FOTP 2013 Full Report

Total Score: 46Survey Edition 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012Total Score, Status 42,PF 42,PF 43,PF 44,PF 44,PFBrazil has a vibrant democracy with strong constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression.In a positive step, a public information access law went into effect in 2012. However, journalistsalso experienced frequent violence, harassment, and censorship during the year. Incidents ofjudicial censorship were particularly troubling.Various forms of libel and defamation remain criminalized in Brazil, although most ofthe numerous lawsuits that arise each year are filed under civil statutes. Bloggers frequently areforced to pay fines following defamation suits over their online reporting, and a 2012 report bythe freedom of expression group Article 19 noted that the threat of lawsuits and court ordersleads many bloggers and online journalists—who lack the resources of journalists backed bytraditional media companies—to practice self-censorship. In November, a judge rejected theappeal of award-winning journalist Lúcio Flávio Pinto and ordered him to pay about $205,000 inlibel damages to businessman Romulo Maiorana Júnior and his family’s company, DeltaPublicidade. Pinto, who runs the blog Jornal Pessoal, has faced more than 30 criminal and civillawsuits for his work since 1990.Judicial censorship and harassment of journalists and media outlets remained common in2012, with many episodes linked to municipal elections held in October. Courts issued fines andprison sentences, and on several occasions blocked publication of certain names and images. Forexample, numerous newspapers, radio and television stations, and websites were ordered not tomention the name of the mayor-elect of the city of Campo Mourão in Paraná State whendiscussing an investigation of alleged vote buying. In another case, an electoral judge ordered anembargo on an edition of the newspaper Correio do Estado in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul inAugust because it was going to release the results of a voter poll.The internet, including both small news sites and blogs and web giants such as Google,has been particularly hard-hit by judicial censorship. Google was forced to remove or modifymore than 300 online items related to the municipal elections in 2012, and the website JornalOeste was prohibited by an electoral court from publishing information regarding the elections inCáceres, Mato Grosso State, because its coverage allegedly favored a specific mayoral candidate.In September, a video that appeared on Google’s YouTube video-sharing site and supposedlymocked a mayoral candidate in Paraíba State led a judge to order the arrest of the director ofGoogle Brazil, Edmundo Luiz Pinto Balthazar. Although he was temporarily detained, the orderwas overturned two days later. The daily newspaper O Estado de São Paulo has faced more than1,000 days of censorship stemming from a 2009 court order that banned the newspaper fromreporting on the business dealings of former president José Sarney’s son, Fernando Sarney. Theproblem of judicial censorship seemingly came to a head in November with the creation of agovernment commission, the National Forum of Judicial Authority and Freedom, tasked withmonitoring court cases involving press freedom.Brazil’s new freedom of information law, signed by President Dilma Rousseff inNovember 2011, went into effect in May 2012. The law guarantees public access to documentsfrom the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government at the federal, state, andmunicipal levels. It also provides for access to information about private entities that receivepublic funding. Furthermore, the law stipulates that information about human rights violations is98