PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

A parliament that is open and transparent I 53
Chamber of Deputies, in partnership with civil society entities, with the
purpose of promoting the respect for human rights and the dignity of
the citizen in TV shows. The Campaign consists in the permanent monitoring
of TV programming in order to detect which programmes – systematically
– disrespect international conventions signed by the
Brazilian Government, constitutional principles and actual legislation
which protect human rights and citizenship. (Brazilian Chamber of
Deputies (2005). Those Who Encourage Low Quality are against
Citizenship)
Typical violations of these principles include the degrading presentation of
people on grounds of gender, colour or sexual orientation; assuming the guilt
of those charged with a crime; filming vulnerable groups or individuals without
permission; interviewing children in inappropriate ways; showing scenes
of violence or explicit sex at prime time; and so on. The campaign illustrates
the potentially wide remit which a human rights committee of parliament
might define for itself, as well as the role of parliament as a sounding board
for public opinion in the face of powerful commercial interests.
Further online reading about m edia regulations:
Bouchet, N; Kariithi, N.K (2003). Parliament and the media: building an informed
society. World Bank Institute, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (2005). Parliament and the media.
Strategies of parliaments for informing
the public about their work
So far we have been concerned to identify the ways in which parliaments
are becoming more open to citizens through improving public access, and
removing barriers to media reporting within a regulatory context that encourages
pluralism and non-discriminatory content. Equally important are the
strategies adopted by parliaments themselves for informing the public about