The Global South- Brazil

Over the past months I've been looking at the Global North and South divide within the media sector within regulations and how they operate, as well as looking at public, private and community media. Over the next to essays I will be looking at the divide within the Radio sector of the media between the North and South.

The Global South- Radio in Brazil.

Radio in Brazil has been an important factor for the country dating back to 1919. Radio has been used for many major events such as the celebration of the one hundredth independence anniversary, where the President’s speech was broadcasted across radio. Although the first considered real radio station was founded in 1923 (Radio AntiqueRadio). Radio has always been a way of spreading news and information, an essential need in developing citizenship within the poorer urban areas of Brazil.

Brazil has the largest government and public investment in arts and culture. This is due to the high rates of crime and large favelas, many media based groups are going round favelas doing community arts such as digital media (Mayberry, 2010). Community media radio stations in Brazil operate on a non-profit basis to provide programs to address the needs and interests of residents in social areas. Community radio stations are the most wide spread ways to democratise information, due to there being 4,700 community stations and another 1,300 waiting to be given authorisation to begin broadcasting (Mayberry, 2). Many people from the community media environment feel some of the laws put in place for community media prevent them from being able to broadcast fully. The stations are required to operate at low-frequency FM, should not aim for profit and not discuss political or religious aspects on the radio (Spuldar, 2013). This is a problem to some community stations as there are more Catholics in Brazil than any other country in the world (Meyer, 2010). Therefore there are many passionate religious communities that wish to broadcast, but are restricted through community media laws. Some community radio stations that violate the laws, restrictions or start operating without approval, are considered ‘pirate radios’ to the government. Many end up getting shut down or equipment being taken away from them (Spuldar, 2013). Suggesting there is an issue amongst the regulation of community radio stations in Brazil. As well as ‘pirate radios’ the smaller community radio stations voicing an educated view are often shut down just after launching (Barbosa, 2006). Legislation then required all stations to obtain a government concession to go on air (Vincent J, p95, 2003). However many community radio stations do continue to thrive and is a great way to empower the people through efficient communication within communities in Brazil, despite social media seeming to take most attention today.

The main provider of public service media in Brazil is ‘Empresa Brail De Comunicacao’ (EBC). It was created in 2007 to manage the federal government’s broadcast network and strengthen public communication systems. There are eight EBC radio station platforms reaching wide audiences. The platform stands for human rights, freedom of speech and the exercise of citizenship and recognising cultural diversity in Brazil (EBC). This list of aspects the EBC, the main provider of public service media, stands for is very similar to what the BBC stands for in the UK (Ofcom, 2017). Suggesting the aims of public service media are similar in different countries as they aim to appeal and inform a wide audience to for-fill the needs of citizens. Arguably there are a few issues with the public service media in Brazil, as it has been largely built on a combination of political control and limited regulation. The president still has control over radio and television in Brazil (Matos, Page 9, 2014) meaning many citizens don’t trust all news and information coming from the public service media platforms. Due to being heavily influenced by the government and their political views. Hence why community media appears to have more of a success, as it is members of communities creating content they know appeal to their audiences.

The private sector media is ran by individuals and/or companies and is the largest radio station in Brazil. Most radio stations up until the 21st century were family owned, radio was still the most pervasive mass media in the country (Reis, 2003). However today all of Brazil media is controlled by nine families/companies, arguing that there are no limits on cross ownership of the media. As it stands corporations are able to heavily influence public opinions and ideas as they control such a high percent of the media. One of the largest private sector media group is ‘Globo’ owned by billionaire Robert Marinho. Marinho founded CBN making the first Brazilian station to broadcast 24 hours of news (Forbes, 2018). The conglomerate Globo reaches 99.50% of potential viewers, it is the biggest private media company in Brazil coving all areas of broadcasting (Globo). Therefore is there an issue amongst regulation allowing on company to dominate the whole media sector, including radio.

The operation of radio in Brazil is a deep one with many different formats including community, public and private radio. There are many rules in the operation of the stations, however more for the community media in comparison to private media that really dominates the media sector within Brazil.

Bibliography:

Barbosa (2006) https://www.ashoka.org/en/fellow/bia-barbosa

EBC http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/about-ebc

Forbes (2018) https://www.forbes.com/profile/jose-roberto-marinho/

Globo http://redeglobo.globo.com/Portal/institucional/foldereletronico/ingles/g_globo_brasil.html

Matos, Page 9, (2014) http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/3954/1/publiccommsmediareform.pdf

Mayberry (2010) mediashift.org/2010/01/an-overview-of-community-media-in-brazil350/

Mayberry (2): https://www.videovolunteers.org/community-media-in-brazil-first-impressions/

Ofcom (2017) https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/information-for-industry/guidance

Radio AntiqueRadio www.museudoradio.com/enartigo04.htm

Raul Reis (2003). "Brazil" www.pressreference.com/Be-Co/Brazil.html

Spuldar (2013) https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2013/04/brazils-community-radio-stations-struggle-to-survive/

Vincent, J. page 95 (2003). Culture and customs of Brazil (Culture and customs of Latin America and the Caribbean). Westport, Conn, London: Greenwood Press.