Estadão: Dilma will shelve the Media Law.
Despite pressure from the PT (Workers' Party) and former minister Franklin Martins, who was received by her at the Planalto Palace, the president has sent word that she is still not convinced, according to a report in the Mesquita family's newspaper; Rui Falcão, president of the PT, insists that this will be one of the party's main platforms in 2013.
247 – President Dilma Rousseff has decided to confront the PT leadership and is expected to shelve the proposal that creates mechanisms for controlling the media, according to information from government aides, reported by Estadão.
Last Wednesday, Dilma received journalist Franklin Martins, former Minister of the Secretariat of Communication, at the Planalto Palace. Franklin is the author of a Media Law, similar to the one implemented by Cristina Kirchner, to democratize the communication sector – a recent study by Reporters Without Borders pointed to the Brazilian media as one of the most cartelized in the world, as if Brazil had "30 Berlusconis".
Journalist Paulo Henrique Amorim went so far as to say that the meeting, which reportedly lasted more than an hour, threatened João Roberto Marinho, who runs O Globo newspaper, and his brothers.
The power struggle between the Workers' Party (PT) and the press has intensified since the Supreme Federal Court (STF) convicted a PT member for corruption and conspiracy in the Mensalão scandal. One of those convicted, José Dirceu, said that regulating the media was one of the party's priorities for this year. Alongside the PT's national president, Rui Falcão, he accused the media of having "pressured" the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, during a meeting with PT (Workers' Party) deputies in Brasília, Falcão was even more emphatic and attacked the politically minded press, saying that they are the "real opposition" to the government.
The president of the Workers' Party (PT) used the meeting to announce that the party will dedicate itself to the fight for the democratization of the media this year. "We will go to social media and political parties to fight for freedom of expression. Those I named, who are trying to shut down politics in Brazil, this extra-partisan opposition that wants to discredit politics, and when we discredit politics, we open the field for coup attempts that led to Nazism and Fascism, and we must keep that away from our country," he said. "Combating this faceless but voiceless opposition is one of the PT's objectives in this situation," he added.
But Dilma doesn't seem willing to enter this war, especially in the fight for her re-election.