06 mayo 2009

IAPA highlights Brazil's Supreme Court for vote repealing restrictive press law

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The organization pleased at the role played by the Declaration of Chapultepec in law's elimination Miami, May 9, 2009 - The IAPA highlighted Brazil's Supreme Court decision to repeal the 1967 Press Law, put into effect under the military dictatorship, and, at the same time, called for continued judicial and legislative action to approve access to public information and eliminate the legal requirement of a university degree to practice journalism.
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The organization pleased at the role played by the Declaration of Chapultepec in law's elimination  

Miami, May 6, 2009 - The IAPA highlighted Brazil's Supreme Court decision to repeal the 1967 Press Law, put into effect under the military dictatorship, and, at the same time, called for continued judicial and legislative action to approve access to public information and eliminate the legal requirement of a university degree to practice journalism.  

 

With a 10 votes in favor of repeal, three of which were for partial repeal, and one against, on April 30th the Press Law passed during the military dictatorship was abolished due to its incompatibility with the 1988 Constitution's guarantee of free expression, according to Justice and rapporteur Carlos Ayres Britto.

 

IAPA president Enrique Santos Calderón, El Tiempo, Colombia, stated: "The decision to throw out the vestiges of the dictatorship that went against the constitutional guarantees of free expression is an historic and courageous decision, and we are proud that it was based in part on the principles of the Declaration of Chapultepec", referring to Justices Cesar de Mello and Cezar Peluso who cited the 1994 free-expression principles in their opinions.

 

Thursday's decision followed a move by Federal Deputy Miro Teixeira in February last year to suspend some of the article's clauses. Since then, all decisions based on the 42 year old law's remaining 22 of 77 articles were suspended awaiting the Court ruling. 

 

With this repeal, offenses by journalists will be judged under standard legislation. Crimes of libel, slander or defamation, for example, will now fall under the Penal Code's less rigorous provisions. Claims of moral slander and damages will be ruled by the Civil Code, not by a law designed to "limit freedom of speech and perpetuate an authoritarian regime", stated Justice of the Court, Ricardo Lewandowski.

 

For decades the IAPA has maintained that the Press Law was arbitrary and allowed judges to hand down disproportionate rulings, as in the case cited by the organization on March 29th of this year which compelled the newspaper Estado de Minas to publish, on its front page and six inside pages, the right of reply by a university denying the paper's report claiming irregularities in that institution. The judge founded his decision on the Press Law which allowed the right of reply without taking into account whether or not the claims were true.

 

Robert Rivard, San Antonio Express-News, USA, President of IAPA's Freedom of the Press Committee, reflected upon the high court's decision. "The book has finally been closed on Brazil's darkest era; every Brazilian should stand proud at this moment."

 

"Nonetheless", he warned, "many will rush to fill the vacuum they feel has been left by this act. It is important that discussions continue on some of the initiatives underway, such as an access to public information bill and a move to eliminate the requirement of a university degree to practice journalism that would expand the benefits of free expression. On the other hand, proposals that penalize journalists for performing their jobs must be defeated in order to prevent self censorship and avoid clouding the re-energized transparency."

 

Santos Calderón added that "IAPA plans for 2009-2010 include initiatives to collaborate with the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ), on the Brazilian agenda and reform process following this decision that ushers in a new era of responsibilities for the Brazilian press and after the government's communication conference planned for December.

  

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