news, of misinformation. This is, today, the main subject of those who discuss the media and new technologies in the United States as well. Evidently, Brazil cannot be left out of this discussion”, said Pimenta, stressing that Secom has already instituted a specific secretariat to “organize this debate in society”.
See the full interview here:
“We need to build, in a very democratic way, mechanisms to protect citizens against fake news. It is not possible for us to have the debate and the platforms that make this information [falsas] reach citizens do not have some protection mechanisms”, said the minister, also addressing the appreciation of public communication and Brazil Communication Company (EBC).
“We are going to be very careful to re-establish very transparent principles for managing public affairs, valuing public companies. Starting over the next few days, we’re going to start making a series of changes to tune in to EBC and public communication with the principles and ideas of the new government”, said the minister – who, at the end of the interview, explained that this process has already been discussed with “many organized groups that debate public communication in Brazil”.
Still during the program, Pimenta again said that the current federal administration will face the challenge of “recovering the credibility of the federal government as a reliable source of information”. “ Citizens have to know that when the government says that the best way to prevent covid is [tomando] the vaccine, the government is saying this on a scientific basis, not as an ideological opinion of one or another member of the government. That when the government runs a campaign and says that it is important for people to act in a way to avoid fires in the Pantanal and deforestation in the Amazon, it has the credibility to say that.”
