Latin America & the Caribbean

Brazil

{This graph represents scores that have been modified by CIMA so that higher scores indicate a better media situation. It is intended to show trends over time; each index measures significantly different factors of press freedom. To see an explanation for how this graph was created, click here.}
 

For a country with large social and economic disparities, Brazil has made significant gains in expanding internet access and mobile-phone usage in recent years. As of 2009, it was home to the largest population of internet users in Latin America and the fourth largest in the world.

Reporters Without Borders Description:

Collusion between judges and a mayor or governor account for the preventive censorship measures that have been applied in complete violation of fundamental constitutional freedoms to a number of news media that carried embarrassing reports. Cases of physical violence and even murder still occur in states in the north and northeast and also in the south, in the Paraguayan border area, which is a drug-trafficking hub. Legislators still have not addressed the increasingly urgent need to create and regulate a space for the large number of community radio stations that are operating despite the lack of any legal provision.

Read more on RSF’s site…

Continuing a pattern of extensive censorship imposed from the bench, regional judges banned dozens of news outlets from covering some of the most important topics of the day, including issues involving the October general election, good governance, and public integrity. Regional courts banned news media from reporting on a wide array of important public issues, CPJ research showed. Over the past several years, businesspeople, politicians, and public officials have filed hundreds of lawsuits alleging that critical news media were offending their honor or invading their privacy, CPJ research showed. The plaintiffs in these cases typically seek injunctions to bar the press from publishing anything further about them or to remove offending online material. A 2010 report by Google said Brazilian authorities had demanded that content be removed from the company's servers on 398 occasions in the first six months of the year, twice the number of the next country, Libya.

Read more on CPJ’s site...

Visit IFEX’s Site for Recent News on Media in this Country

Read more on Freedom House's site...